Spanakopita

I had left over phyllo pastry from the last time I make Baklava which is in my previous blog. I did not want to make another sweet dessert with it so I decided on a savoury pie instead. Spanakopita is a greek pie of feta and ricotta cheese and spinach, it's a great vegetarian dish even my hubby who is a ardent carnivorous enjoyed the pie.

Ingredients:

1 bunch spinach 

300 gm feta

100 gm ricotta

40 gm grated parmesan

5 eggs

2 tbsp dry breadcrumbs

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

60 ml olive oil

2 dill sprigs

4 spring onions

375 gm filo pastry

125 gm melted butter

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Trim the roots from the spinach or if using silverbeet, cut out the stems. Wash leaves and drain well. Coarsely shred and set aside (see Note).

Place the feta in a large bowl and roughly mash with a fork. Add the ricotta, hard cheese, eggs, breadcrumbs, nutmeg, pepper, oil, dill and spring onions. Mix with the fork to combine. Place the spinach or silverbeet on top and mix lightly with your hands.

Lightly oil or butter a 20 cm x 30 cm x 5 cm baking dish. Lay the filo out on a work surface. Line the dish with a sheet of filo and brush it with butter. Top with another sheet of filo brushed with butter and continue until about half the filo is used. When not using the filo, cover it with a dry tea towel and then a damp one to keep it from drying out.

Use your hand or a large metal spoon to gently mix the spinach filling until thoroughly combined. Tip into the filo base and spread out evenly. Layer with the remaining sheets of filo brushed with butter, ensuring the final sheet is well buttered. Trim off any overhanging pastry and tuck in the sides.

Use a sharp knife to score the pastry into diamonds. Pierce the pastry once or twice to allow air to escape during baking. Sprinkle lightly with water and bake in the oven for 45–60 minutes or until well browned. Gently shake the baking dish; the spanakopita should slide easily when it is cooked. Cover with foil if it is over-browning. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes before serving.

(Note: The spinach can be prepared a day ahead it has to be as dry as possible as we do not want the pie to be soggy.)

This like the baklava recipe was relatively easy to make, except for the assembly where you need to work really quickly with the filo pastry so that it does not dry out. The end result was a lovely cheesy pie with the healthy goodness of the spinach. I have some greek colleagues at work and I brought a few pieces of pie for them and they say it was as authentic as it could be and offered me another challenge to make another famous greek dessert, Galaktoboureko which I gladly accepted. Guess there must be some greek in me.