I have had some filo dough in the freezer for a while with the intention of making a spanakopita with spinach.  But it’s spring and I have been doing a little experimenting with nettles.  Nettles are frequently compared to spinach, though they definitely have a different texture.  I decided to check the internet to see if a recipe already existed using nettles and filo dough.  And I found one by Barney Desmazery here on the BBC Good Food website.

I made a couple of changes in the recipe, mostly to convert the grams to ounces  and to rearrange the construction of the final product.  I don’t have a long enough counter space to put 3 pieces of filo dough end to end for the spiral effect, so I just layered all 7 sheets on top of each other and made one big log.

Here is my converted recipe:

Nettle leaves – 6 oz.  a big bowl full – just the top 4-5 leaves – triple washed – Use rubber gloves. They do sting before they are cooked.

1 Stick butter – 2 T. solid, 6 T. melted

8 oz. feta cheese, crumbled or chopped

2  1/2 oz parmesan, finely grated, about 1/3 to 1/2 cup

1 lemon, zested and juiced

1 egg, beaten

grated nutmeg, about 1/4 tsp.

7 sheets filo pastry

1 T. sesame seeds

Other than changing the layering and shape of the finished product I just followed the directions here and baked it at 400 degrees F for 40-45 minutes.

We found it very lemony and tasty.  You can always make it with spinach if you don’t have access to nettles or don’t feel like foraging or experimenting!

Here are a couple of links to read about the benefits and nutritional information of nettles.