Spanokopita (Spinach Pie)

Pronounced: spä'nə-kō'pē-tə. Spanakopita, meaning "spinach pie", is a Greek savory pastry, typically with spinach and feta cheese filling. It is similar to the börek pastry of other eastern Mediterranean cultures.

The traditional filling comprises chopped spinach, feta cheese, onions or scallions, egg, and seasoning. Herbs such dill, mint and parsley as may be used as flavouring. The filling is wrapped or layered in phyllo (filo) pastry with butter or olive oil, either in a large pan from which individual servings are cut, or rolled into individual triangular servings. It can be served straight from the oven or at room temperature.

FMM: The first time I made this recipe to make Spanokopita Triangles, the spinach mixture was too running. The next time I made them I added only two eggs, instead of three, and used ricotta cheese which is drier than cottage cheese. The mixture held together better. Be sure to squeeze the spinach to remove as much water as possible.

See below for making Spanokopita Triangles for hors d'oeuvres.

1/2 pound phyllo dough (20 sheets - my package had 18)
melted butter or olive oil, for brushing the dough (about 1 stick butter for the triangles which I usually make)
10 oz. fresh spinach
8 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
1 cup small curd cottage cheese or ricotta cheese, drained of extra moisture (2 cups cottage cheese in one pound)
1 small onion, chopped
2 Tbsp. fresh parsley
2 Tbsp. fresh dill weed or 2 tsp. dry (or more)
salt
3 eggs, beaten - use only 2 eggs if making the Triangles

Wash, chopped and blanch the spinach. Squeeze as much water from it as you can. Place in a mixing bowl.

To make the spinach-cheese mixture, add the crumbled feta cheese, drained cottage cheese, chopped onion, parsley, dill weed, salt and beaten eggs. Mix together lightly; set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

To Make a Pan of Spanokopita (lunch or light dinner)

In a buttered 12 x 7 1/2 inch baking pan [this is not a standard size - I used a 9 x 9 inch pan], layer 10 phyllo leaves brushing each leaf with butter or olive oil. Fold edges over if need be to fit pan. Spread with the spinach-cheese mixture and layer 10 more phyllo leaves over filling, again brushing each leaf with butter. Cut top layer of phyllo into 6 squares (or more for hors d'oeuvres). Phyllo is almost impossible to cut after it bakes; it just breaks all apart. So cut the top layer of phyllo before baking.

On https://www.dimitrasdishes.com/, she has you lay 3 sheets on the bottom of the pan and drizzle with a little olive oil [I would use butter]. ​Then place 2 sheets half in the pan and half hanging outside of the pan on all four sides of the ​pan. [You could then layer more phyllo if yoou want.] After putting the spinach mixture in, the sheets that are hanging outside of the pan are folded over the filling. This keeps the spinach nicely packaged in the pan.

Bake for about 35 minutes, or longer, until golden brown. The filling will expand a bit and the layers of phyllo will puff up and separate. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

Interesting Ways to Top Pan of Spanokopita

From https://www.foodandwine.com/

A recipe from Food and Wine crumples the phyllo sheets, 6 in total for a 9- x 12-inch pan, that go on top of the pan of Spanokopita. It makes for an interesting presentation and very crisp top crust.

At this point in the recipe the spinach filling has been spread over the bottom sheets of phyllo. "Brush 1 of the [remaining phyllo sheets] with 1/2 teaspoon of the oil; gently crumple phyllo sheet, and place on top of filling. Repeat process with remaining 5 phyllo sheets and 2 1/2 teaspoons oil, placing phyllo sheets on top of filling forming 2 rows of 3."

 

 

On https://www.dimitrasdishes.com/, does something similar. Instead of crumbling the phyllo, she says to "Reserve 6-7 sheets of phyllo for the topping and place the remaining sheets over the filling. Drizzle with some butter. Take one sheet at a time and crinkle it like an accordion and place it on top. Continue creating accordions and place them side by side until the top is covered. Drizzle with butter and score into pieces."

 

To Make Spanokopita Triangles for hors d'oeuvres:

Take 1 phyllo sheet from stack and arrange on a work surface with a long side nearest you (keeping remaining sheets covered with wax paper and a damp cloth - do not get the phyllo sheets wet or they become sticky and gummy) and brush with some butter or olive oil. Top with another phyllo sheet and brush with more butter. Cut buttered phyllo stack crosswise into 6 (roughly 12- by 2 3/4-inch) strips - I cut mine into 4 strips.

Put a heaping teaspoon of filling near 1 corner of a strip on end nearest you, then fold corner of phyllo over to the edge of the dough to enclose filling and form a triangle. Continue folding strip (like a flag), maintaining triangle shape. Do not fold too tight as the filling puffs up a bit. Put triangle, seam side down, on a large lightly greased baking sheet and brush top with a little butter. Make more triangles in same manner, using all of filling.

Bake triangles in middle of a 350 degree F. oven until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes, or longer, then transfer to a rack to cool slightly.

Makes about 48 triangles (if cutting pastry into 6 strips) - I ended up with 32 (8 double sheets cut into 4 strips each), with 2 extra sheets of phyllo that I made into little phyllo cups using a miniature muffin pan. I did not have any filling left to use with them otherwise I would have ended up with 36 triangles. The next time I made them I had enough filling for 34 triangles.

Note: Pastry triangles can be formed, but not baked, 3 days ahead. Arrange in 1 layer in heavy-duty sealed plastic bags, then freeze. Bake frozen pastries (do not thaw) in same manner as above.

Leftover phyllo sheets can be used to make Phyllo Cups.