Tuesday , March 19 2024

Spanakopita Strifti… Spinach and Cheese pie twist.

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..

About Louise Inzk

Louise is Australian born and has been a Greek citizen since 1991. She has deep cultural ties with the island, often writing about Zakynthian Traditions and Culture. She is also an active member of the Volunteer Group of Zakynthos, Giostra Di Zante and is a member of the women's choir "Rodambelos". Her love of the island and all it offers saw her joining the Zakynthos (Zante) Informer admin team in 2014.

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