Well hello, savoury delicious pie.
Please get in my belly.
I looove this recipe. Spanakopita is one of the most recognizable greek dishes. I’ve always assumed the recipe would be too involved to make at home.
I’ve been dead wrong.
The list of ingredients is easily accessibly and assembly is a snap.
You. Yup, all of you. You can do this one at home and impress the masses.
It’s a great vegetarian main dish. It’s perfect for a potluck. It’s ideal to stick your fork into and eat right out of the pan. errr.
The original recipe calls for fresh spinach, but to speed things up I’ve recommended frozen. I’ll use 2-3 packages of the no name chopped spinach. I also really like the Cooking Greens brand. It comes in little pucks which defrost quickly and easily and seem to contain less moisture – no need to squeeze out excess liquid.
I’ve also used Tre Stelle cheese for this recipe. I find it widely available, reasonably priced and the quality of both their ricotta and feta are excellent (award winning, actually).
True greek feta is a combination of both sheep and goat milk cheese (the ratio varies). It has a stronger flavour than Tre Stelle’s feta which is a cow’s milk product (made from 100% Canadian Dairy. Woop!). If you’re looking for a more traditional flavour, Tre Stelle is now making a goat and cow’s milk feta.
I will disclose here that Tre Stelle approached How to Eat with the request to post a recipe using its cheese(s) in return for a small renumeration. For the record, we get requests like these from time to time and will turn them down if it’s not something we would use in a recipe on our own. These cheeses are great, with or without sponsorship k?
Phyllo is available in the freezer section, usually with the pie crusts, at most grocery stores. To thaw, allow it to sit overnight in the fridge, or for about an hour at room temperature.
Although I’ve never done it myself, if you know you won’t be using the remaining dough for a while, the interweb tells me phyllo dough can tolerate refreezing. Otherwise it can remain in the fridge for a couple of weeks if you want it on-hand to whip up other delicious pastry thingies.
If you would like to make a double batch or if you’re super organized and you’re making this way in advance, this is the step in which you would freeze it (pre-baking). When you do want to bake it, it’ll take a bit longer – closer to an hour.
Serving this golden beauty with a greek salad on the side is like, super awesome.
Now…
Opa!
Erin
Spanakopita (Spinach and Cheese Pie)
Serves
6
Prep time
15 minutes
Cook time
40 minutes
Total time
55 minutes
Website
Lightly adapted from All Recipes
Ingredients
Directions
1.
Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly oil a 8" x 11" baking dish.
2.
In a sauté pan, heat 3 Tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Add yellow and green onions and garlic and sauté until soft, about 4 minutes.
3.
In a large bowl, combine onion mixture with spinach and add parsley, eggs, cheese. Mix until evenly incorporated.
4.
Lay one sheet of phyllo dough in baking dish and brush lightly with olive oil. Repeat process with three more phyllo sheets. Dough will hang over edges.
5.
Spread spinach mixture evenly into pan and fold overhanging phyllo onto spinach.
6.
Layer 4 sheets of remaining phyllo on top of dish, brushing with olive oil between each sheet. Tuck overhanging dough under and down the sides of the baking dish.
7.
Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden brown.
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