I don’t bother layering the filo pastry with melted butter - just paint some olive oil on the top with a pastry brush before baking. If you find your pastry has got too crumbly to make parcels (which can happen when you’ve defrosted it), you can make these in muffin tins - use the scraps to line the tin and top with a few more pieces of pastry.

Any greens work well in the filling. Perpetual spinach is my favourite. It’s silverbeet with a green rib and very easy to grow.

Makes about 30.

Ten sheets of filo pastry (about half a 375g packet). You can freeze the rest but it’s easier to work with if it hasn’t been frozen

250g silverbeet or spinach, finely shredded

75g cream cheese (full fat or the filling will be too runny)

100g feta cheese, cut into small dice

2 tablespoons pine nuts

Bunch of chives or a spring onion, finely chopped

1 large egg

Olive oil to baste.

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C. Steam the greens until tender. Put it in a colander and press with a potato masher to remove as much moisture as you can. Toast the pine nuts on a baking tray for five minutes in the oven. Keep an eye on them and give them a shake to make sure they don’t burn. Mix the greens, cream cheese, feta, pine nuts, egg and onions or chives together well in a large bowl.

You need to work quickly to prevent the filo pastry from drying out. Seal up any pastry you’re not going to use in the packet. Take a single sheet of pastry, fold it in half (bring the shorter edges together). Cut three equal strips parallel with the fold - you’ll end up with three strips of double thickness pastry. Put a teaspoon of filling at one end of the strip. Fold the corner over the filling in a triangle then fold that triangle up the strip to make a triangular parcel. You can make bigger or smaller parcels but the trigonometry works well at this size.

Place on a greased baking tray. When you’ve used up the filling, brush all the triangles with oil. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden. Serve warm.

You may also want to try zucchini and feta pies along a similar theme.

Cheese and potato has always been a winning combination for me. The addition of some sweet, young leeks makes it even more so. In spring you can substitute asparagus for the leeks. This recipe made a couple of flans - one for now and one for the freezer. It would be a welcome addition to a winter lunch box. I served it for lunch with pumpkin and coconut soup and coleslaw. I used only three sheets of pastry between the two tarts as that was all I had left from making hare wellington. If you want it to be a bit more structurally robust, use a couple more sheets of pastry for a thicker crust.

I used leeks about 1cm in diameter although larger ones would be fine. You need to slit them nearly down to the root, fan the leaves and wash them thoroughly, holding them upside down under running water to remove any dirt.

three or more sheets filo pastry

600g potatoes (peeled weight), cut into chunks

400g leeks, sliced lengthways and chopped into lengths to fit your dish (or a bunch of asparagus)

150g grated cheese

2 large free range eggs

100ml cream

lots of freshly grated nutmeg, salt and pepper, a knob of butter

Grease two small or one large shallow, ovenproof dish with a scrap of butter. Line with the filo pastry to come about 2cm up the sides - at least three sheets thick in most places. Filo pastry is very forgiving if you have to cut and paste pieces to fit your dish.

Boil the potatoes in a large pan of salted water until tender. When nearly done, add the leeks to the pan and bring back to the boil for a few minutes, until the leeks soften.

Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees C.

Drain the vegetables and set the leeks aside. Return the potatoes to the pan with the cheese. Mash together. Break the eggs into a bowl and stir in the cream. Add to the egg mixture to the mashed potato, grate in plenty of nutmeg and season with salt and pepper to taste. Mix well before pouring into the prepared filo pastry case(s). Arrange the leeks over the top and brush with a little melted butter. Bake for 20 minutes and allow to stand for at least ten minutes before serving.