This pie with spinach, leeks and feta cheese is a traditional dish in Greece, and it’s called spanakopita or σπανακόπιταWe prepare at first the leeks and the onions and then we add spinach. We also add the feta cheese and some comté like cheese (or gruyere) and the final result is very good and tasteful. It’s quite easy to make once you buy the phyllo leaves on store. Give it a try and you will be pleasantly surprised!
In two words:
“… we are revolutionary from head to toe, we have been, we will be until the end”.
difficulty – a bit of technique is required
preparation– 45’
cooking - 1h
serves - 4 grands parts ou 8 plus petits (plat 20cm de Ø)
Ingredients
- 225gr of frozen spinach
- 3 thin leeks
- 2 small onions
- 4 teaspoons of olive oil (for the filling)
- 30gr of French Comté or Gruyere
- 125gr of feta cheese
- 3 large eggs (2 for the filling and 1 for the top)
- 50ml of heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon of dill
- 35ml of olive oil (for the phyllo leaves)
- 10 leaves of phyllo
- 1 teaspoon of parmesan
- 2 pinches of fleur de sel or coarse salt
- 10 turn mills of Kampot black pepper
Steps
- Preheat the oven at 180°C
- Remove the green part of the leeks and cut their ends
- Wash the leeks
- Peel and wash the onions
- Slice the leeks in fine rounds
- Chisel the onion
- Heat-up a pan
- Once the pan is hot, add the onion
- Stir in the onion until it starts to shine and loses its humidity
- Add the olive oil and stir
- Add the leeks and slowly start to break the rounds so they are not tight anymore; at the end you will have broken almost all the rounds
- Add the spinach
- Turn them over until they unfrozen
- Stir in the rest of the ingredients
- Remove from heat
- Add the dill and stir
- Add the heavy cream and stir
- Add the eggs (one by one) and stir after each addition
- Add the feta cheese e in small pieces and crushed them with your fingers
- Add the grated Comté cheese or the Gruyere and stir
- Add salt and pepper and stir one last time
- Take a pan that can go in the oven and 20cm of Ø
- Add just a little bit of olive oil and spread it all over the pan
- Place into the pan one phyllo leaf
- Spread with a brush the inside the pan and on top of the leaf a little bit of olive oil; make sure to cover a little bit also on the outside of the pan (5-7cm from the border)
- Place another leaf on top in a perpendicular way and spread some oil on top as you did before
- Continue the same way until you have added 5 leaves
- Pour the filling into the pan
- Place on top another phyllo leaf and spread the oil on top as before with the brush
- Take another leaf and place in a perpendicular way on top and cover it with oil as before
- Continue to add leaves and spreading some oil on them, as you did before, until you’ve reached the 5th leaf
- Cut with the scissors the exceeding of phyllo leaves, just leave 5-7cm of surface starting from the border of the pan
- Take the remaining exceeding leaves and turn them towards the center of the pan as to create a crown on the borders of the pie
- Cut the pie in four
- Beat the remaining egg as an omelet
- Spread some egg wash on top of the pie with a brush
- Sprinkle on top the parmesan
- Cook for 1h in the oven
- Delicious!
What’s the story behind this recipe?
In Greece we make pie like this quite often and we called them pita or πίτα. We make often those pies with spinach (like here) and others only with cheese. The pita with spinach is called spanakopita or σπανακόπιτα and I tried to reduce the fat as to make lighter.
Try to make it, it’s really good and rather easy to make.
You can find the phyllo leaves on the stores or special Greek stores.
o-o C'est si bon ! o-o
- Categories: Greek Food, Vegetarian Food, Special Food, Veggies
- Ingredients: dill, comté, heavy cream, spinach, feta cheese, olive oil, eggs, onion, parmesan, fylo crust, leeks
