Sorta Speedy Shortcut Spanakopita

If you frequent this blog, (thank you, by the way) you probably will have noticed that I use filo pastry pretty often. This is partly coincidence, and partly because when I buy filo dough, the boxes have about 30+ sheets in them. It's not the best idea to thaw and refreeze it all, so here we go again; here's one more of the million and one ways to use filo.

Spanakopita is Greek spinach pie. Here, crispy phyllo is wrapped around a filling of spinach, onion, feta cheese, and egg. It's a tasty way to get your veg and its portability makes it a good picnic candidate too.

This is one of hundreds of different versions. I take a shortcut by using frozen spinach; if you want to cook and drain a couple pounds of fresh spinach, then by all means go for it. There are also recipes that call for dill, parsely, or green onion. Some are built in a pan and then served in slices. I like to make mine this way because you get more crunchy pastry per serving.

I made this with some feta that I had frozen (gasp!) (A note on frozen feta: some people say never to do this, but I thought it tasted fine after it thawed. Just put it in something rather than eating it plain in, say, a salad because the texture changes a little.)

Spanakopita

10 sheets of thawed phyllo dough
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2x 10 ounce packages of frozen spinach, thawed
6 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
1 tablespoon dried oregano
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspooon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

In a medium sized saute pan, onions in olice oil until translucent. Add garlic and continue to cook another 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool.

Drain the spinach well. (Really well, until no more liquid comes out when you squeeze it. I like to squeeze a bunch between two plates.)

In a large bowl, beat eggs with pepper and oregano. Add onion mixture, spinach, and feta cheese and stir until combined.

Brush one filo sheet with melted butter (cover the others with a damp towel so that they don't dry out). Place another sheet on top. With a pizza cutter, split the sheet in three (so you have three short rectangles). Place a scant 1/4 cup of filling at one end of each rectangle and roll as you would a tortilla wrap (fold the sides in when the spanakopita is half rolled).

Place on a baking sheet and brush the tops with melted butter. Bake at 375F for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 15 egg roll-sized spanakopita.

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