Food: Gluts and leftovers? Oh, crumbs…

I may have mentioned before in this column that I have a glut of spinach on my hands. Being planted a bit too late in the year hasn’t stopped it; it is the gift that keeps on giving! So, I keep having to come up with spinach ideas, which is good, and healthy and everything, but I am not Popeye! Then I found some leftover sourdough bread that had gone hard – too good to waste, so I turned it into breadcrumbs, and that has led to today’s recipe.
There are actually many uses for breadcrumbs – homemade fish fingers, for one. Stuffing for a chicken, of course. Meatballs. And there’s ‘migas’, an Iberian dish that uses up stale bread mixed with garlic and olive oil in a variety of tasty ways.
But it was to the Greeks I turned for inspiration. Spanakopita is a delicious, savoury spinach and cheese pie that is easy and quick to make and goes well with a simple green salad.
There are many versions, the recipe below is the one that took care of my breadcrumb problem.

Spanakopita, Lanmore style

What you need
200g feta cheese
2 x 250g tubs of ricotta cheese
300g spinach, chopped
1 bunch of spring onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
50g Parmesan cheese, grated
1 egg, beaten
Pinch of nutmeg
80g breadcrumbs
Sea salt and black pepper
6 sheets of filo pastry
Olive oil, for brushing the pastry

What you do
Crumble the feta into a large bowl, add the ricotta and mash till thoroughly combined. Add the chopped spinach, spring onions, parsley, Parmesan cheese, egg, nutmeg and half the breadcrumbs. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Lightly brush a 20cm x 30cm baking tin with olive oil and place in the first filo sheet. Lightly brush it with oil, add the next, brush it and add a third. Spread the breadcrumbs evenly across the base of the pie. Gently spoon in the ricotta filling without disturbing the crumbs. Layer the three sheets of filo pastry on the top, brushing each lightly with oil. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until golden. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Bubble and squeak, anyone?
As the spinach starts to recede, I see we might soon have a bit of a cabbage issue on our hands. We might have gone a bit mad this year – there are ever so many of them. Red ones, white, crinkly ones and, of course, the Savoys, all coming on apace. I see a lot of coleslaw and bacon on the horizon.
It will be fine – there are many inventive ways to turn cabbage into tasty dishes that put the limp, boiled staple to shame. I’m thinking stir-fried cabbage and chorizo sides, minestrone soups and creamy cabbage pasta dishes. Watch this space!

— Sandra

Redmond and Sandra Cabot live in Lanmore, outside Westport, with their children, Penny and Louis. Fresh, seasonal foods are their passion – shopping at country markets, growing their own veg and producing their own dips and sauces and for sale.