Did you know that when chefs in NZ discovered filo pastry, sometime in the 1980s, they kind of lost their minds? It was the newest shiny thing in town and they used it in all kinds of ways, many of them completely strange. For example, there was a dish involving slabs of brie (the kind you got in a can that was always underripe and whiffed like ammonia) wrapped in filo pastry, baked, then served with sweet cranberry sauce slathered over the top. Chicken bits in thick, goopy béchamel sauce were wrapped in filo ‘parcels’, then baked. There was even a dessert on a Herne Bay restaurant menu where slices of Christmas pudding and a glob of brandy crème pâtissière were baked in layers of buttery filo. We kid you not. There were other travesties too but we’ve scrubbed them from our minds – we can only posit that 1980’s Big Hair exerted undue pressure on frontal lobes, messing with a chef’s ability to tame impulses and do half-normal things with tissue-thin pastry and vats of melted butter. Whatever. We still love filo and it’s bloody great here. Expect a filling of cheesy goodness, the saltiness tempered by lashings of honey and smatterings of dried chilli flakes, if they’re your jam. Serve with a big green salad to the side and maybe a soup to follow and call it dinner! And yes, your cute coils might split and ooze a bit while they’re baking (like ours did), but that’s the way the filo crumbles. Speaking personally, we love that bit of ooze. 

MAKES 8

125g Greek-style feta, finely crumbled

180g mozzarella, grated

60g grated pecorino or parmesan

12 sheets filo pastry

175g melted butter, approximately

sesame seeds, for sprinkling

honey, for drizzling

dried chilli flakes, for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180 ˚C. Combine the cheeses in a bowl and mix well. Place the filo pastry on a clean bench, then cover with a lightly dampened tea towel. 

Brush a 30 x 17cm baking dish with some of the melted butter. Place 1 sheet of filo on a board and brush lightly with butter. Place another pastry sheet on top, the brush with butter. Place a third sheet on top and brush. Cut the stack in half widthways. Take one half and place it with a long edge facing you. Place about 3 tbsp of the cheese along the edge in a thin, neat line, leaving a border about 1cm. Roll the filo up around the filling to form a neat log. Roll the log into a spiral, then place it in the dish. Repeat with the remaining filo, filling and butter, then brush the tops of the pastries in the dish with a little more butter. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for 30 minutes or until the pastry is golden and crisp. Cool slightly, then drizzle with honey and sprinkle with chilli flakes, if using, then serve.