Spanakopita
Spanakopita Triangles
This traditional Greek food made with flaky phyllo dough, can often be found in a pie form, but I love making them into savory triangles for a delicious hand-held meze(appetizer). A fantastic appetizer and a healthy snack made with fresh organic spinach, spring onions, mixed herbs, feta cheese and wrapped in a flaky, buttery phyllo dough. These vegetarian bites are perfect for any celebration. Simply delicious! This is a bit of a labor of love, compared with buying frozen from the store, but they are so much fresher and bursting with flavor! It’s worth the effort, I promise!
Tips & Tricks:
Make sure to defrost the phyllo before baking. Take it out in the morning or at least 2 hours before you use it and leave it in its packaging to come to room temperature. Keep your phyllo covered with a very slightly damp cloth so that it doesn’t dry out while you assemble the spinach pies.
Ingredients:
Makes Roughly 34 Triangles
Box of defrosted phyllo dough(No.7)~approx 17 sheets
1 lb of spinach wash and trimmed
4 green onions
2 cups of fresh chopped parsley
1 cup of fresh chopped dill
3 cups of feta cheese
4 eggs
4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil(for filling)
2 teaspoons of salt(optional)
1 cup of EVOO for phyllo sheets
Cooking Instructions:
[ 1 ] Wash the spinach, removing the stems or any damaged leaves and drain.
[ 2 ] Thoroughly wash and dry herbs.
[ 3 ] Place the spinach in a large bowl and add salt, 4 tablespoons of the olive oil, as well as the eggs, feta, herbs and mix well.
Assemble the Pies
[ 4 ] Preheat the oven to 180C (350F)
[ 5 ] Open up your phyllo pastry and use a sharp knife to cut the phyllo in half and then in half again. You will have approx 68 long strips. Place half of the sheets on a damp tea towel and cover. The remaining 34 sheets are placed on top of the tea towel so they are easy to reach for and use. You must work quickly here to avoid the sheets drying out. Brush one phyllo with olive oil and put a second strip of pastry on top. Doubling up the pastry will create crispy spinach phyllo and keep the filling from breaking open.
[ 6 ] Place a tablespoon of the filling at the end of the strip. Don’t be tempted to over fill!
[ 7 ] Fold the end of your strip with the filling over to encase the filling and form a triangle.Continue folding the pastry, brushing sparingly with olive oil, until you have a tightly packed triangle.
[ 8 ] Brush with oil and place on a non-stick baking sheet. You may use parchment paper to line the baking sheet.
Time To Bake!
[ 9 ] Put the spanakopita triangles onto a lined baking sheet, spaced slightly apart.
[ 10 ] Bake in a preheated oven until golden brown(approx 50 min) and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Don’t stack them, as the steam softens the pastry.
