Speedy Spanakopita
You've got some frozen spinach in the freezer and feta cheese that's close to expiry. What do you do?! You throw it all together and make a quick and easy spanakopita! At least that's what I did. I don't make this often but I'm literally about to do a supermarket run and wanted to just empty out what was in my fridge and freezer before stocking up again. Try it out, get creative and don't be afraid to try something new. It's flour and spinach and feta. I'm telling you, you can not go wrong!
Equipment
- 10 inch round baking dish was used for this recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup olive oil divided throughout recipe
- 2 cups frozen spinach (you can add: leeks, parsley, dill, green onions) whatever you have on hand. I added spinach and dill as that's what I had.
- 1 egg beaten
- 1/2 cup rice I used basmati, any white rice works fine
- 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp. sea salt
- 1 tsp. ground pepper
- 1/2 tsp. garlic / onion powder
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup water use your judgement and add water slowly into your dough for the phyllo as you're kneading it.
- sesame seeds sprinkle on top of spanakopita
- 1 - 2 cups crumbled feta use as much or as little as you want
Instructions
- Mix flour and about 1/2 cup of olive oil into a stainless steel bowl, pour water slowly and kneed until combined. The dough should not be sticky and should be easy to work with. Adjust water and flour until desired consistency is achieved. Do not over kneed, this really shouldn't take more than 5 minutes. Cut into 2 equal balls and set aside.
- In a sauce pan mix in frozen spinach and all other ingredients except feta and egg. Add about 2 tbsp. of olive oil and just heat through a little bit. Add the rice at this step. The rice works to absorb excess liquid that could result in a soggy spanakopita. There are many ways to make this. Remember this is a fast, speedy version which is why we're skipping the draining of the spinach. (We'll leave that for another time). Take off the heat and then add the beaten egg and the crumbled feta and mix.
- Dust your work station with flour and begin to roll out the phyllo dough. Ensure the bottom portion is a bit thicker than the top. Grease the baking dish well with olive oil and lay out the phyllo making sure you're covering the edges of a 10 inch pan.
- Lay out one piece of rolled out phyllo dough and place filling in the center, spreading it out evenly throughout the pan.
- Fold over the edges of the phyllo and cover the filling.
- Cover with the second portion of the rolled out phyllo and pinch the edges with your fingertips. Once you add the oil on top it'll make for a crisp topping! Add the remainder of the olive oil about 1/4 cup or so on top of the spanakopita covering all parts of it and sprinkle with sesame seeds and / or Everything Bagel Seasoning (totally optional). It seems like a lot of oil, but it is not. You'll see!
- Bake in the middle rack of the oven for about 50 minutes at 400 degrees. Let cool, and slice into pie pieces. Enjoy!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!