Spanakopita Malfatti: Spinach Borek Dumplings

All the delicious fresh flavours from a Greek borek, served like an Italian dumpling?!

20 minutes cook

Serves 4

Ori Goldberg

Ingredients

Malfatti:

200gricotta

60gfeta

2whole eggs

2 garlic cloves, minced

560gfrozen spinach

15gfresh dill, finely chopped

2 spring onion, finely chopped

85gparesarm cheese

170gplain flour

salt and pepper, to taste

Garnish:

tzatziki

fresh mint leaves

2filo pastry sheets, baked

pinch of nigella seeds

drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

Malfatti literally means badly made, but these are far from that! A classic Italian dumpling usually made with ricotta and spinach, but this time, made with everything we love about Spanakopita. Plenty of dill and feta, and served with tzatziki and crispy filo!

Method

In a mixing bowl, get all our malfatti ingredients together, and mix. The mixture should be come one, and resemble a thick cement that can be moulded to your chosen shape.

Once everything is mixed, wet hands with cold water, and taking a tablespoon's worth of malfatti mix, shape into a ball. Do this for all the mix.

Just like gnocchi or pasta, cook these in salted boiling water, until they float (about 3-5 minutes depending on their size).

Whilst they're cooking, prepare our filo pastry but placing on a baking sheet, with oil and baking until golden and crispy, around 7-10 minutes at 180°c.

Once all is ready, plate with a spoonful of tzatziki, our malfatti and our crispy filo pastry. Finish the plate with fresh herbs and olive oil and enjoy! Equally, choose whatever sauce you like, anything from a simple tomato sauce, to greek aubergine dips.