Spanakopita

          Whenever I am home for break, I pay a visit to my yiaya (my very Greek grandmother). Truthfully, there is no way to avoid seeing her. She lives three houses down from where I live. If she finds out that I have been home for more than a day, she instantly calls me, inquiring why I have yet to walk the couple of yards to her house. Of course, I love my yiaya and would visit regardless, but I was still happy this break when I managed to beat the reprimanding phone call.

            When I walked in, I could see that my yiaya was busy cooking away in her tiny kitchen (She loves cooking and continues to do so even though she can barely stand). On the table was a huge bowl of drained spinach that had been previously thawed. Immediately, I knew she was making spanakopita.  

Tiropita

            When I younger, I wasn’t a big fan of spinach and therefore wasn’t the biggest fan of spanakopita. Instead, I would opt for tiropita. For those of you who have had the triangle shaped spanakopita(a shape of spanikopita I have yet to make), tiropita looks the same from the outside, but is filled with cheese, the main two cheeses being feta and ricotta. Since then, I have grown to love spinach and my preference has swapped.

The following recipe is from online and is practically identical to my yiaya’s (the pictures are also from the site). I like the site because it has images of the phyllo layering. When I was younger I would layer too slowly and the phyllo would start to dry out. I would also constantly rip the phyllo (okay, I still do it). When it came to folding the pyllo into a triangle for the tiropita, my yiaya would watch for a bit, but then have me move aside while she quickly raced to finish the pita before the pyllo completely dried out.

Spanakopita(Spinach Pie)

Ingredients:

2 10oz bags of spinach (baby or regular). You can also use frozen spinach (defrost and squeeze to remove excess liquid)

1 leek, washed well and chopped (see instructions below)

4 or 5 scallions, chopped

1 cup dill, chopped

3 eggs

1/2 lb feta cheese

1/2 cup parsley, chopped

1 cup olive oil, divided

1 package phyllo dough, room temperature

Instructions:

To prepare leek: Split leek lengthwise and wash under running water to remove all dirt. Split lengthwise again, and then cut across into medium sized pieces.

Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in large sauté pan and sauté leeks and scallions until soft. Set aside.

Add spinach leaves to a large bowl.  Sprinkle with salt and massage leaves to bruise, wilt and soften.

Crumble 2/3 of the feta with your fingers over the spinach.  Add chopped parsley and dill,  as well as the sautéed leeks and scallions. Combine very well  (go ahead and use your hands if you are feeling extra Greek today). Drizzle with 1/4 cup olive oil.

Beat eggs in a small bowl until combined and pour over spinach mixture. Combine well and set spinach mixture aside.

Brush a 13x9x2 inch pan with olive oil and lay 2 sheets of phyllo into the pan letting the excess phyllo hang over the edges.  Brush the phyllo (both the bottom and sides of pan) with olive oil.  Repeat with 2 more phyllo sheets.

Add spinach mixture to pan and spread evenly. Crumble rest of feta evenly over the top. Fold overhanging phyllo 2 sheets at a time into pan to cover spinach mixture. Brush with olive oil.  Repeat with the remaining 2 sheets of phyllo.

Fold one sheet of phyllo in half and lay it over the exposed spinach. Brush with olive oil.

Cover the entire pan with 1 full sheet of phyllo.  Using a sharp knife or kitchen scissors, cut around the edges of the phyllo so that it is just slightly larger than the internal perimeter of the pan and then tuck the edges of the phyllo neatly down into the sides of the pan. Brush with olive oil. Repeat with 3 more sheets of phyllo, brushing with olive oil between each layer.  

Sprinkle a little water over the entire pan to help the sheets of phyllo stick together when you cut into the spanakopita.

Score spanakopita with a knife before cooking.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour until cooked through and golden.