Spanakopita Recipe (Greek Spinach Pie) » Indonesia Eats

Spanakopita with a twist! Yes that is what I did. I don’t change much from recipe that I used before (please check my original spanakopita recipe!). All I did was omitting garlic and green onions, then I subtituted them for garlic chives. A chive that is more popular to be used in Asian cooking.

We sometimes buy ready to eat food at little Greek market on Corydon. The thing that I love about this place, the choices of feta cheese; sheep, goat and Canadian feta cheese. The Canadian is obviously made from cow’s milk. There is also fresh Greek yoghurt available to be purchased.

I made this dish just under an hour including the baking’s time. Off course, I had to thaw the phyllo pastry and spinach a head of time for I was using the frozen packages.

Spanakopita
– Greek Spinach Pie –

Ingredients:
1 pkg phyllo/fillo pastry, cut into the pan size
melted butter or olive oil (to brush on the phyllo/fillo)

For the Filling:
454 g (1 lb.) frozen spinach, thawed
1 large onion, chopped
garlic chives, sliced (as many as you like)
finely chopped fresh dill as many as you like
300 g (11 oz.) goat feta cheese, crumbled
3 eggs, beaten
salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Methods:
Preheat the oven at 350F (180 C)

Filling:
1. Drain really well by pressing down /squeezing the water from it. Place in large mixing bowl.

2. Place frying pan on stove at over medium to high heat, add the olive oil. Add onion, stir and cook until translucent; add garlic chives and dill. Toss the pan and do a quick mixing with a wooden spoon. Remove from the heat and let it cool.

3. Combine dill mixture with spinach, add egg and feta cheese, season with freshly ground black pepper and salt. In this case, I didn’t add salt since feta cheese is already salty enough.

Assembling
1. Take a 13-inch lasagna baking dish, brush the bottom with a small amount of melted butter. Separate a sheet of fillo from under damp tea towel and place it into the pan. Fillo pastry must be covered at all times with a damp tea towel or it will dry out. Brush a layer with butter, place another sheet of pastry on top. Brush with butter as well. Continue layering until you have used 4 sheets of filo. But do not add the butter to the top sheet.

2. Pour in the spinach mix over the top of the pastry layers. Push down and spread it evenly around the pan using your spoon. Carefully top it with 4 more layers of the fillo with the same steps as we do for the bottom layers. The different is, you need to brush on the very top layer with butter.

Finishing
Transfer the dish into the centre of the preheated oven. Bake for 30 minutes or until it is crispy and a light golden brown then remove.