Spanakopita
Ingredients:
Directions:
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup olive oil- extra virgin
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 cup finely chopped fresh dill
- 6 scallions, finely chopped
- 2 small leeks, finely chopped
- 3 pounds frozen chopped spinach, defrosted, rinsed, and squeezed to remove excess liquid
- Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tsp of cumin
- 1/2 cup of minced basil
- 1/2 cup of minced anise
- 1/2 cup of parsley
- 1/2 cup of minced mint
- 6 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 large eggs- beaten
- 1/2 cup of condensed unsweetened milk
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 package 12-by-17-inch sheets phyllo
Directions:
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add your garlic, fresh herbs, scallions, and leeks and cook, stirring, until scallions and leeks are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Cook your spinach on medium heat and let it cook for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add it to your herbs mixture. Set aside.
- Add feta, and Parmesan cheese to your spinach and herb mixture. Make sure it is cooled down before you add in your beaten eggs. Mix in the condensed milk and whisk. Now add in your salt, pepper and cumin. (Make sure you taste your mix to see if you need more salt, or pepper. Set aside your filling in the fridge.
- Brush a 3-inch-deep, 9-inch-by-13-inch baking dish with butter. Trim phyllo to size of pan. Working quickly and keeping remaining phyllo covered with plastic wrap topped with a warm towel to keep moist, place one sheet of phyllo in prepared baking dish and brush with butter; top with another sheet. Repeat process until you have 10 sheets of phyllo in baking dish.
- When you have reached half the phyllo pour the spinach mixture in the dish and level it out if needed. Make sure you brush the top layer with butter or olive oil. Gently cut through the top layer of phyllo to create eight 5-by-2 1/2-inch pieces.
- Preheat the oven to 375 or 400. Really depending on how hot your oven temperature is. I usually place my oven temp on 400. Cook for about 45 minutes to a hour. It will be nice and golden brown on top. If you find that the phyllo is getting too dark on top, but you need more baking time, feel free to place a piece of foil on top.
- Remove from the oven and let cool. To serve, I like to top it off with parsley.