Buttery filo snails filled with crumbled feta, paneer and spinach. 

Recipe: Extract from Cook Me by Sam Parish

I wanted a savoury snail, but with a nod towards its raisin-laden brother. Brushing curry butter in the layers, crumbling both feta and paneer for the filling, and finishing with the tamarind chutney creates the sweet and savoury balance we’re looking for in this tasty escargot.

*Specialty ingredients: Paneer, ghee, date and tamarind chutney and curry leaves can all be found at a good Indian grocer – one of my favourite places to shop. Keep an eye out for the frozen naan and some Kashmiri chili powder while you’re there: two birds, one stone.

JAZZ IT UP

Turn this into one BIG snail to serve to a crowd so people can nip off as much as they like. Bake it in a round dish, and keep adding to the coil of the first pastry from the middle to reach the edges of the dish.

USE IT UP

Fresh spinach is great but if you want to sub in a mixture of frozen thawed spinach, or some herb ends like parsley and dill, it’s a great way of getting rid of some annoying end bits of greenery from the crisper.

Effort: 3/5
Makes: 6
Prep: 30 min
Prep: 30 min

Curry Butter Snails with Spinach and Feta

INGREDIENTS

200g spinach leaves (or half spinach, half silverbeet)
200g Danish feta, crumbled
200g paneer*, crumbled
½ tsp ground white pepper
2 eggs
150g ghee*, melted
3 tsp curry powder
2 tbsp date and tamarind chutney*, plus extra to serve
18 sheets (approx. 1 packet) filo pastry
20 curry leaves*

METHOD

Preheat oven to 200°C fan forced. Grease and line a baking tray or baking dish with baking paper.

Put spinach onto tray and bake (as oven is heating up is fine) for 5 minutes, or until slightly wilted. Combine in a bowl with feta, paneer, pepper, 1 egg and 1 egg white, reserving egg yolk. Combine ghee, curry powder and tamarind chutney in a separate bowl.

On a clean work surface, lay out 1 sheet of filo and brush with curry butter. Repeat twice more, so you have a stack of 3 filo sheets. Put one-sixth of the filling mixture along one long side of the pas-try and roll away from you to make a long sausage. Brush edges lightly with water to make it more flexible and shape into a snail. Transfer to baking tray. Repeat with remaining pastry and filling.

Brush all snails again with any remaining butter, then brush with reserved egg yolk and scatter with curry leaves. Bake for 30–35 minutes or until golden and crisp. Serve with extra chutney.

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Recipe extracted from Cook Me — 30 dishes/3 ways by Sam Parish (Koa Press, RRP $49.99). Photography by Tonia Shuttleworth. Available from koapress.co.nz and all good bookstores.