Traditional Spanakopita

By Dixie Elliott

Traditional Spanakopita

This traditional spanakopita recipe uses filo pastry. This Greek spinach pie is a tasty meat free dish that can be enjoyed as a hot or cold main meal. Spinach or silverbeet is also a wonder-vegetable packed full of vitamins and dietary fibre.

 

Serves 4

360g baby spinach (or silverbeet)

1 tbsp olive oil

1 brown onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

4 green onions, thinly sliced

¼ cup dill sprigs, finely chopped

¼ cup mint leaves, finely chopped

1 large lemon, finely grated rind

220g fetta, crumbled

200g low-fat ricotta (or cottage cheese)

¼ cup parmesan, finely grated

4 eggs, lightly beaten

salt and pepper, to season

12 sheets filo pastry

80g butter, melted

 

1 Preheat oven to 200C. Put spinach in a large bowl. Cover with boiling water and stand for 1 minute or until wilted. Drain and rinse under cold water. Using your hands, squeeze as much liquid as possible from spinach. Transfer to a large bowl.

2 Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook for 3 minutes or until soft. Add garlic and green onion and cook for 1 minute. Cool. Add onion mixture to spinach with dill, mint, lemon rind, fetta, ricotta, parmesan and eggs. Stir until well combined. Season with salt and pepper.

3 Put 1 sheet of pastry on a flat surface. Brush with some butter and top with another sheet of pastry. Repeat 4 times. Line a 26cm x 16cm x 3cm-deep lamington pan with pastry sheets, allowing excess pastry to hang over edge. Spoon spinach mixture into pastry. Layer remaining sheets of pastry on a flat surface, brushing each layer with butter. Put over filling.

4 Trim pastry with kitchen scissors. Roll top and base layers of pastry together and tuck inside edge of pan.

5 Bake for 35–40 minutes or until crisp and golden. Stand for 5 minutes before cutting into portions. Serve.

Note: if using silverbeet as an alternative to spinach, remove stalk and discard. Shred silverbeet leaves and blanch in boiling water until just wilted. Drain and squeeze excess water from silverbeet.

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