Spanakopita OR Spinach and Fetta Pie

Spanakopita…A Greek classic

I haven’t really ventured into much Greek food cooking on this blog. I constantly get asked about the title of my blog/website and how this relates to me. Well you can read a little about it here. I promise to provide a few more greek recipes as I go along. I also don’t want to keep this blog too one dimensional. But I digress…

First off, let’s start with an instant Greek classic. “Spanakopita” is a traditional Greek pie made with spinach and fetta cheese encased in that ever so thin pastry called “filo”. Filo has numerous meanings in Greek but for this instance it refers to a piece of paper. Or as thin as a piece of paper. Spanakopita is served everywhere in Greece. From the hustle and bustle of busy Athens to local Greek villages. And everyone has their own version of it. Without going into too much detail, my grandmother used to roll out her own filo pastry (a hard skill to fathom…it takes years to master!) and use wild green spinach with a goats milk fetta as the filling.

Well, with the convenience of modern supermarkets I just buy my filo ready made! I also changed the filling slightly by mixing the fetta cheese with some ricotta and a little grated parmesan. Quite easy actually. Just be wary when using the filo pastry to do so quickly or it dries up very quickly. A good tip is to keep it covered with a damp tea towel while you work with it. You can also make individual triangular “spanakopites” (that’s plural!…sorry for the Greek lessons folks!) and fry them. Hmmm…If I had more time I would attempt this but everyone knows my hatred for frying. Remember also with cooking that nothing is set in stone so feel free to play around with the ingredients.

Popeye would be proud

SOUVLAKI FOR THE SOUL’S SPANAKOPITA RECIPE
2 big bunches of Spinach (silverbeet works well too…maybe you can mix it up a little?)
200g of good quality fetta cheese
200 g of fresh ricotta
about half a cup of grated Parmigiano Reggiano
5 tbsps of finely chopped dill
10 spring onions finely chopped including the green bits
2 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
50g of melted butter for brushing filo pastry

METHOD
1. Chop up the spinach roughly discarding the stalky ends. Wash thoroughly! Once washed blanch in hot water.
2. In a food processor whizz up the fetta, ricotta, parmesan and eggs. We’re looking for a creamy consistency with a little texture. Transfer to a bowl.
3. Add the dill and chopped spring onions to the cheese mixture along with the cooled down blanched spinach. Give it a good mix. Season accordingly.
4. Preheat your oven to 180 deg C
5. Spray a rectangular baking dish with some olive oil
6. Take the filo sheets out and start brushing them with the melted butter laying them on the bottom of the pre oiled baking dish. Stack them up about 10 or so. Make sure there’s enough to make a base.
7. Transfer the spinach and cheese mixture and lay it over the buttered filo sheets.
8. Next, start brushing the next lot of filo sheets with butter. Lay these on top of the spinach and cheese mixture. Again use about 10 or so. Just make sure there’s enough to form a decent pie top.
9. Transfer to hot oven and cook for about 45 mins.

Serve with a crisp side salad or cut into pieces to serve as a snack. The kids will love this and so will the adults!

Enjoy!
Pete

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Tagged as: Greek