Method

Place the baby spinach in a colander and rinse the leaves under running water. Transfer leaves to a large saucepan, put the lid on and cook on high heat for a few minutes until the leaves are completely wilted. (Cook’s note: no extra moisture is necessary to cook the spinach, the water droplets from the rinsing would be sufficient.) Once the leaves as wilted, place them in a colander and allow it to stand until the leaves are cool enough to touch. Use your hands to squeeze all the moisture out of the leaves, you really want the spinach as dry as possible. Chop the spinach finely.

Fry the onions over low heat in the olive oil until soft, taking care not to brown them. Then add the garlic and fry for a further minute. Place the spinach in a large bowl and add the onion mixture, the feta cheese and ricotta cheese, black pepper, dill, and nutmeg. Stir to combine. The salt level of feta brands varies, so taste it at this stage and if it needs salt, add a bit. Then add the eggs and stir to ensure everything is combined.

Spread out a sheet of phyllo pastry, brush it with melted butter and place another sheet on top of it. Repeat this process with two more sheets so you end up with 2x layered phyllo rectangles. Paint a 4cm border of melted butter on the short end of the first sheet you created, then place the second sheet on that border so it overlaps the first by 4cm – what you want to create by doing this overlapping is one long rectangular sheet of about 90cm.

Starting 10cm in from the edge of the pastry, spoon the spinach filling in a 4-5cm wide ribbon along the length of the phyllo. Also stop short 4cm of the short sides of the rectangle. Now paint the visible phyllo with melted butter. Fold the 10cm clear edge of pastry over the spinach filling, then continue rolling as you gently press down so you end up with a long straight pastry roll.

Fold the pastry ends towards each other so you end up with a circle, then press the ends together to close the circle (paint with melted butter to help the pastry stick). NB: As you fold your circle, there may be one or two small tears in the phyllo. To seal these tiny tears, simply paint 5cm-wide long ribbons of phyllo and wrap them around any tears the way you would wrap a bandage around your arm.  Time to make your wreath Christmas-pretty: Roughly tear 5cm squares of phyllo pastry, dab them lightly with melted butter, scrunch them up and pop them on top of the wreath, then scatter with sesame seeds.

Place the wreath on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment and bake in a 160 ºC oven for 40-50 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden. This spanakopita is best served slightly warm, not hot.

Recipe concept & photography by Lizet Hartley.

Lizet Hartley is a freelance stills and reel food stylist, food photographer and recipe developer. In her spare time she – rather predictably – cooks. Get more of her recipes on her blog at http://www.melkkos-merlot.co.za