Looking for a good Spanakopita Recipe...?

The second best ever... from Tess Mallos... my Dad's asleep, or I would get his... he makes THE BEST spanakopita. ;-)

Title: SPANAKOPITA (MALLOS)

Categories: Appetizers, Main dish

Yield: 8 servings

1 kg Spinach

1 md Onion; chopped

1/2 c Olive oil

1 c Chopped spring onions

1/2 c Chopped parsley

2 ts Chopped dill or fennel

1/4 ts Ground nutmeg

1/2 c Mizithra or cottage cheese

1 c Well-crumbled feta cheese

1/4 c Finely grated kefalotiri *

4 Eggs; lightly beaten

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

10 Fillo pastry sheets

Butter; melted

*Note: if Kefalotyri cheese is unavailable, Parmesan

may be substituted.

Serves: 8 as a first course, 4 as a light meal Oven

temperature: 180 C (350 F) Cooking time: 1 hour

Wash spinach well and cut off any coarse stems. Chop

coarsely and put into a pan. Cover and place over

heat for 7-8 minutes shaking pan now and then or

turning spinach so that juices can run out freely.

Drain well in colander, pressing occasionally with a

spoon.

Gently fry onion in oil for 10 minutes, add spring

onion and fry for further 5 minutes.

Place drained spinach with onion-oil mixture in a

large mixing bowl. Add herbs, nutmeg, cheeses and eggs

and stir to combine. Check saltiness of mixture, then

add salt and pepper to taste.

Brush a 25 x 30 cm (10 x 12 inch) baking dish with

butter and line with a sheet of fillo pastry. Top

with another 4 sheets, brushing each with butter.

Spread filling in pastry-lined dish and top with

remaining fillo, brushing each sheet again with

butter. Trim edges if necessary and tuck pastry in on

all sides. Brush top lightly with butter and score

top layer of pastry lightly into squares using a sharp

knife or razor blade. Sprinkle a little cold water on

top to prevent pastry curling up.

Bake in a moderate oven for 45 minutes until puffed

and golden brown. Remove from oven and leave for 5

minutes before cutting into portions for serving.

Source: “The Complete Middle East

Cookbook” by Tess Mallos.

ISBN: 1 86302 069 1

I don't have exact measurements, because I really don't measure anything when I cook- I do it all to taste

- 1 roll Phyllo pastry dough, thawed

-2 packages (10 oz each) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed to remove excess moisture

-8-10 oz. crumbled feta cheese

small onion, chopped fine

-1/2 tsp dried dill, or to taste

-pinch or two of dried oregano

- salt and pepper to taste

-1 egg, lightly beaten

-1/2 c melted butter

Put enough olive oil in a large skillet to cover the bottom. Add the onions and saute over medium heat till they are translucent. Add the herbs and spinach and cook for a few minutes to allow the spinach to heat up and the favors to blend. Add the feta cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Allow to cool a few minutes ( I usually start working on the phyllo dough at this point)

In an 8" buttered baking pan, lay out a layer of the phyllo dough. Brush with butter, then lay anothe piece of phyllo over it. Continue till about 1/2 of the phyllo is used. Add the egg to the cooled spinach mixture and spoon the mixture onto the phyllo dough and press it down a little to smooth the spinach a bit. Then lay another layer of phyllo, brush that with butter and continue till all the phyllo is used. Score the top of the phyllo to make portion sizes, but don't cut through to the bottom layer of phyllo. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes, or till the phyllo dough is golden on top. Allow to cool some before you cut andserve. The spinach pie should be served warm or room temperature, but not hot.

Sometimes I use fresh spinach as well. Just use 2 bags of spinach, cleaned and with the stems removed. After you saute the onions, throw the spinach in to wilt. The other thing is that I sometimes find that the spinach mixture has too much water in it if you use fresh spinach. Just add a couple of sheets of phyllo in the center of the spinach mixture (with no butter on them) to absorb some of the water.

If I am entertaining, I make mini spinach tartlets for hors d'oeuvres using the same filling and phyllo dough. I lay out a sheet of phyllo on a clean, very dry work surface and brush with butter, then cover with another sheet of phyllo, continuing till I have 4 sheets of phyllo. Then I cut the phyllo into small squares. Place the squares of phyllo into a mini muffin pan and press down little to form a cup. Put a teaspoon of the spinach mixture into each cup and bake at 375 degrees for about 8-10 minutes, or till golden brown. I've also made these phyllo tartlets with mushroom filling, crab and cream cheese filling and a sweet onion filling.

