My favourite treat is a Greek dish called Spanakopita; essentially, Spanakopita is a feta and spinach pie. I completed my post-graduate program in Toronto’s Greektown, where I treated myself frequently. At my last job, where the cafeteria was run by a nice Greek family, we had a delicious spanakopita treat at least once a month. So this is the first time in my adult life when I haven’t had easy access to this meal.
I have made this dish once before, but the recipe was complicated and I only tried it once. Then, during the course of my normal surfing, I found this website, with a much easier recipe. http://www.eco-natural.com/recipes/spanakopita.html
Ingredients
2 lbs. fresh spinach leaves
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
2 cups finely chopped green onions
1 1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 cups chopped onions
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 lb. feta cheese, crumbled (can substitute any goat milk cheese)
14 phyllo pastry leaves
3/4 cup clarified butter (ghee), melted
Directions:
First, clean the spinach. This is the longest part of the prep work, but be patient, it’ll be worth it, especially if you can clean the spinach in front of the television, with some company/help. 😉
Next prep your fresh parsley, and add it to the bowl with your freshly cleaned spinach.
Next prep and add your dill. Be sure to buy good, fresh dill. As you can see, I was not that careful while I was shopping, and 80% of my dill had rotted overnight. This was not the only blunder I had; we’ll talk about “cloaking” strategies later on.
Then cut your green onions, and add them to the spinach, parsley and dill mix. As you can see, I did not have enough green onions either.
Add the sea salt, mix it all together and let the whole thing sit for at least 15 minutes. At the end of those 15 minutes, be sure to drain any remaining liquid and set it aside. I decided to use a colendar instead of a bowl, and I think that helped prevent liquid from getting trapped in the mixture.
Next saute the onions in the olive oil. The recipe didn’t specify which kind of onion, and since I had a red onion on hand, I decided to use that. I think it helped add more flavour.
Add the spinach mixture a little at a time, and continue stirring it until all of the leaves are nicely wilted.
While the spinach is sauteing, prep the feta cheese. The recipe called for only 1/2 a lb. but I misread it, so I added the full lb. This is one of those “cloaking” devices I was referring to. The result of my error is that it covered my earlier errors, and the dish was quite tasty and rich (but note, that as I was opening the feta I spilt the liquid all over the floor). Anyhow, you want to make sure that the cheese is nice and crumbly , so that it will mix well with the spinach.
Mix it all together, until it’s gooey and delicious. Turn down the heat, and let it sit on stove top for a few minutes longer while you prep the phyllo pastry.
Be sure to grease the pan. I always grease the dish’s lip as well; I’ve found this really helps when it comes time to wash up.
Put the butter on to melt it. I don’t have a microwave, so I needed another pot.
Lay your pastry out. I used 3 levels of pastry in this dish; this is more than the recipe called for, but I like a little flakiness to break up the rich taste of the feta and spinach, especially when you’ve doubled the amount of feta–the richest ingredient.
Add some butter to each layer. This is another “cloaking” technique, and will also help the pastry to taste buttery and flakey.
Add the filling, then add another layer of phyllo leaves, butter and filling, then top with more phyllo, and coat in butter.
It’s best to use a brush, but, I have lost mine, so I used a soft spatula. Spread the butter carefully, so as not to tear the delicate phyllo leaves. Then pop it in the oven and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.
In spite of my many mistakes it turned out perfectly. Firstly, the pastry is a gorgeous golden brown, and it’s light and flakey, exactly as phyllo leaves should be. Secondly, the taste was perfect, gooey and rich, and this was the perfect meal to eat while bidding adieu to 2010 and ringing in 2011. I wish I knew some real Greek , but I don’t; I know French so I will finish with a great French culinary expression. Magnifique!
Opa!
The Next Odyssey 