Tired of the same old sausage and mash? Mary Berry has the perfect solution – a savory and delicious sausage and spinach filo swirl. This simple recipe, featured in her book “Mary Berry – Love to Cook,” is a delightful twist on the classic Greek spanakopita, using filo pastry and spinach for a light and flavorful dish.
The recipe calls for a mix of leeks and spinach to bulk out the filling, but any spring greens can be used as long as they’re fried in butter beforehand. Mary recommends using good-quality pork sausages for the best flavor.
To get started, preheat your oven to 220C/200C fan/ gas 7 and grease a 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin with butter. Place the ring on a baking tray, discarding the bottom. The tray will act as the base for your swirl.
For the filling, melt a knob of butter in a saucepan over high heat and fry the chopped leeks for a few minutes. Cover the pan and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the leeks are softened. Increase the heat, add the garlic and spinach, and fry until the spinach wilts. Transfer the cooked vegetables to a bowl to cool.
While the vegetables cool, remove the sausage meat from its casings and place it in a bowl with the vegetables. Season well with pepper and mix thoroughly with your hands.
Now for the filo pastry. Brush four sheets of filo pastry with melted butter and stick them together, end to end, in two layers to form a long rectangle measuring about 25x90cm/10x36in. Shape the sausage mixture into a long sausage, the same length as the filo rectangle, and place it along one long edge of the pastry. Roll the pastry up tightly, brushing the filo with butter in between each roll. You should end up with a long sausage encased in filo.
Bend the filo roll into the ring to make a swirl. Brush the top with more butter and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Transfer the filled pastry swirl to the baking tray and position it inside the ring. Bake for 40–45 minutes until golden and crisp. Remove the ring and cut the swirl into wedges to serve.
Enjoy this simple yet satisfying recipe from Mary Berry, a guaranteed crowd-pleaser for any occasion.
