Traditionally, this dish is made with spinach. Spanakopita has become a catch-all for our seasonally over-abundance of leafy greens. We often use a mix of greens from our weekly CSA boxes. But don’t stop there! Mixtures of leafy greens also work – experiment with kale, radish greens, Swiss chard, spring turnip greens, mustards and/or beet greens. I have even included some leaf lettuces! Consider steaming and freezing your CSA/garden/market greens for winter, when this dish can provide a much-needed boost of vitamins and green goodness!
Serves 4-6:
Ingredients
3 cups steamed spinach or other leafy greens
4 scallions (green onions), chopped
8 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
2 large eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (or 2 teaspoons dried dried)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1 cup cooked, shredded chicken (optional)
8-10 phyllo pastry sheets
2/3 cup olive oil
ground black pepper
Instructons
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. To make the filling, squeeze the steamed greens to remove excess liquid. Chop. Place greens in a large bowl. Add scallions and cheese, mix with a fork. Pour in beaten eggs. Mix in the herbs and season with pepper. Cooked, shredded chicken can be added to the filling, if desired.
Phyllo pastry sheets can be found at the grocery store in the freezer case. Make sure to thaw completely before making this dish.
Brush oil onto bottom and sides of 9" pie dish. Brush a phyllo sheet with oil and fit into pie dish letting hang over the edge. Top with three or four more sheets, brushing each with oil and placing them at different angles to make a roughly shaped pie case for the filling.
Spoon in the filling, then top with all but one of the remaining phyllo sheets. Brush each sheet with oil before adding the next. Fold in the over-hanging phyllo to seal in the filling. Scrunch the reserved phyllo into small balls and place on top of the pie. Drizzle with olive oil.
Bake for about 40 minutes until golden and crisp. Cool pie for 15 minutes before serving.
Pie can be made ahead of time and frozen prior to cooking. When I cook a frozen pie, I don't thaw it. I place the frozen pie into a 375 degree F oven straight from the freezer and increase the baking time by 20 minutes.
Colette DePhelps is a local food enthusiast. At home or abroad, she searches out and enjoys preparing and eating local, seasonal cuisine. During spring and summer, she spends at lot of time prepping greens from her two CSA subscriptions. Colette serves Idaho’s ten northern counties as a Community Food Systems Area Educator with University of Idaho Extension.
Local & regional ingredients #leafygreens #spinach #greenonions #fetacheese
Recipe type #maindish
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