Pumpkin & feta filo pie

December 24-25, 2021

   

This year our Christmas day was small, casual and content, with no pressure to put on a big, fancy meal. But with time off from work, I was in the mood to do something fun in the kitchen and planned out some dishes a couple of days ahead. This Ottolenghi filo pie was simply plucked from my bookmarked recipes and formed the centrepiece of the meal - it's filled with a comforting, crowd-pleasing combination of pumpkin, feta, caramelised onion and sage.

There are a few phases to the recipe and I got a head start a day in advance, roasting the pumpkin in cinnamon and slowly caramelising the onions. This allowed me to focus on the construction of the pie during Christmas day. I had to trim my baking paper back to get the control I needed over the filo sheets, but it all came together and held together without too much drama. Though this recipe isn't vegan, I think it would be easy to adapt: the filo could be brushed with olive oil or melted margarine, and there are some terrific non-dairy feta cheeses available now.

The golden filo pastry makes a bit of a mess when it's time to slice the pie up, but I think it's the kind of crackly, tasty mess that enhances the sense of occasion.

   

Pumpkin & feta filo pie

(slightly adapted from an Ottolenghi recipe appearing in The Guardian)

375g packet filo pastry

90g butter, melted

30g caster sugar

filling

60mL olive oil

2 onions, peeled, halved and cut into 1/2 cm slices

salt and pepper

5g sage leaves, finely chopped

10g parsley, roughly chopped

150g feta, roughly crumbled

2 teaspoons lemon zest

1/2 butternut pumpkin (~650g), seeds and peel removed, cut into 1 1/2 cm-thick half-moons

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Set a frypan over medium heat and add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Add the onions and a little salt, and slowly cook the onions until they're very soft and caramelised - expect this to take around 40 minutes. Transfer the onions to a bowl, and stir in the herbs, feta, lemon zest, and a little salt and pepper.

Preheat an oven to 220°C while you slice up the pumpkin. Place the pumpkin pieces in a large baking tray, drizzle over 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and sprinkle over the cinnamon and some salt and pepper. Toss the pumpkin pieces around to get them coated in the oil, and bake them for up to 30 minutes, until tender.

Turn the oven down to 190°C. Line a springform cake tin with baking paper and brush it with the melted butter. Use a little more than half the filo pastry sheets to line the base and sides of the cake tin - brush each one with butter as they go in, sprinkle them with 1/2 teaspoon caster sugar, and stagger them around the tin so that the base is well covered, all the sides are covered, and the sheets extend beyond the top of the cake tin. This process should use up about half of the melted butter.

Arrange half of the pumpkin pieces across the base of the cake tin, breaking them up as needed to fit them into the spaces. Spread half of the onion-feta mixture over the top of the pumpkin. Repeat with the remaining pumpkin and onion-feta mixture. Scrunch another sheet of filo onto the top of the fillings and brush it with butter. Fold over a couple of the overhanging filo pieces, add another filo sheet and brush with more butter. Continue this process until all the overhanging filo is gathered up, and all the filo sheets and butter are used up.

Transfer the springform tin to a baking tray, and place it all in the oven to bake for 50 minutes. Gently remove the outer springform walls from the cake tin and bake the pie for a further 20 minutes, until it is golden brown all over. Allow the pie to cool for around 15 minutes before slicing and serving.