Spanakopita Recipe | Cooking with Rania
Try this Greek side dish with your Easter dinner! Rania Harris is showing Katie how to make spanakopita.
Spanakopita
Ingredients
- 8 ounces cream cheese – room temperature
- 8 eggs - beaten
- 4 tablespoons butter for sautéing the onions
- 2 bunches green onions - finely chopped
- 4 - 10 ounce packages frozen chopped spinach defrosted and squeezed dry of all liquid
- ½ cup minced parsley
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
- ¾ pound crumbled feta cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 pound clarified melted butter
- 1 package phyllo
Directions:
Beat the eggs with the cream cheese until smooth.
Sauté onions in a small amount of melted butter. In a large bowl, combine the spinach with onions, parsley, dill, egg / cream cheese mixture, feta cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Brush a 9 x 13-inch pan with melted butter - begin to layer phyllo into pan brush each individual piece of phyllo with melted butter - repeat 8 times.
Spread the spinach mixture onto the buttered phyllo layers - then begin to top with 10 more pieces of phyllo - buttering each piece as you go tuck in all the phyllo edges all around the pan - score the top layers of phyllo in 12 or 15 cuts - as you desire (4 x 3 or 5 x 3).
Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour - until puffed and golden brown. Allow to rest for at least 15 minutes before serving.
You can also make this into individual crepes - using one sheet of buttered filo per crepe - brush crepe with melted butter – fold in half – fill and roll much like the size of an eggroll. Decrease the baking time to 20 – 25 minutes ~ until golden brown.
To clarify butter:
Place one pound of unsalted butter in a saucepan and gently bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook the butter until all of the milk fat has boiled off and the butter looks clear in color. Watch the pot as butter will burn if left unattended.