Wednesday, October 29, 2014

SPINACH PIE (SPANAKOPITTA)

 
 
SPINACH PIE
SPANAKOPITA
1 pound fresh spinach
1 package of Athens Phyllo dough (1 pound)
2 large leeks, thinly sliced
4 green onions, sliced
4 beaten eggs
1 cup olive oil.
½ cup fresh dill, chopped
½ cup chervil, chopped
½+ pound Greek feta cheese
½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp black pepper
 
Clean and  roughly chop the spinach. Prepare the leeks and green onions and chervil.  Place all  the s in a deep bowl add salt, pepper and in a way "knead" the greens until a some  liquid starts coming out.  When that happens stop! It will look wilted and dark, that is fine; this is what we are looking for, less volume.
 
Add the eggs, half the olive oil and crumbled feta cheese and put the mixture aside.  Take a 9x13 baking deep, lasagna pan baking dish and brush it with olive oil.  Open the package of the  phyllo dough, cover it with a damp towel and start layering one sheet at a time by brushing them with the rest of the

olive oil. Allow part of the dough to go up on the sides of the pan, because later you will fold them in. You want this to be a closed pie.   When you have used half of the dough spread the spinach mixture in it.  Continue by finishing up with the rest of the dough. Finish by brushing the top final layer with olive oil.  Take the bottom dough that overlies on the ends of the pan and bring in over the top layers of dough.  Pat it down and brush with more olive oil.    Now you understand that as you start the layering the dough that is larger from the pan.  That is ok` we like that.  Let that extra dough hang outside the pan and you finish with layering all of it, go back and turn in by folding it at the ends.  As you work with this pie you will find out some other little way you like to do this or that remember!!!  It is your pie; your dough and you are the boss!! 
 
Now before you bake it you HAVE to score it in diagonal pieces.  If you do not you will have to find a new way to serve it because the dough gets real crisp and there is no way to cut it in pieces.  Bake it in an already heated oven 350 f.  For at least one hour or until the phyllo has a light golden baklava color like.   Place your rack pretty low, or maybe in the middle rack, since when you use phyllo dough the top gets cooked faster than the bottom. 
Enjoy this pie as an appetizer serving it in diagonal pieces in a nice platter or as a main meal if there is nothing else to eat.