No 460: Spanakopita

Thursday, April 1, 2010

8 eggs
3/4 lb of chopped or crumbled feta (one large slice)
16 oz of small curd cottage cheese
10 oz of spinach
bunch of green onion
3 tsp of flour
2 sticks of melted, clarified butter
1 package of phyllo
pepper

Beat 8 eggs in a large bowl.

Wash and dry spinach.

Saute chopped green onions with a small amount of olive oil.

Add one large slice of feta, cottage cheese, spinach and green onion to the beaten eggs.
(Feta should not be purchased in shrink-wrap. Buy it fresh or don't but it at all.)
Add 3 tsp of flour.

Melt two sticks of butter and allow the solids to separate from the clarified butter. Some markets will sell ghee, this clarified butter, for cooking.

When you purchase phyllo, it will be in the freezer section of your grocer. Allow the phyllo to defrost in the refrigerator, not out on the counter, or the sheets will moisten and tear.

Slowly unroll one of the phyllo rolls-there will be two. Gently pull one sheet away from the pile, and place it in a baking sheet. Slowly cover the pan with sheets of phyllo, layering small amounts of butter as you add new layers. Be sure to allow the sheets to drape over the edge of your pan, and butter these edges most heavily.

Don't get upset (like I do) if one of the sheets tears. Use it-it's still good.

When you have used one roll to cover the bottom of the pan, add the spinach filling.

Repeat the process of layering phyllo sheets with the second roll on top of the spinach filling. When you have used the second roll of dough, carefully fold the well-buttered edges back into the pan, sealing the spinach inside. Do your best-Martha isn't watching, and it doesn't have to look perfect.

Back at 350 degrees until you can lift the bottom of the phyllo with a spatula.
There were no clocks in the old country.



Whew! I've never had to try to explain that to someone without phyllo dough in front of us, and it's tricky! And we're not even making the phyllo! To be fair, no one I know makes it these days. My mother did growing up, and she may have been the first convert to frozen dough.
Consider it an Easter gift.


Kalí óreksi!

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