SPANAKOPITA(MV)          USENET Cookbook          SPANAKOPITA(MV)
SPANAKOPITA
     SPANAKOPITA - Greek spinach and cheese pie
     This recipe is from the Vegetarian Epicure by Anna 
Thomas.
     It takes lots of time to make, but is well worth 
it.
INGREDIENTS (serves 8)
     2 lbs     fresh spinach
     1 lb      filo dough
     1/2 lb    feta cheese
     7         eggs
     1         onion, diced
PROCEDURE
          (1)  Dice the onion and sauté it until 
golden brown.
          (2)  While the onion is cooking, wash the 
spinach.  Put
               it in a bowl and rub lots of salt into 
it.  Let
               the spinach/salt sit for 15 minutes. 
 This is
               meant to reduce the volume of spinach. 
 An alter-
               native to this is to barely steam the 
spinach
               (30-60 seconds).
          (3)  Beat the eggs.  Crumble the feta cheese 
and add to
               the eggs.  Note that feta cheese is fairly 
salty.
               You can replace half or all of it with 
ricotta
               cheese.
          (4)  Rinse all the salt out of the spinach. 
 Add it and
               the onions to the eggs/cheese and mix. 
 Also add
               some spices. The original recipes calls 
for salt,
               pepper, and oregano.  I use basil.
          (5)  Melt some butter (at least 2 oz.)
          (6)  Butter the bottom of a 9  inch baking 
dish.  Lay
               the filo down one layer at a time, brushing 
butter
               on each layer.  Turn each successive 
layer a lit-
               tle so they are not all piled directly 
on top of
               each other.  The filo will hang over 
the sides of
               the dish.  Continue until you have 3-5 
sheets of
               filo left.
          (7)  Pour the filling into the filo.
          (8)  Fold the filo that hangs over the side 
over the
               filling.  Place the last pieces of filo 
on top,
               buttering each as you go.  Trim off the 
filo that
               hangs over the edge of the dish.  These 
last
               pieces serve to cover the filling.
          (9)  Make two or three slits with a knife 
in the top
               layers of filo that go all the way down 
to the
               filling.
          (10) Bake at 375 deg. F for 50 minutes.
NOTES
     You can vary the filling to suit your tastes.  
We've thought
     of adding mushrooms.
     My husband complains about how thick and hard to 
cut the
     bottom of the spanakopita is.  His suggestions 
(none of
     which I've tried) include using more butter, and 
alternating
     laters of filo and filling.
RATING
     Difficulty: moderate.  Time: 45 minutes preparation, 
1 hour
     cooking.  Precision: no need to measure.
CONTRIBUTOR
     Aviva Garrett
     Excelan, Inc., San Jose, CA
     ucbvax!mtxinu!excelan!aviva
     Path: decwrl!recipes
     From: kyrimis@Princeton.EDU (Kriton Kyrimis)
     Newsgroups: alt.gourmand
     Subject: RECIPE: Spanakopita
     Message-ID: <13981@decwrl.DEC.COM>
     Date: 15 Jul 88 05:31:53 GMT
     Sender: recipes@decwrl.DEC.COM
     Distribution: alt
     Organization: Princeton University, Princeton, 
New Jersey, USA
     Lines: 102
     Approved: reid@decwrl.dec.com
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