If you've exhausted your recipe books and have ordered take out 4 times this week, you may appreciate a new go-to recipe. My family of 4 loves patroning our incredible local restaurants but sometimes trying a new cuisine at home is just as fun! My favorite of is "Spanakopita" or spinach pie. Spinach, Feta, Pastry, what more could you ask for!
Greeks have been eating these pies since ancient times. One of the earliest references to one comes from the poet Philoxenos in the fifth century B.C. Philoxenos writes that at the end of a banquet the hosts served a cheesecake made with milk and honey that was baked like a pie. Other ancients were fond of cheese pies wrapped in fig leaves, which is starting to resemble the leaves of dough that encase our modern day pies; the literal translation for phyllo is leaf.
You Need:
1lb organic spinach
1 package organic phyllo dough- 16 sheets (you'll have left overs)
2 cups organic feta cheese
1 cup organic cream cheese (room temp)
half of 1 medium onion, minced
1 clove fresh garlic, minced
about 6 tablespoons of butter, preferably grass fed pasture butter. (Kerrygold is our favorite)
Salt & Pepper to taste.
*important step*
your phyllo dough will be frozen if purchased at the grocery store, allow to thaw on the counter for 1-2 hours.