We show you how to make a Greek spinach pie with wild weeds, greens, feta and filo, with this simple Spanakopita recipe.
A traditional Spanakopita recipe (pronounced spah-nah-KO-pee-tah) – aka Greek spinach pie – calls for spinach, cheese and herbs, wrapped up in crispy, flaky filo pastry.
Gardening Australia host Costa Georgiadis has provided his own take on this traditional dish, using mixed greens like English spinach, Tuscan kale, silverbeet, endive and sorrel, as well as wild weeds like dandelion, milk thistle and chicory, which he calls hortopita.
This version of a traditional Spanakopita recipe is a great dish to make on a Friday night to graze on as lunches over the weekend. Delicious!
Ingredients:
- 2 bunches of mixed greens and wild weeds (such as English spinach, Tuscan kale, silverbeet, chicory, dandelion, milk thistle, sorrel and endive)
- 4 or 5 eggs
- 300g feta (grated or crumbled)
- 300g tasty cheese (grated or crumbled)
- 2 leeks or 2 large brown onions and 1 red onion
- 1 cupful of mint
- 1 cupful of dill or fennel
- Filo pastry sheets (or you could make your own)
- Pepper
- Olive oil
Method:
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Wash and devein the silverbeet, then roughly chop all the greens. Simmer in a pot with a little bit of olive oil until wilted down and put aside.
Cut leeks or onions, simmering until golden and caramelised.
Place all greens and onions along with the mint and dill/fennel into a large bowl. Pour beaten eggs over the ingredients and stir thoroughly. Add cheeses one by one, mixing well.
Butter a baking dish and gently stretch a sheet of puff pastry so that it covers the base without ripping.
Place in oven until the pastry gets pre-cooked (around 10 minutes), then spoon the mixture evenly across. Repeat this process with the second sheet of puff pastry, laying it over the top like a doona, tucking it in to the lower sheet.
Take a knife and lightly score a diagonal line checkerboard pattern across the top sheet, then turn around and do it the other way (without cutting through).
Bake in the middle of the oven for 45 minutes. As it starts to brown on the top, move it to a higher shelf so it can brown up for a final 10–15 minutes.
Remove from the oven, allowing it to cool and set.
Enjoy cold or reheat.
