Spinach Pie, or Spanakopita, comes in many forms in Greece. This recipe is for individual round, 'coiled' pies - see the photo. It also tells you how to make the Filo pastry yourself, without having to buy it frozen from the shop.
Ingredients
For the Filo Pastry
½ kg hard flour
150g vegetable margarine
1 teaspoon salt
For the filling
1kg fresh spinach
1 bunch spring onions
1 bunch aromatic spring herbs (in Greece, kafkalithres, paparounes, mironia etc)
1 bunch fennel
½ kg feta cheese
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 level teaspoon salt
Preparation of Filo pastry- 1st part
Mix the flour with the salt and enough water to make the dough pliable but not moist.
Knead the cough well and then divide it into 9 equal parts
Make a ball from each of the parts.
Leave the balls on a dish with flour for at least 1 hour, covered with cling film.
In this time, you can prepare the filling
For the Filo Pastry
½ kg hard flour
150g vegetable margarine
1 teaspoon salt
For the filling
1kg fresh spinach
1 bunch spring onions
1 bunch aromatic spring herbs (in Greece, kafkalithres, paparounes, mironia etc)
1 bunch fennel
½ kg feta cheese
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 level teaspoon salt
Preparation of Filo pastry- 1st part
Mix the flour with the salt and enough water to make the dough pliable but not moist.
Knead the cough well and then divide it into 9 equal parts
Make a ball from each of the parts.
Leave the balls on a dish with flour for at least 1 hour, covered with cling film.
In this time, you can prepare the filling
Preparation of the Filling
Clean the spinach and discard all the hard outer parts, leaving the leaves and the soft stems.
Rinse it well under cold water.
Clean the spring onions, spring herbs and fennel.
Cut them all into ½ cm pieces.
Place in a deep pan and add just 1 level teaspoon of salt.
Allow it to cook in its own juice for a few minutes – just to soften.
Drain well.
Crumble the feta cheese and add to the mixture.
Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil.
Set aside and allow to cool.
Preparation of Filo pastry – 2nd part
Flatten 3 of the balls so that they have a diameter of 20cm
Place these one on top of the other, spreading melted margarine between each of the 3 layers. When you have done this, cover it with cling film and set it aside.
Repeat this process, so that you have 3 filos with 3 layers each.
Take the first one and, with a rolling pin flatten it out so that it has 60cm diameter.
Spread butter over it.
Spread 1/3 of the filling you have prepared evenly over the surface.
Make a hole in the centre and fold the filo from the centre outwards so that you end up with a circular ‘tube’ with the filling in it.
Cut this anywhere, so that you have a single long cylinder.
Cut this into 7 equal parts.
Take the parts and roll them each into coils (see photo at top).
Place them in a shallow, buttered oven dish.
Repeat the process with the other 2 filos.
Spread margarine over all of them and bake them in a preheated moderate oven for 40 minutes or until they have a golden colour.
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