Diet
[x] Flexitarian + Omnivore
[O] Vegan: use vegan butter and cheeses
[x] Vegetarian
[x] Pescatarian
[O] Gluten free: I have not yet see a gluten free Phyllo
[O] Weight Maint
[O] Keto Diet
[x] Mediterranean
[O] Lectin Avoidance: milk products
[x] Oxalate Avoidance
[x] Purine Avoidance
Spanakopita
A Greek savory spinach pie filled with spinach, feta cheese, eggs, onions, and seasoning. It is a veggie cheese filling wrapped in a thin and buttery pastry.
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Servings: 12 people
Calories: 511kcal
Ingredients
Filling
- 2 C crumbled herbed feta cheese see my recipe
- 3 T dry toasted pine nuts
- 1 bunch Dill Chop
- 2 T olive oil
- 1 C diced yellow onion
- 3 scallions chop both white and green parts
- 20 oz chopped spinach 2 bags frozen, defrosted and drained
- 4 extra-large eggs lightly whisked
- 3 T freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 t zested nutmeg (use a planer to zest)
- 2 t kosher salt
- 1 t freshly ground black pepper
Pastry
- 4 sheets frozen phyllo dough defrosted
- 1/4 # unsalted butter melted
- 3 T Panko
- pinch Flaked sea salt such as Maldon
Instructions
Mise en Place
- Well in advance of cooking, remove frozen spinach from the fridge and put in a colander in the sink to drain as it defrosts. Move the phyllo dough from freezer to fridge to defrost. Move butter to the counter to reach room temp. Defrosting of the spinach and Phyllo must occur before you can start cooking.
- Once ready to make the dish, place oven to 375F.
- Dry toast the pine nuts, be careful so they do not burn. Put them in a bowl to cool.
- Set up a veggie station and chop the onions and scallions. Set them aside for later use.
- Crack the eggs into a cup and whisk, but then set aside.
- Grate the parmesan and make the crumbled herbed feta cheeses. Combine and keep in a a large bowl that we will eventually pour everything into for the filling. Chop the dill and add to this bowl.
Filling
- Heat the skillet, and then add olive oil. Once oil is hot add the reserved onions, and cook medium-low heat so that they gently become translucent. Then add the scallions, and cook until the scallions are wilted, but still green. Ten place these items in the large bowl and mix.
- The unfrozen spinach needs to be squeezed so that most of the water is removed. I do this in the sink, over a colander, to catch any falling veggie. Once as dry as you can make it, roughly chop the spinach and add to the bowl and mix.
- Mix in all the rest into the bowl: roasted pine nuts, whisked eggs, nutmeg, salt, + pepper. Combine all the ingredients well so one will get a bit of everything with each bite.
Phyllo Dough process
- Three cautions on Phyllo dough:1) Each box of Phyllo contains 1 or 2 packs of the dough. Open only one package at a time and keep it under a damp towel so it does not dry out. 2) Work with the dough fast so make sure the filling is ready to add. When this dough dries out there is no working with it, it becomes brittle. 3) Read the instructions and understand what you need to do before you start.
- Place 1 sheet of the very thin dough flat on a lightly floured work surface with the long end in front. Brush the dough lightly with melted butter and sprinkle a bit of the panko so the sheets do not totally glue together. Add another sheet of phyllo dough on top, butter and panko. Add another and continue until 4 layers are done. Then cut the sheets in half lengthwise so you have two parts.
- Divy up the filling so half is added to each stack of phyllo dough. Put a bit of butter on the top of the dough, ~1/2". Then move the filing so it fills all along the longest section of the dough. Finally, roll the filling up using the dough, and it is okay if the dough doubles over itself. You want two filled "logs" of filling.
- Place these two logs on a parchment lined sheet pan, seam sides down. Brush with the rest of the melted butter so it browns a bit on the top, and sprinkle with flaked salt. Bake for 35 minutes, until the phyllo is browned and crisp.
- Once done I slice the logs into enough round pieces that everyone can have a piece. I cut 6 from each roll, but you could make them skinnier and get more pieces from the logs.
Notes
This is based on an idea I got while watching Ina Garten make a version of Spanakopita. I am adding a link to her page as an alternative folding process you might want to make, the usual triangles.
Nutrition
Calories: 511kcal | Carbohydrates: 57g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 98mg | Sodium: 1218mg | Potassium: 317mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 6008IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 229mg | Iron: 5mg