Spinakopita Pie

For our Saturday Dinner Date we created a meal that I had never prepared before, Spinakopita Pie.  My fellow weekend chef partner  and full-time fiancé suggested a recipe from Bonappetit (https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/spanakopita-pie).

As there was no phyllo dough to be found in Colonial Beach, I  took a different route  and used Puff Pastry, thus I created more of a Spinakopita casserole. But I’d like to think the final flavors were very much spot-on.

Three other deviations included using a bag of baby spinach and cooking the meal in a glass baking dish instead of a spring pan. My biggest moment of going rouge involved the addition of a couple handfuls of finely chopped smoked chicken. Because…well…why not.

Also, instead of using feta cheese, a friend of mine gave me a block of Beta cheese. The cheese is from cow milk, and reminds me of a quality authentic Greek feta, which I’ve been longing for years to taste again. In fact, when deciding what to cook for Saturday Night’s Dinner Date, the fact that I had a big block of Beta Feta helped steer the direction.

Ingredients:

4 10-ounce packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained (I used fresh)

¼ cup olive oil

1 leek, white and pale-green parts only, thinly sliced

½ medium onion, chopped

5 medium scallions, white and pale-green parts only, sliced

2 garlic cloves, grated

Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

2 cups feta, crumbled (I used Beta)

¼ cup finely grated Parmesan

⅓ cup chopped basil

⅓ cup chopped dill

3 tablespoons chopped oregano

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1½ sticks salted butter (I used Kerrygold butter)

12 14×9-inch sheets frozen phyllo dough, thawed, room temperature (I used two sheets of Puff Pastry, which allowed me to make 3 layers…bottom, middle and top).

Directions

Place spinach in the center of a clean towel, gather corners together, and twist towel to wring excess liquid out of spinach. Try and get as much out as you can (if spinach is too wet, phyllo will get soggy as it bakes). Transfer spinach to a large bowl and break up into small pieces. Again, I used fresh baby spinach.

Step 2

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium and cook leek and onion, stirring, until just beginning to soften, 5–7 minutes. Add scallions and garlic and cook until vegetables are tender, 4–6 minutes more; season with salt and pepper. Scrape into bowl with spinach.

Step 3

Whisk egg, egg yolk, 1 tsp. salt, and ¼ tsp. pepper in a small bowl; add to spinach mixture. Add feta, Parmesan, basil, dill, oregano, and lemon zest and mix until distributed. Don’t be afraid to overmix; you want herbs and cheese in every bite!

Step 4

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly brush bottom and sides of springform pan with butter. Remove phyllo from packaging and cover with a kitchen towel to prevent drying out. Working quickly, brush butter on 1 side of 1 phyllo sheet. Transfer phyllo, butter side up, to prepared pan, covering bottom of pan. Gently press and tuck sides of sheet into bottom edges of pan. Fold and ripple phyllo as needed to cover bottom of pan. Repeat with 2 more phyllo sheets.

MY VERSION:

I just buttered my glass dish, put down the first layer of pastry, buttered it up, and then put in half the filling. Then another layer of pastry, buttered it, put the rest of the filling in and topped it with the last layer, giving it a good buttering.

Step 5

Working quickly, brush butter on 1 side of another phyllo sheet. Transfer to pan, arranging butter side up and slightly off-center so long side of dough comes up and over side of pan, leaving a 2″ overhang. Rotate pan slightly and repeat with another sheet so overhang covers another section of pan. Continue with remaining 7 sheets, rotating pan so there is overhang around entire pan.

Step 6

Scrape spinach mixture into pan, pressing down firmly and smoothing top. Gently fold phyllo overhang over spinach mixture and continue to press until phyllo goes just below rim of pan. Don’t worry if phyllo breaks or tears; gather any broken pieces and arrange where spinach peeks through. You want the phyllo to look draped over the top with lots of waves and folds.

Step 7

Bake pie until phyllo is golden brown and slightly darker around the edges, 50–65 minutes. Let cool in pan 1 hour before removing ring. Serve warm or at room temperature.