Spinach Pie (Spanakopita)

Spinach Pie

Ingredients

• Dafni's Pastry (see pastry recipe)
• 1kg of Frozen spinach
• A combination of leeks, spring onions and onions. For this version we used 3 leeks and a bunch (8) of spring onions.
• 400g of Feta
• Fresh Dill/Parsley (however we used 5 teaspoons of dried mixed herbs, but fresh is better)
• White pepper to season

Method

Filling

1. Put the frozen spinach in a pot and cover with water and heat until the blocks are broken up and the water is boiling

   

   Add frozen spinach to a pan

   

   Cover spinach with water
2. Trim the top and bottom and cut the leeks into 1-2cm rings

   

   Chop the leeks into 1-2cm rings

3. Trim the top and bottom and cut the spring onions into 1-2cm rings

   

   Chop the spring onions into 1-2cm rings

4. (If using onion coarsely dice)
5. By the time you have cut the leeks and onions the spinach will be ready

   

   Spinach is ready

6. Put a sieve over a bowl to drain the spinach, use a spoon to force the water out

   

   Sieve and bowl to dry spinach

7. The spinach should be quite dry

   

   Keep the water and spinach for later

8. Keep the water to cook the leeks and onions in, add the water, leeks and onions back to the pan and bring to the boil again

   

   Leeks and spring onions boiling in the water from the spinach

9. Chop the feta into small cubes, the easiest way is to cut each block in half so you have 4 pieces, then cut from the end of those to make long strips, then cut along the strips to make cubes

   

   Cut each feta block in half and align

   

   Cut the feta into strips and stack on their long end

   

   Cut the feta again to form small cubes
10. Once the leeks and onions are soft strain them the same as with the spinach, discard the water now
11. Add the feta, spinach, herbs, pepper, leeks and onion to a bowl

    

    Spinach, feta, leeks & spring onions

12. If you are going to cook the pie another time stop at this point and put this filling mix and the pastry into the fridge

Pie assembly

1. Start with the larger ball of pastry, place it on a floured surface

   

   Ball of pastry on a floured surface

2. With a floured rolling pin roll the pastry until its large enough to comfortably cover the bottom and sides of your dish (this will probably be larger than you think)

   

   Rolled out pastry to cover the bottom and sides of the dish

3. Place the bottom of the pie into the dish and push into the corners

   

   Push the pastry into the dish

4. Add the filling to the dish

   

   Filling in the pastry bottom

5. Roll out the smaller piece until its large enough to cover the top
6. Fold the top edges over to seal the two pieces together

   

   Fold the edges over the top

7. Prick the top with a fork and press the pastry together with the sides of the fork

   

   Prick the top and squeeze the edges with a fork

8. Brush the top with milk

   

   Brush the top with milk

9. Place in the oven at 180° for 30-45 minutes or until the top is nicely browned (for some reason ours took quite a bit longer today). This should serve 6.