Spanakopita

This spanakopita recipe from Open Souce Food looks really good so we've put it on our "to try" list. Click here to let us know how it works for you.

Ingredients

* 1 medium red onion, diced
* 4-6 green onions/shallots, sliced
* 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
* 30 oz (two large bags or three bricks) frozen spinach, thawed and drained
* leaves from 1 bunch Italian parsley, chopped roughly
* 4 eggs
* 8 oz feta cheese, crumbled
* 1 oz parmesan cheese, grated
* nutmeg, oregano, black pepper to taste
* 1 package phyllo pastry, thawed
* 1 stick butter, melted (you can use half butter and half olive oil if you prefer)

How to make Spanakopita

This is great as a side dish for grilled meats, but it can also serve as a main course for vegetarians.

Phyllo pastry can generally be found in the freezer section of the supermarket, near the puff pastry and frozen pie crust. It comes in one-pound boxes and there are two plastic-wrapped rolls in each box. One roll is sufficient for this recipe.

1. Put about a tablespoon of olive oil into a skillet or saute pan over medium heat. Allow to heat up, then cook both kinds of onions and garlic until just soft, about 5-8 minutes.
2. Add spinach, breaking it up with your hands to allow easier stirring. Mix everything together and cook just until it looks dry, 2-3 minutes. Turn off the heat, add parsley leaves, and stir to combine.
3. Beat eggs in a mixing bowl. Add the cheeses, spices, and salt at your discretion, and stir together.
4. When the spinach mixture has cooled enough that it won't scramble the eggs, mix the two together thoroughly in the mixing bowl.
5. Unwrap and unroll your phyllo pastry. Cover it with a damp towel to prevent it drying out and cracking while you work.
6. Butter the bottom of a rectangular baking dish, then lay on one sheet of phyllo. Butter the sheet (using a pastry brush is the easiest way to do this) and lay down another. Continue until you have 8 to 10 sheets stacked up. If there's any overlap, let it go up the sides of the dish.
7. Dump in all the spinach-egg mixture and spread it out flat. Top this with a sheet of phyllo, butter as before, and continue until you've used up the rest of the phyllo.
8. It's best to refrigerate the assembled spanakopita for at least an hour before you bake it. If you can't, it's no big deal, but you'll definitely want to score the top (and refrigeration makes this easier). If you don't score it, you run the risk of shredding your top crust when it comes time to cut and serve. I like to score mine in diamond shapes.
9. Bake at 400 degrees F (180 C) for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the top is brown. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

(http://www.opensourcefood.com/people/Endymion/recipes/spanakopita)