Ricotta Filo Bake

Recipe originally on Female First.

This mouth-watering recipe is perfect for any vegetarians you have dining with you this Christmas, it’s light yet delicious and can be used again and again after Christmas is over.

Ingredients

To make the strudel pastry from scratch:

250g strong white flour

125ml Luke warm water

2-3tbsp oil

Approx 100g butter, melted

*Alternatively, buy one packet of readymade filo pastry

For the Mushroom Filling:

2oz of butter

1 clove chopped garlic

300g mixed mushrooms roughly chopped

150g Spinach

250g ricotta cheese

50g chopped mixed dried fruit and nuts

100grms Parmesan

50g breadcrumbs

Method

To make the strudel pastry:

•             Sift the flour into a bowl and add the water, butter and oil.

•             Knead the pastry enough make a dough.

•             Brush the dough mixture with oil and leave to rest for 30mins.

For the filling:

•             Add 2 oz of butter and 1 tsp of olive oil to a pan with the chopped garlic

•             Add the roughly chopped Mushrooms to the pan and cook until browned

•             Remove the mushroom mixture from the heat and pour the mushrooms onto a plate, leaving the juices in the pan.

•             Using the juices, cook out the spinach very quickly, before sieving to remove any excess liquid.

•             Chop the Spinach and add it to the mushrooms

•             Using a fork, mix in the ricotta and Parmesan and Dried fruits and nuts, and season with black pepper, sea salt and pinch of nutmeg.

To prepare the pastry coating:

•             On a baking flat, individually brush each sheet of the filo with butter and sprinkle over breadcrumbs

•             Layer each of the three sheets on top of each other

•             Fill the pastry by spreading the mushroom mix over the pastry fold, in the ends, and roll up the pastry.

•             Brush the strudel with butter

•             Bake it in the oven for 15mins, at 200C

•             Brush with butter twice during cooking.