Here is Yiayia’s recipe for “spanakopita strifti”. Obviously she has used farm fresh ingredients and has made sure the pastry is home-made. If you want, in place of the “puff pastry” ingredients you may choose to buy ready made.
With the recipe below you can make two pies.
Recipe ingredients
For the puff pastry:
2 cups teaspoon flour (250 gr.) for all purposes
4 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. vinegar
1 tbsp. salt
⅔ a tea cup of water
Olive oil for dusting the pastry sheets:
olive oil when applying the sheets of pastry
1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tbsp of olive oil adding 2 tbsp of water
For the filling:
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 spring onions finely chopped
5 tbsp. olive oil
700 gr. cleaned spinach, finely chopped
2 tea cups of crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup teaspoons of mizithra or cottage cheese crumbled
1 beaten egg
6-7 tbsp. chopped dill
6-7 tbsp. chopped parsley
salt, freshly ground pepper
Instructions:-
For the puff pastry: Keep 2-3 tbsp from the flour, pour the rest into the bowl of a mixer, add to the bowl all the other ingredients. Knead the dough with the special accessory of the mixer the dough hook. When the dough starts to come off the sides of the bowl, the dough is almost ready.
Check if necessary, gradually add, 1 at a time, 2-3 tbsp. of flour so that you have a soft and pliable dough. Cover it with plastic wrap and leave it aside for 30 minutes to “rest”.
For the filling:
In the meantime, make the filling by heating 5 tbsp of olive oil in a pan. Add the onion and spring onions and sauté them, stirring often until they soften. Transfer to a large bowl and set aside to cool.
Clean, wash, chop the spinach, put it in a colander, sprinkle with salt and leave it for 20 minutes. Then squeeze it with your hands to remove any liquid the spinach may have and put it in the bowl with the sautéed onions. Add to the bowl the cheese, egg, dill, parsley, salt and pepper, mix them well and leave them aside.
Divide the dough for the sheets into 2 equal parts. With the help of a rolling pin, “open” half of the dough mixture into a sheet as large and thin and approximately circular, as you can. Smear the sheet with plenty of olive oil and at one end place in a “vertical” line half the filling. Then wrap it in a roll, seal its 2 ends and then twist it so that it becomes like a spiral (as in the photo).
Repeat the same process with the rest of the dough mixture and the rest of the filling and make a second spinach pie. Place both pies in an oiled or greased baking tray.
Brush them well on their surface with olive oil then with the egg yolk beaten with water and bake them in a well preheated oven at 190 degrees for about 35-40 l or until the pastry is cooked, depending on its thickness, and brown on the surface.
Καλή όρεξη..♥