This was the main course for my six-course supper club at Brown and Green, Crystal Palace, in August 2024. It consists of griddled and baked courgettes and garlic with a tahini dressing (or the pescatarian version, baked sea bream), a spinach filo pie, a flower salad (these were nasturtium flowers and leaves from my garden, but you can buy edible flowers), tzatziki and pickled peppers. It was a big sharing meal, with lots of little morsels to pass round, so diners could enjoy lots of different flavours. For the full menu on the night, see here.
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Serves 6
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Spinach pie:
750g spinach
2 eggs
100g single cream
2 tbsp chopped dill
8 sheets of filo pastry
40ml olive oil
Courgettes with tahini dressing:
1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
2 large green courgettes and 4 yellow courgettes, sliced lengthways
2 garlic cloves, sliced
2 lemons
4 tbsp of garden herbs, like chives, parsley, sage, mint and oregano, roughly torn
1 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp honey
Tzatziki:
1/2 cucumber, grated
250g Greek yogurt
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
1 garlic clove, grated
2 tbsp dill
2 tbsp mint
nasturtium flowers and leaves
150g sweet pickled peppers
sea salt and black pepper
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Blanch spinach, refresh and squeeze dry. In a large bowl, mix together the spinach, eggs and cream. Season with pepper. Mix the dill with oil. Half 2 filo pastry sheets and brush all sides of the pastry with the oil. Line a 20cm cake tin with the sheets. Brush two sets of three filo sheets each side with the dill oil, then divide the spinach mixture between them. Roll the filo into sausage shapes and then roll into a spiral shape. Place in the centre of the cake tin, then wrap the second filo sausage shape around the spiral within the cake tin, to continue the spiral. Bake for 30 mins in a 180°C oven. Cut into six and keep warm until you serve.
In the meantime, grease a large oven tray with olive oil. Preheat a large griddle tray and drizzle the courgette slices with oil. Griddle the courgettes and the garlic slices for 5 mins on each side, then transfer them to the oven tray. Halve and squeeze the lemons over the courgettes and place two of the halves within the dish. Bake for 15 mins, then sprinkle with the garden herbs. To make the dressing, whisk together the olive oil, tahini, vinegar and honey in a small bowl, then season with salt and pepper. Pour the dressing over the courgettes.
While the courgettes are cooking, drain the cucumber and squeeze as much water out of it as possible. Mix in the Greek yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, dill and mint, then season with salt and pepper. Serve the courgettes with the spinach pie, a side of tzatziki, the flower salad and pickled peppers.
