This recipe was created by Lola DeMille, a GC member and thoughtful, veg-led chef. Follow her on instagram or find out more about her work on her website
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Any greens are good for this – I make variants of this that sway from a roman style punchy parmesan torta to a summery spanakopita. Inspired by the wonderful Turkish produce around me in Dalston (it would be a lie to suggest the proximity to TFC wasn’t a reason I chose our flat) and using a wonderful ingredient available there, fresh yufka pastry. This is more like a thin bread dough and once cooked has the most satisfying crispiness and chew, but of course filo pastry works too. It’s quick to put together, and I love it with new potatoes and a green salad.
Serves 2
Bonus vegan version below
Turn the oven on to 200 degrees
Get a good size pan on a medium heat, chop the onions or leeks, the garlic and the greens, and throw in the pan altogether, keep stirring as the greens lose their moisture and wilt slightly - everything should simultaneously steam and catch slightly - no more than a few minutes. Turn off the heat and throw in the herbs, check the seasoning. Add the sumac or lemon zest if you have it. Crumble in the feta, crack the egg and mix everything well.
Lay the yufka over a small dish or cast iron pan, adding a drizzle of olive oil. Fill with the mix and gather the sides in to cover the top, keeping it crinkly and rustic. Drizzle a bit more olive oil and splash a little water over with your fingers. Bake for 20 minutes until golden.
For a vegan version, I replace the soft texture and flavour of the cheese and the binding of the egg with a gram flour batter and nutritional yeast or vegan cheese, and mix into the greens as above. This works for frittatas and quiches too but really you want the greens to be the main star here
Gram flour batter
200g gram flour
300g water
Good slosh olive oil
1 tsp salt and lots of pepper
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 bunch of spring onions or 1 leek, sliced into cm rounds
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 bunch of chard, kale or spinach, sliced into rough strips
Mint leaves / parsley leaves / parsley stalks / dill fronds – any combination, a good handful in total, stalks chopped
1 small pack of feta cheese
1 egg
Sumac and/or lemon