I made these ages ago but, as is regularly the problem living between two addresses, every time you want something, it is at the other house. In this case, either the photo or one or other of my books was not where I was.  But, this morning, as luck would have it, we are all together.

This is a great idea for lunch with friends, especially if one is annoyingly vegetarian.

You can make them in the morning and pop them in the oven at the last minute or you can make them on the weekend for a quick mid-week dish.  They also freeze perfectly.

I got the idea from Turkish Bakery Delight by Deniz Göktϋrk Akҁakanat. I haven’t really got into the book much but it sure has lots of yummy looking baking items in it.  The filling in Turkish Bakery Delight didn’t look particularly interesting so I went  to Turquoise by Greg and Lucy Malouf for inspiration. The filling is based on one of his toppings for a pide pie.

Filling

• ⅔ cup raisins, roughly chopped
• 500g spinach leaves (or 2 x 250g packets of frozen spinach), steamed and with all the fluid extracted.  (After steaming, drain in a sieve and  remove as much fluid as you can by pressing down on the spinach with the back of a spoon.)
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
• finely grated zest of one lemon
• 4 tbs (80 mls) olive oil
• 300g Greek style feta, crumbled
• 2 tbs (40mls) toasted pine nuts (Toast pine nuts in a small, dry frying pan until they just begin to go golden.)

Mix all ingredients together, divide into 8 equal portions  and set aside.

For the pastry

• 250g plain (all-purpose) flour
• ½ tsp salt
• ¾ cup milk

For brushing

• 2 eggs
• ⅓ cup olive oil
• sesame seeds or nigella seeds for sprinkling on top

Procedure

1. Sift the flour and salt together and then add the milk.  Mix until combined.
2. Knead until you have a smooth elastic dough (about 3 minutes in mixer or about 5 minutes if kneading by hand).
3. Place in bowl, cover and allow to rest for at least 30 minutes.
4. Divide dough into 4 equal pieces and cover.
5. Beat eggs and oil together, set aside.
6. Flour your bench.
7. Take one piece of dough and roll it into a round, making it as thin as you possibly can. We are talking really, really thin here. The dough is very easy to handle so keep rolling (if it shrinks back, just let it rest a bit and then roll it again).  The sheets should be nearly translucent.
8. Cut the rolled dough in 2 to make semi circles.
9. Brush dough with the egg and oil mixture.
10. Place one portion of filling along the straight edge of the pastry.
11. Roll the filled dough into a sausage shape and then coil into a snail shape.
12. Brush with egg and oil mixture and then sprinkle sesame seeds or nigella seeds on top.
13. Repeat with other half of semi circle of dough.
14. Continue with other 3 portions of dough.
15. Bake in a preheated 200˚C oven for about 30 minutes.
16. Serve hot.

The recipe makes 8.

BTW Em, I have already made these for Colette:)