The extravagant use of herbs in our cooking is definitely to be blamed on Jerusalem. Herbs are sold there by the bucketload. Palestinian peasant women come into the city with baskets brimming with fresh produce from the countryside to sell on the kerbside.

This pie can happily sit at the centre of a light vegetarian meal.

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for brushing the pastry

160g onion, diced

500g Swiss chard, stems and leaves thinly shredded but kept separate

150g celery, thinly sliced

50g spring onion, chopped

50g rocket

30g flat-leaf parsley, chopped

30g mint, chopped

20g dill, chopped

120g anari or ricotta cheese, crumbled

100g mature cheddar, grated

60g feta, crumbled

the grated zest of 1 lemon

2 medium free-range eggs

1/3 tsp salt

½ tsp coarsely ground black pepper

½ tsp caster sugar

250g filo pastry

• Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Pour the olive oil into a deep frying-pan. Add the onion and sauté for eight minutes over a medium heat without browning. Add the chard stems and the celery and continue cooking for four minutes, stirring. Add the chard leaves, increase the heat to medium-high and stir as you cook for four minutes, until the leaves wilt. Add the spring onion, rocket and herbs and cook for two minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer to a colander. Once the mixture is cool, squeeze out as much water as you can and transfer to a mixing bowl. Add the three cheeses, lemon zest, eggs, salt, pepper and sugar and mix well.

• Lay out a sheet of filo pastry and brush it with olive oil. Cover with another sheet and continue in the same manner until you have five layers all covering an area large enough to line the sides and base of a 22cm pie dish, plus extra to hang over the rim. Line the pie dish with the pastry, fill with the herb mix and fold the excess pastry over the edge of the filling, trimming the pastry as necessary to create a 2cm border.

• Make another set of five layers of filo brushed with oil and place them over the pie. Scrunch the pastry to create an uneven top and trim the edges so it just covers the pie. Brush with olive oil and bake for 40 minutes or until the filo turns golden. Remove from the oven and serve warm.

Wine choice 2010 Riesling, FE Trimbach, Alsace, France £10.95, Majestic. This is one of the best whites I have tried all summer. Its vibrant acidity and citrus-stuffed palate slaked the thirst like no other wine; these fresh attributes are equally good at pairing with fragrant herbs such as dill or mint.