Summer herb & feta pies

• watercress↗large bunch
• basil↗good handful

  roughly chopped

• mint↗good handful

  roughly chopped

• spring onions↗4

  roughly chopped

• large eggs↗2
• freshly grated nutmeg
• feta↗100g g

  cut into small cubes

• artichoke hearts85g g

  in oil from a jar, drained and chopped

• butter↗50g g
• pack filo pastry↗270g g

  sheets

• freshly grated parmesan2 tbsp tbsp

  (or vegetarian alternative)

• Garden tomato salad

  optional - see Goes well with

Step-by-step instructions

1. 1

   Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Remove any thick stalks from the watercress, then chop the rest and put in a food processor with the herbs and spring onions. Blitz for a few secs, then add the eggs, nutmeg and some seasoning, and blitz again briefly – you don’t want too fine a chop. Tip the mixture into a bowl and stir in the feta and artichokes.

2. 2

   Melt the butter and unwrap the filo sheets. Cut them into 12-13cm squares through the layers – you may have too much pastry but the leftovers can be re-wrapped and saved for another recipe . Stack 4 squares of pastry on top of each other, brushing lightly with butter as you go, offsetting each square to get a star shape all round the edge. Continue until you have 8 stacks.

3. 3

   Press each stack into a deep-hole muffin tin and fill with the feta mixture. Fold over the pastry to enclose the filling, pinching it together. Brush the tops with the remaining butter and sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake for 25 mins until the pastry is golden and crisp. Leave to cool for a few mins, then remove the tins and cool completely on a wire rack. Pack into a plastic container to take to the picnic and serve with a tomato salad, if you like.