Spanakopita! Because I love Greek food too!

Greek food is something new to us when we moved to Australia as its not very common cuisine in the Philippines restaurant scene. And having been introduced to it, I fell in love.  I love Greek food!  The texture, the colours, the taste and ooh lala, the heritage!  So rich! And that goes as far as dreaming of visiting the islands too!  I don’t mind trekking  Santorini’s foot paths, admiring the uniformed white infrastructures and centuries old architecture, eating along the boardwalk café’s and just soaking in the Greek air and sun!  And hedonistic Mykonos of course!  All lovely picturesque patterns of white houses, streamlined café’s, chairs and decks and bronze bodies soaking on the golden beach of Platos Yalos!  It must be that inner knowledge of the Greeks as gods from long ago.  Hence, I must find it titillating if amongst the gods and eating their food!  That’s one of those dreams mum has tucked away in a bucket list somewhere.  Among them, hiking in South America and trek the Machu Pichu!

This recipe is adapted from Nannette of Gourmet Worrier.  I chanced upon her site and found her easy spinach spanakopita.  And as described, it is easy as!

1 packet 375 g  filo pastry

2500g fresh spinach leaves

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

bunch fresh fill, finely chopped

600g fetta, crumbled

1/2 c grated Parmesan

12 strokes freshly grated nutmeg

3 eggs beaten

300ml thickened cream

olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200C/390F.  Grease a 25-30cm round baking pan with olive oil and set aside.  (Usually just drizzle the pan with olive oil and wipe with kitchen/paper towel)

Heat some olive oil in a pan then add the garlic, spinach and dill.  Cook in low heat until the greens have wilted.  Turn off heat and allow the spinach mixture to cool then add the fetta and parmesan stir until well combined.  Add the nutmeg and season with salt and pepper to taste. (Make sure to taste as the fetta and parmesan are already salty by itself)

Lay 2-3 sheets of filo pastry on top of each other then scatter the spinach and fetta mixture over the filo.  Scrunch the pastry up and place it into the prepare baking dish (See photo on scrunching.  Note to scrunch the shorter side of the pastry.  It doesn't matter how you place the pastry into the dish.  It will all snuggle up together when you're finished all the mixture and the pastry). Repeat the process until there is no more spinach mixture left and the baking dish is well packed.  

Whisk the cream and eggs together and gently pour over the pastry making sure it is evenly covered.  (I used a butter knife to move the pastry in between to let the cream seep through).  Bake for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown.  Allow the spanakopita to rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.

The spanakopita looked a bit puffed after baking but it mellowed and flattened out a bit after a few minutes.  We kept this in the fridge for 3 days, taking out slices and re-heated in the oven for a quick snack or afternoon tea.