Spinach and Cheese Pie

By Audax_Artifex

Spinach and cheese pie (Spanakopita) is one dish I like to have on picnics it is easy and delightful cold or hot. It uses fillo (phyllo) pastry which produces a wonderful low fat crisp crust.

Ingredients

• 8 Sheets Fillo (Phyllo) Pastry
• 1 large bunch spinach about 2 lbs (1 kg)
• 1/2 cup parsley minced or 1/4 cup mint minced
• 2 medium onions finely chopped
• 1 bunch of shallots finely chopped
• 1/4 cup oil or butter
• 400 grams (2 Cups) ricotta cheese (or combination of ricotta and feta cheese) drained
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• Melted butter (clarified butter is best to use)
• Recipe can be doubled to make one big pie. Serves 12.

Details

Servings 6
Adapted from audaxartifex.blogspot.com

Preparation

Step 1

The secret for a great Spanakopita is to have the filling as dry as possible, DRY the spinach and drain the ricotta cheese overnight in the fridge. Also cool the filling before it is added to the pie crust to be baked use the ricotta straight from the refrigerator. You can use double the amount of phyllo pastry if you wish.

1.Fry finely chopped onion and shallots in a large pan until translucent, about 5 minutes.
2.Remove stalks from spinach, triple wash the leaves and stalks and drain until completely DRY. Use towel papers or a salad spinner to dry the spinach.
3.Cut spinach into small pieces and finely slice the stalks (optional) and place into a saucepan over very low heat and wait until spinach has wilted about 3 minutes.
4.COOL the spinach for a few minutes and then drain by squeezing spinach in your hands until completely dry.
5.Beat ricotta cheese, eggs, salt, pepper and oil in a separate bowl and then add onions, shallots, chopped drained spinach and the parsley. Mix well until combined.
6.Layer a medium sized pie plate/dish turning each layer 45 degrees with seven sheets of fillo pastry, buttering every layer with melted butter. Make sure that you overhang the fillo pastry over the edges of the pie plate/dish.
7.Place the mixture on top of the layered pastry and place the last sheet of buttered fillo pastry over the mixture. Fold in the overhanging ends.
8.Brush the top with melted butter and bake in a preheated moderate (180C/350F) oven for about 45 minutes or until golden brown. (For large pie bake about 55 minutes).

Variation to use when eating cold
Add 2 tablespoons of sweet chilli sauce, 1 tablespoon oyster sauce, ½ tablespoon hot chilli sauce.