Spanakopita

Recipe #143072 | 35 min | 15 min prep | add private note

|

By: Little Italy

Oct 28, 2005

Courtesy of Christine Cushing Live. A neat recipe, that I actually managed to make. Go to this website to see how to fold: http://lldzines.com/spanakopita/folded.htm

SERVES 15 , 15 spanakopitas (change servings and units)

Change to: spanakopitas US Metric Close

Ingredients

* 1 cup fresh spinach (leaves only and well packed)

* 1 teaspoon olive oil

* 3 green onions, chopped

* 2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped

* 4 tablespoons feta cheese, crumbled

* 2 eggs, beaten

* salt, to taste

* black pepper

* 1/4 cup butter (melted)

* 6 sheets phyllo pastry

* 1 pinch ground nutmeg

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F & wash spinach and place in boiling salted water for about 3 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water. Squeeze out all excess moisture and set it aside.

Heat oil in a saucepan and add onion, spinach and dill. Cook on high for 3 minutes until onions soften. Remove and cool. Combine the cooled spinach mixture with feta, eggs and salt and pepper. Set aside.

Work with ONE sheet of phyllo at a time. Cut each sheet of phyllo into 5 long, equal strips. Brush one strip with melted butter. Cover with a second strip and butter again. Lay strip down vertically in front of you. Spoon a heaping teaspoon of filling in bottom corner of strip. Fold over in half diagonally creating a triangle. Continue folding over into triangular shape until you reach end of strip. Repeat with remaining strips. Brush tops with a little more butter. Place triangles on a baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes until golden.

SPANAKOPITA

2 lbs. fresh spinach (or 3 pkgs. frozen spinach, drained well)

3 lg. eggs

1 tsp. salt

Pepper to taste

1/2 tbsp. nutmeg

1/2 lb. Feta cheese

6 oz. cottage cheese or Ricotta

1/2 lb. butter, melted

1 pkg. phyllo dough (freezer)

5 scallions, chopped (green part and all)

Wash spinach; discard stems. Dry thoroughly as possible on absorbent paper; cut in pieces. Saute onion in butter until soft. Cool. Add spinach, scallions, eggs, cheeses, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Mix well. Place 6 or 7 layers of phyllo pastry sheets in an 11 x 14 x 2 inch pan. Brush each sheet well with melted butter. Add spinach mixture, then place 7 or 8 layers of phyllo pastry sheets on filling, again buttering each sheet with melted butter. Cut (squares like) through the top layer. Bake in 350 degree oven for 1 hour until brown and crisp. Cut after 5 minutes. Can freeze uncooked Spanakopita. Can also be used as an appetizer.

GREEK SPINACH PIE (SPANAKOPITA)

1 lb. filo, frozen

FILLING:

2 (10 oz.) pkgs. frozen spinach or 1 lb. fresh

1 lb. cheese: feta, hoop, or cottage

1/4 tsp. salt

6 eggs, well beaten

1/2 c. oil

1/4 lb. butter

If using frozen filo, defrost 2 hours ahead of time.

FILLING: Thaw out frozen spinach. If using fresh, steam for 5 minutes until wilted. Crumble cheese, using fork to break feta cheese up. Add more salt if using hoop or cottage cheese as substitute. Mix in eggs. Set aside.

Heat oil and butter in a small pot. Unwrap filo and smooth creases out. Plan to use half of the filo sheets for the bottom layer and the other half for the top. (Keep covered while using, filo dries out quickly.) Oil pan generously, bottom and sides, using pastry brush.

Lay first sheet of filo in square or rectangular cake pan, letting excess lap over edges. Sprinkle with warm oil. Lay a second layer and sprinkle with a little more oil. Continue until half of the filo is used. Spread all the spinach mixture evenly over the filo, including the corners. Cover with remaining filo, oiling between sheets. Do not throw any filo away; include it in; it is all edible.

Roll and tuck all the filo around the inside edges of the pan. Do not trim with scissors or knife as one would for pie crust. Brush top and edges with remaining oil. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Serve hot, cut into square pieces like a cake. Reheat when necessary; never serve cold.

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