Thursday for Dinner

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Spanakopita makes a wonderful side dish at a family meal and it also makes a perfect appetizer for parties. In this video, Eva shows us her take on the traditional Greek dish. Instead of using phyllo, Eva uses puff pastry, which you can find in the frozen section of your local grocery store. It is a lot easier to use and makes a delicious spanakopita.

1 package of frozen spinach
1 cup of chopped green onions
½ cup of chopped red onions
½ cup of chopped dill
½ cup of chopped parsley
1 cup of feta cheese
1 cup of ricotta cheese
Pepper to taste
3 eggs
1 package of puff pastry
Flour to work the dough
1/3 cup of butter melted
About 2 tablespoons of milk

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Allow the frozen spinach to defrost and squeeze out all the excess water. Coarsely chop the spinach and place it in a large bowl. Finely chop the green onions, red onions, dill, and parsley and add this to the spinach. Add the feta cheese, ricotta cheese, and eggs to the mixture and season with freshly ground pepper. Using your hands, mix all of the ingredients together.

Allow the puff pastry to defrost and separate it into two equal parts. Flatten the pastry with a rolling pin (the same way you would with pizza dough) to fit the size of a medium size pan. Butter the pan and lay out half of the puff pastry on the pan. Brush some melted butter on the dough and add the spinach mixture on top.

With your fingers, lightly dampen the top edge of the pan with a little water.

Place the second half of the puff pastry on top of the spinach and cheese mixture. Fold in the edges. Use a fork to help you fold in the edges. Butter the top layer with butter and brush a little bit of milk on top as well.

Cut the dough into squares (but don’t push your knife all the way down, just pierce the top layer).
Allow it to bake in the oven for 1 hour. Afterward allow the spanakopita to cool for a few minutes before you serve.

Enjoy!