Christmas Spinach Nests

📝 Ingredients

• 600 g spinach washed and chopped
• 1 shallot finely chopped
• 2 tbls olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp dried dill
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 100 g goats cheese
• 2 rounds feta cheese
• 4 tbls almond flour
• Zest of lemon
• Squeeze of lemon juice to taste
• 2 tbls chopped pine nuts
• A few sprays of olive oil
• Half way through baking add
• 12-16 chopped sage leaves cooked in 2 tablespoons of melted brown butter
• Phyllo nests
• 1/2 a log of phyllo pastry sliced into thin strips. Sprinkle with 1 tbls melted butter and fluff up to separate the strands.
• Garnish
• Grated Parmesan (cubed tomatoes, lettuce and slivers of cucumber and a wedge of lemon. Drizzle with balsamic glaze )

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1Oven on 180°C
2. 2Put 200g spinach in microwave and cook on high for 3 min repeat with remaining 2 bags. Alternatively follow my method of preparing spinach see link 🔗 above
3. 3In a pan add oil and fry shallots until soft and translucent.
4. 4Add garlic and stir through
5. 5Remove from heat
6. 6Squeeze out the moisture from the spinach and chop finely
7. 7Add to shallots stirring to combine
8. 8Add the rest of the ingredients and mash through the cheeses. Taste add a few grinds of pepper. There is no need to add salt as the feta cheese is quite salty. But check for your palate
9. 9Shape into about 24 balls
10. 10Place on baking tray lined with baking paper. Spritz with oil and bake for 25 minutes
11. 11At 15 minutes spoon over the sage butter. Increase the oven temperature to 200°C and add the phyllo nests on top of the balls sprinkled over to create a nest over each ball.
12. 12Bake until golden for a further 10 minutes
13. 13Garnish and serve warm