Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Spanikopita

Last night for dinner we had Spanikopita. Since I couldn't find a recipe in my cookbooks, I did some online research. I found two, one from Rachel Ray on foodnetwork.com and one from SnappySpoons on Allrecipes.com. Each had about half of what I wanted, so I combined them into one recipe. It came out pretty good, but in future I think I will omit the mozzarella cheese. Much as I love mozzarella, I thought it gave the filling a slightly rubbery texture. Here's my cobbled-together spanikopita recipe:

4 sheets phyllo dough
melted butter
1 (10-oz) package frozen spinach
1 egg
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup crumbled feta
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella (again, I think I'd omit this next time)
1/2 cup gratred Parmesan
1 clove garlic, minched
1 small onion, chopped
1-2 TBSP olive oil

In the olive oil, saute the garlic and onion until soft. Thaw and squeeze the spinach. Then mix the cheeses, sauteed veggies, and spinach together with the spices. Beat the egg separately and then stir that in.

Paint melted butter onto half of your sheet of phyllo, paying special attention to the borders. Fold it in half. Put 1/4 of the spinach mixture in a log shape on one end of the phyllo, leaving about 2" from the top and sides. Fold this over and then roll the spanikopita up like an egg roll. Paint the seam and ends with more melted butter and place seam-side down on a baking sheet (no need to grease). Repeat with remaining 3 sheets of phyllo and spinach mixture.

Bake in (preheated) 400 degree oven for 15 minutes or until lightly golden all over and serve warm.

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