Greek Spinach-and-Cheese Pie

Greek Spinach-and-Cheese Pie

printable version

I have been working on the same box of phyllo leaves for several recipes for a few years.  They may have taken on a freezer taste...not sure.  I keep them wrapped in plastic, in a ziploc freezer bag in a box.  I have been told by someone in my house that they don't like the taste of phyllo - so that makes me wonder if it is all phyllo or just my box...regardless, I cook on.

As usual, I made a half recipe and then split that in two so one could be without cheese.  The recipe calls for a total of 30 oz of spinach so I used one 16 oz bag.

It's hard to split 3 eggs in half so I did 1 egg and one egg white.  Every Sunday I make a scrambled egg for my teenager so he'll get an extra yolk this week.

I wasn't going to pull out the rotary beater just for this - I just used a fork.  I also didn't use a wooden spoon - but I have a spoon that is covered with something rubbery.  It feels like a wooden spoon dipped in silicone.

I've recently discovered how cheap fresh parsley is so I bought a bunch for $0.33 knowing I would only use a tiny bit of it for this recipe.  I figured it'd bring better flavor than the dried flakes I've had in my pantry for close to a year.  (I should probably figure out how to dry the rest of my bunch and use it to replace what's in my pantry.)

I put the eggs and spices into the large bowl of spinach and onion instead of spinach into eggs as the recipe instructs.

I'm pretty bad about covering up the extra phyllo while I'm working with one sheet.There were a couple of spots that got a little dry but I just put extra butter on them.  I cut the sheets in one direction but where they hung over the pan I just folded over.  I alternated the end that was folded over.  A couple of times I just put a sheet in the middle so that the ends wouldn't get too thick.

The spinach was easy to spread out across the phyllo.

After I put together the non-cheese pan I added in the Feta to the rest of the spinach.

The spinach mix got a little juicy looking while it sat but I just remixed before I put it on the phyllo.  I was worried it would make the dish watery but it did not.

The triangles were easy to cut.  I baked 30 minutes.  The smaller pan was golden and crisp but the larger pan needed a few more minutes.  The end result was nice but nothing to write home about.  I almost want to go get a "spanikopita" from John the Greek's (where my mom often went for Greek food) to see how it compares.

The paper feels magazine like.  There are full color photos on the back of other foods.  This probably came from a magazine like Southern Living or Good Housekeeping.  There are no identifying references.