Spanakopita

If I am at a Greek Restaurant or Festival, I never pass on the opportunity to buy Spanakopita. After watching this YouTube video from Dimitra's Kitchen I realized how easy it is to make this at home. My recipe however is based on a video from Angelo's Mom, and this is how I currently like to make it -

Filling

Ingredients

You can alter the ratios of the following ingredients as needed depending on your tastes.

• Cooked Spinach Strained well - 3 cups.
• Dill - 1 cup chopped
• Parsley - 1 cup chopped
• Green Onion - 1 cup chopped
• Feta Cheese - 8 oz
• Ricotta Cheese - 8 oz
• Salt - to taste
• Pepper - to taste
• Eggs - 2 eggs

Directions

• Mix everything except the eggs
• Taste
• Add Salt and Pepper if needed.
• Fold in eggs and mix until incorporated

Assembly

Ingredients

• Fillo Dough - 1 roll
• Olive Oil

Directions

I use a half sheet baking tray from Nordic Ware. Lightly brush oil on the base of the pan, ensuring that you don't have pools of oil as this will make the base of the pie soggy.

1. For my base layer, I usually place around 4 layers of fillo dough directly into the pan
2. Overlay 2 layers over each edge of the pan such that half of them are over the edge
3. Spread filling as evenly as possible
4. Cover filling with the overlapped dough
5. At this point you should be left with around 10 layers of dough. These can either be layered or crumpled (like a piece of paper) over the pan.

I then score the top layer of the dough, as this will make it easier to cut the cut the pie after it has baked. I also lightly brush oil on the top layer

Baking

Bake in a 350 degree F oven on the lowest rack for about 1 hour, rotating the pan at the half hour mark. 

I usually let it cool for around 15-20 min before cutting out slices

Reheating

I've had best results in a 350 degree oven for 10 min. This also works in a toaster oven.

A microwave on the other hand tends to make the crust very soft, rather than crispy.

Other Notes

Cooking Spinach

You can make 3 cups of spinach by cooking about 4 packets of frozen or fresh spinach in a skillet or frying pan. The main purpose of cooking the spinach is to reduce it and extract the water, so that it can be strained well. This takes about 5 minutes or less.

Moisture Absorber

I've seen recipes that do not cook the spinach but instead use raw spinach with cooked rice or breadcrumbs in the filling as a moisture absorber.

Ingredient Ratios

The ratio of Spinach to other green ingredients (Dill, Parsley, Green Onion) is 1:1, but you can vary it as you adapt this recipe

Fillo Dough

Most grocery stores have Fillo Dough in the same section that sell pie crust. I've mostly been able to find it from a brand called FILLO_FACTORY

Layering

A lot of the assembly involves layering dough over each other. Inevitably, dough will stick and this can be avoided by lightly brushing olive oil in between layers. This will help achieve a flaky croissant like crust. Note, that it isn't necessary to brush each and every layer. You may skip at a time.