Spanakopita
Spanakopita is a tasty Greek pastry and is the universal snack in Greece, bought at bakeries and snack shops. These pies are often eaten on the run on the way to work. It can be served with tzatziki sauce and a Greek salad and has become a popular item in Greek restaurants worldwide. It is served as either a light meal or an appetizer. This pastry is with a filling of chopped spinach, feta cheese, onions, egg and seasoning. The filling is wrapped in layers of phylo pastry with butter/olive oil. It is golden in color when baked. However the color is enhanced with butter and egg yolk. White, fresh salted cheese may also be mixed with instead of feta cheese.
It is generally considered a snack and may be an alternative of Tyro pita. During the Greta Lent or other religious fasts a vegan version is eaten comprising of spinach, onions, dill, parsley, olive oil and some wheat flour and without eggs or dairy products and oven baked till crisp.
Spanakopita is like Torta Pasqualina a Ligurian traditional dish very common in Uruguay and Argentina
Spanakopita can also be served as an accompaniment with hummus, tiziki, pita, Greek salad with feta, and lamb chops.
Spanakopita Recipe 1:
Ingredients:
- Store bought flaky pie pastry
- 1/2 a bag of spinach
- 1/2 red onion
- 1 container (500g) of feta cheese
- 1 dash of Marsala wine
- 1 pinch of dried oregano
- pepper to taste
Roll out dough. Put it in a round pan. Continue to knead with fingers. Pinch out ripples for the crust. Heat pan with olive oil and garlic. Saute onions, and spinach at a med-low heat. Add a dash of Marsala wine. Adding Marsala gives this dish a unique and unexpected flavor. At a low heat, add 3/4 of the feta cheese into the pan. Cook for 2 minutes and add the pepper and oregano at any time as well. Pour filling into the pie crust. Top with the remaining 1/4 container of feta cheese. Preheat oven for 10 minutes at 350 C. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 C or until crust is golden brown and the top looks crispy.
Spanakopita Recipe 2:
Low Calorie Spanakopita
Categories: Appetizers, Spinach, Instant Rice, Phylo dough
- 20 ounce bag of frozen chopped spinach, thawed
- 1 1/4 cup of chopped onion
- 2 cups of low-fat cottage cheese
- 4 ounces of crumbled feta cheese
- 8 ounces of carton egg substitute, thawed
- 1/3 cup of instant rice, uncooked
- 2 teaspoons of dried basil
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- 1/8 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon of pepper
- 1/2 package frozen phylo dough thawed
- 2 teaspoons of melted margarine
- Non stick cooking spray
Drain spinach well in colander, set aside. The onions are cooked in a little quantity of boiling water and covered until tender and crisp and drain. In large bowl mix the spinach, cottage cheese, onion, feta, egg substitute, rice, basil, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Spray a 9″ x 13″ baking dish with cooking spray. Spread the spinach mixture in the dish. Place on the baking dish six layers of phylo dough and spray between each layer with cooking spray. Brush top layer with margarine. Bake at 375 degree F for 40 to 45 minutes or until top is golden. Let it stand for around 10 minutes before cutting. It makes 8 main dish servings, 16 appetizer servings. It has 167 calories per main dish serving.
- Ramyajit Gupta
Tags: greece, greek, pastry, Recipes, spanakopita recipe
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