Spanakopita
Margaret Vickers
This recipe is based on one provided by Stephanie Alexander.
1 finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 spring onions finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh chopped mint
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
freshly grated nutmeg
500 gm washed and chopped silverbeet leaves (if you use some Malabar spinach, cooking and squeeze it out through a sieve or a tea towel in order to remove the excess liquid)
300 gm of cheese – about 150 gm ricotta (pour off any liquid), 100 gm Fetta and 50 gm Kasseri or Kefalatori. Crumble the Fetta, and grate the Kasseri
2 eggs
120 g unsalted butter melted
Filo pastry sheets
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- Preheat oven to 180°
- Sauté onion until transparent.
- Add spring onion, mint, parsley, spinach/silverbeet, and nutmeg and cook until they are soft and there is no more liquid left in the pan.
- Tip the vegetable mixture into a colander, weight it down to press out any extra liquid
- Beat the egg is in a large bowl together with the cheeses, then add the cooled spinach mixture and mix altogether thoroughly
- Use a rectangular Pyrex dish: butter bottom and sides thoroughly.
- Cut the filo sheets to fit and place them in one at a time buttering each layer as you go. Five sheets will be sufficient. The sheets should come up the sides of the dish.
- Spoon the spinach and cheese mixture in, and smooth the top until it is even
- Place filo sheets on top of the mixture one at a time buttering each one until you have done six or seven sheets.
- You can crimp the pastry around the rim for decorative effect
- Score the pastry into squares but do not cut through to the bottom
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