.gif)
Spinach pie, made with a phyllo crust, is popular in Greek and Middle Eastern restaurants. With good reason: it's light, deliicous, and goes well with everything else in those cuisines. It's easier to make then you might suppose.
Jennifer Donner is my wife's niece, and she was our favorite babysitter until she got married and left town. She also was the person who gave my family total hospitality in the weeks after Hurricane Katrina. But before she did any of that, she made this great spinach pie.
- 2 10-oz. bags fresh spinach, picked and washed
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 Tbs. dill
- 1/2 cup chopped parsley
- 1/2 cup chopped green onions
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 8 oz. feta cheese
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 stick butter, melted
- Phyllo pastry
1. Leaving the water that clings to the spinach after washing, cooked the spinach over medium-low heat in a large saucepan until it wilts down completely. Remove, allow to cool, and chop finely.
2. Heat the olive oil in the same saucepan. Saute the onion until it turns clear. Add the dill, parsley, and green onions, and cook until the green onions get limp. Add the spinach. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the beaten egg and feta cheese quickly until well blended. Stir in the Parmesan cheese, and set aside.
3. Cut the phyllo pastry into strips about five inches wide. Keep covered with a damp cloth to avoid drying. Using two thicknesses of phyllo at a time, drop about a teaspoonful of the spinach mixture onto the phyllo, and fold the phyllo into a triangle around it. Fold over four times to completely enclose filling. Brush with butter on both sides. When you have enough pies to fill a cookie sheet or pizza pan, put them into the oven to bake. It is not necessary to turn.
The mixture can also be put into small vol-au-vents ("patty shells," as they are known in New Orleans) for baking.
Makes 15-20.