Spanakopita

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77. Te Elegant Art of Trailer Park White Trash Mobile Home Cookingcopyright 2011 www.white-trash-cooking.com, all rights reserved.
SPANAKOPITA
Makes about 2 dozen.
By Dennis W. Viau; modifed from many recipes.
Heres the thing with Spanakopita, it is normally made as a
savory pie with phyllo sheets on the top and bottom with
the spinach flling in between. I wanted to make those
individual little spanakopita that are sold frozen in the
warehouse store. So I set about writing this recipe to make
single-serving spanakopita that would work well in a bufet
setting or as appetizers when friends visit.
Techniques learned:
1. Wrapping individual single-serving spanakopita.
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion; chopped
1 bunch green onions (6 to 8 count); chopped
2 cloves garlic; minced
2 pounds (900 g) spinach; rinsed and chopped
cup (1 oz. / 28g) chopped fresh fat leaf (Italian) parsley
2 large eggs
cup (4 oz. / 128g) ricotta cheese
1 cup (8 oz. / 227g) feta cheese; crumbled
Salt and pepper to taste
1 package (16 oz. / 454g) phyllo dough sheets
About cup (120ml) olive oil
Directions:
Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saut onion until tender and translucent,
about 5 minutes. Add green onions and garlic. Saut an additional minute. Stir in spinach and parsley,
and continue to saut until spinach is limp, about 4 minutes. (Tis recipe uses a lot of spinach and I
therefore need to cook it in stages. It wont all ft in one pan.) Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
Afer it has cooled enough to feel safe to handle, the spinach can be pressed between layers of paper towel
to draw of excess moisture.
In a large bowl, combine the eggs, ricotta, and feta. Stir in the spinach mixture. Adjust for salt and
pepper. Lay 1 sheet of phyllo dough on a clean work area and brush lightly with olive oil. Place a heaping
tablespoon of flling in the center of one end (see illustrations that follow). Fold over the two sides to
encase the flling and brush the top surface with more olive oil. Roll up from the flling end, to make
either a rectangular or triangular pastry. Continue rolling pastries until all flling is used.
Heat oven to 375F (175C).
Place pastries on a greased or lined (with parchment paper) baking sheet without crowding. Two baking
sheets will likely be necessary. Bake on separate racks for 20 minutes, then switch the sheets between the
two racks. Bake an additional 20 minutes until golden brown.
Serve hot.
Te Step By Step guide begins on the following page.
20110506
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STEP-BY-STEP
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Assemble your mise en place. Two pounds is a lot of spinach. Use your largest skillet with a cover to cook
it. If you dont have a skillet large enough, it can be wilted in a large saucepan and added to the onion
mixture later. Te phyllo sheets (fllo above) are typically sold frozen. Taw in the refrigerator overnight
before using.
I am uncomfortable chopping an onion the way chefs do. Te slice the onion in half, leaving the root end
attached (shown above) and the cut downward making parallel slits, cutting almost to the root. Ten they
slice inward, with the knife parallel to the cutting board, cutting toward the hand. Tis cutting toward
the hand doesnt sit well with me when I am wielding a very sharp knife. I quarter the onion, leaving
the root attached, cut downward making parallel slits, and then turn the onion 90 degrees onto its other
fat surface. I then cut slits downward again, fnally fnishing by cutting across the slits to the desired size
chop. It takes a little longer, but it keeps my fngers safe.
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Heat the 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and saut until
tender and translucent, about 5 minutes. You can slightly caramelize the onion if you want (I prefer to) by
sauting it 7 to 8 minutes, reducing the heat in the latter part of the cooking.
Here is my cooked onion afer about 8 minutes. As you can see, they are very lightly caramelized.
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Add the chopped green onions and minced garlic. Stir and saut an additional minute.
My largest skillet isnt big enough to contain 2 pounds of raw spinach. I put 1 pound into the pan frst,
put the lid in place, and steam it for 2 minutes, then I add the second pound. Afer an additional 2
minutes I turn it with tongs and cook it a minute longer.
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If there is excess liquid in the bottom of skillet afer the spinach is cooked, drain in a colander. Let cool
until comfortable to handle.
I removed additional moisture by putting the spinach mixture on several layers of paper towels and
then covering with more towels. Press to absorb the excess liquid. You might need to do this twice. Te
mixture doesnt need to be bone dry, but I didnt want liquid oozing onto my phyllo sheets.
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In a large bowl combine the eggs, ricotta, and feta. Mix well.
Add the spinach/onion mixture and combine. Taste for salt and pepper at this stage and adjust
accordingly. Tis flling is now ready for the pastry.
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Place a single sheet of phyllo dough on your work surface and brush it lightly with olive oil. I fnd that if I
brush from side to side the sheet is much less likely to tear. Tat striped fabric to the right is a dampened
towel. On this day the humidity was low, around 20%, due to Santa Ana winds here in Southern
California. In such conditions the phyllo dough dries out quickly and there is nothing to do but discard
it and open another package. By keeping it covered with a moist (not wet) towel it stays supple and
workable. Arrange a heaping spoonful of flling in the center of one end of the phyllo sheet, shaped like
either a triangle, as shown above, or as a rectangle.
Fold over the two sides by bringing them to the center, encasing the flling. Brush again lightly with oil.
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Roll up the pastry carefully, wrapping it in the phyllo. Te triangle is a little more tricky because one edge
is a 45 degree angle.
Keep rolling until you have a fnished triangle. Place on a lined baking sheet.
Te rectangle is easier. Again, place a spoonful of flling at one end and shape in a rectangle.
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Again, fold over the two sides to encase the flling. It doesnt need to look pretty at this stage. Brush with
oil.
Ten simply start rolling from one end until the entire pastry is rolled up into a neat little rectangle.
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Arrange on a lined or greased baking sheet and bake about 40 minutes at 350F (175C) until golden
brown. I needed to use two sheets. So I baked them with one sheet above the other on two racks for 20
minutes and then I switched the two sheets for more even browning. Even so, one sheet needed to stay in
the oven a little longer to brown properly.
And here they are, fresh from the oven. Tese look very lightly browned in the photograph, probably due
to the lighting, but they were a little darker.
Conclusion
Admittedly, these involve a little more work than your average toll house cookie. For a special occasion,
I believe they are worth the efort. I think these work best on a bufet with other fnger foods, such as
my Genovese Savory Pastries, where guests can graze at their leisure. I also like to serve them as either a
snack or as an appetizer before the main meal. Te favor is light and savory, not at all overpowering.

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