Huxley's Spanakopita

This recipe was not invented by any of the Huxley family. However it was eaten last night against the background of a debate about which Huxley had done what. So, in case you had forgotten, some of the most well known Huxleys are::

• The anatomist/biologist/medic Thomas Henry Huxley, who lived through the mid 1800s, is referred to as 'Darwin's Bulldog' because he was a key supporter of his theory of evolution. Having been exposed through junior medical apprenticeships to poverty in East London, he then studied medicine, anatomy and physiology. A role in the Navy allowed him to study invertebrate biology and he was made a fellow of the Royal Society at the ridiculous age of 25. Not only a great scientist but also a great influencer of education and the humanities. Lots of info at the wikipedia site (yes I know, wikipedia is not the most intellectually rigorous way to gather information but it's a very useful summary)
  
• His grandson Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World (which I am ashamed to say I thought I had read, but haven't, it was 1984). The origins of 'is-ness' is Aldous Huxley's mescaline-fuelled Doors of Perception. I cannot possibly embarrass myself by writing another word about Aldous Huxley when my mate Jake has done his PhD on the guy.
• Important if you are into neurophysiology or biophysics: Andrew Huxley, also a grandson of TH and I think brother of Aldous, who with Alan Hodgkin won the Nobel Prize for describing the action potential - the miracle of electrophysiology that means you can both read and comprehend this blog, and click away from the page because it is becoming too geeky.

Anyway this Spanakopita is also named after Huxley because it is a minor evolution from the traditional kind, adding courgette into the centre and including an additional layer of olive paste/tapenade. Some traditional versions don't have cheese at all.

Ingredients (serves 4/5/6 as a main course or lots at a party in bite size pieces)
500g - 750g spinach according to taste (in this photo I used 500g). You can buy good frozen spinach, if so then defrost and squeeze as much water out as you can. If fresh then wash it, wilt it (microwaves were made for this) and again squeeze it as much as you can.
3 small courgettes, diced
2 onions
2 slabs of good feta
dill or oregano
filo pastry (you could make your own but really the shop bought stuff is so good you would clearly be mad to do so)
butter/olive oil
olive paste/tapenade

to make it:
1. chop the onions into fine slices and sweat them down in a pan with a little butter and olive oil until they are cooked through. I recently had a revelation on this - putting the lid on the pan and turning down the heat actually works better than a high heat uncovered.
2. add the courgette and cook for a minute, add the spinach, herb and chopped up feta. stir till well blended, season and set aside to cool down a bit.
3. get your baking dish. I used a silicon square one, which was useful at the extraction-from-baking-pan stage which I usually balls up. brush with butter/olive oil and build up about 4 layers of pastry, bushing each one. Then spread a layer of olive paste/tapenade and build up another 4 layers. Then, add your spinach mixture and top with the same layer formation
4. cook in a non-fan oven for about 30-40 minutes until it looks cooked. It's good cold, too.