Spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie)

Spanakopita - Greek Spinach Pie. Now this is one tasty dish. It is really quite an easy dish to make as well. When I was making this dish tonight, I did what the recipe called for, and used fresh spinach and chopped it up. If you have the time, then great, go ahead and do that. I find that the time I spend chopping veggies for my dishes can be some very nice quiet, relaxing, also meditative time in the kitchen. However, if you are short on time, or simply don't enjoy the fussiness of chopping the spinach, then by all means go ahead and use frozen chopped spinach.

Both of my guys really loved this dish, and Kyle, the teenage in the house, even asked for seconds!

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as we did.

Spanakopita:

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 bunch of green onions, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 lbs. spinach rinsed and chopped

1/2 chopped fresh parsley

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1 cup crumbled feta cheese

8 sheets phyllo dough

1/4 cup olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil 9x9 baking pan.

Heat 3 Tbsp olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Saute the onion, green onions, and garlic until soften and lightly browned. Then add in the chopped spinach and parsley and continue to saute until the spinach is limp - about another 2 minutes. If you are using frozen spinach you wouldn't need to add it to the onion mixture. I would throw in the parsley and let it saute with the onion mixture for just a minute. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

In a medium bowl, mix together the egg, ricotta cheese, and feta cheese. Stir in the spinach mixture.

Lay one sheet of phyllo dough in the prepared baking pan and brush lightly with olive oil. The sheet of phyllo dough will be slightly bigger than you pan, causing some to hang over, which is desirable.

Lay another sheet of phyllo dough on top and brush with olive oil. Continue this with 2 more sheets of phyllo dough.

Next, spread the spinach and cheese mixture into the pan and fold overhanging dough over the filling. Brush the dough with oil.

Then add 4 more sheets of phyllo dough in the same manner as above. When I did this, I laid the dough in alternating directions so that I would have overhang on all 4 side.

Tuck the overhanging dough in the pan to create a seal.

**When working with phyllo dough, it is very important that you do not unwrap it and expose it to the air until you are ready to use it. Phyllo dough is very, very thin so when it get exposed to the air, it will dry out very quickly, making it very difficult to work with.

Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes until golden brown. Serve hot.

My mind has already started working on the many variations I could make on this recipe. You could try using different feta cheeses (like a tomato basil). You could use cottage cheese instead of ricotta to lower the fat content. You could saute some mushrooms with the onion mixture. The possibilities are endless!!!

I'd love to hear what you come up with.

Enjoy!