Spinach and ricotta filo baskets

Name: Spinach and ricotta filo baskets
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 1 h 5 min
Yield: 10
Ingredients: 1 tbsp. olive oil, plus extra to grease; 1 large onion, finely chopped; 1 garlic clove, crushed; 500 g bag fresh spinach; 2 medium eggs; 250 g tub ricotta cheese; 2 tbsp. milk; Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg; 200 g (7oz) filo pastry; 50 g (2oz) pine nuts, toasted; 40 g (1½oz) vegetarian Parmesan, such as Twineham Grange Parmesan Cheese, grated; 1 tbsp. freshly chopped flat-leafed parsley

These pretty filo baskets make a great vegetarian canapé or starter

By The Good Housekeeping Cookery TeamPublished: 05 June 2007

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Yields:

Prep Time:

40 mins

Cook Time:

25 mins

Total Time:

1 hr 5 mins

Ingredients

1 Tbsp. olive oil, plus extra to grease
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
500 g bag fresh spinach
2 medium eggs
250 g tub ricotta cheese
2 Tbsp. milk
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
200 g (7oz) filo pastry
50 g (2oz) pine nuts, toasted
40 g (1½oz) vegetarian Parmesan, such as Twineham Grange Parmesan Cheese, grated
1 Tbsp. freshly chopped flat-leafed parsley

Directions

1. Step 1
  Heat the oil in a pan and gently fry the onion for 10min until softened. Add the garlic and cook for a further 1min. Set aside to cool.
2. Step 2
  Meanwhile, wash the spinach and discard any large stalks. Put a large pan over a medium heat and add the spinach. Season. Cover and cook for 2-3min until wilted. Drain. When cool enough to handle, squeeze to remove any excess liquid.
3. Step 3
  In a bowl, beat together the eggs, ricotta and milk. Chop the spinach and stir into the ricotta, along with the onion mixture and nutmeg.
4. Step 4
  Preheat oven to 200ºC (180ºC fan) mark 6 and preheat a baking sheet. Lightly grease 10 holes of a 12-hole muffin tin. Unroll filo pastry and keep covered with a clean, damp tea towel. Cut the filo into 15cm (6in) squares - big enough to line the holes of the muffin tin with a bit of an overlap. Brush the squares with olive oil. Lay one square on top of another at a 45° angle so the points are offset. Then add a third square, offsetting the points to fall between those of the first two squares so you end up with a star shape. Push the layered squares into one of the muffin-tin holes. Repeat with the remaining filo to make 10 baskets. Brush edges with oil.
5. Step 5
  Mix together the pine nuts, Parmesan and parsley. Divide the ricotta mixture among the filo baskets and top with the pine nut mixture. Bake in the muffin tin on the preheated baking sheet for 7-8min until golden. Gently remove the baskets from the muffin tin and cook directly on the baking sheet for a further 5min to crisp up the bases. To serve: if frozen, thaw overnight in the fridge. Preheat the oven to 200ºC (180ºC fan) mark 6 and warm the filo baskets on a preheated baking sheet for 5min until crisp.

Per Serving:

Calories: 200
Total carbs: 15 g
Total fat: 11 g
Saturated fat: 4 g

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The Good Housekeeping Cookery Team

An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).

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