Spinach Pinwheels

I had a serious debate with myself about what to call these. There aren't a lot of circle words that we use to describe food that are all that appetizing. Wheels? Nah, too transport oriented. Twirls? That's not food, that's movement. Rounds? Discs? Rings? None of these sound terribly appetizing. I really wanted something that sounded as tasty and light and crunchy as these lovely things. Ultimately, (as you can see above), I landed on pinwheels, but I'm not totally satisfied with that. Do you, my lovely readers, have any suggestions?


Anyway...this dish is, in the most basic description, spanakopita in a hurry. I posted a recipe a while back on here for spanakopita, the traditional way. It's a spinach pie with feta cheese and it's deliciously flaky and lovely. But, the fact of the matter is, working with phyllo dough is really time consuming. So, this recipe is a way to enjoy the wonderful spinachy-flavor of spanakopita, without having to worry about all that finicky phyllo. You make the filling in exactly the same way, but then you spread it on some puff pastry, roll it all up and they are in the oven in less than an hour. Gotta love a good shortcut!

Any word, I show you that the root of that word is Greek.

Spanakopita

My best friend is Greek, and I can tell you for sure that nothing in the world compares with her dad's spanakopita. It's a delicious spinach pie that is lightly spiced with a bit of feta cheese. to. die. for. This is my version, which is (I think) the next best thing. The important thing to remember here is to get as much water out of the spinach as possible before you start to assemble the pies. I make two 8-inch pies with this and then put one in the freezer (for up to a month or so) to whip out for a quick dinner.

This recipe makes 2 8-inch pies

Recipe:

1/2 package filo dough

3 packages frozen spinach, thawed

5 tbsp. garlic

1 large white onion

6-8 oz. walnuts, toasted

16 oz. (approximately) feta cheese

2-3 eggs

8 tbsp. olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp. of nutmeg

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put all of the spinach in a colander, and squeeze out as much moisture from it as you can. After you are done, it should be significantly smaller in volume, but that's good.

2) In a non-stick pan, heat approximately 2 tbsp. of olive oil and add the onions. Fry them until they are soft and just turning brown at the edges.

3) Add garlic, nutmeg, salt and pepper and fry for another 1-2 minutes.

4) Add Walnuts and spinach and stir until everything is incorporated. Then, turn of the heat and let the mixture cool to room temperature

5) While the mixture is cooling, get out your filo dough. For tips on working with this infamously tricky material, I think this is a great resource: Tips on Handling Phyllo Dough Sheets. You can get your station set up with the damp towel, pastry brush and extra olive oil in a bowl.

6) Take the cooled spinach/onion/garlic mixture and mix in the eggs and feta cheese. It's a judgement call on whether it is 2 or 3 eggs. You are looking for a texture that loosely holds it shape, but isn't too sticky.

7) Commence filo dough layering. Put one layer down, brush it with olive oil, then put another down. You want to form a crust that is about 6-8 layers deep in the bottom of each pan. It's also good if there are edges hanging over, these will be folded over the filling later.

8) Divide the mixture in half and fill each pan. Fold the edges of the bottom crust over the top of the filling, making sure to brush oil on each layer.

9) Layer the top crust, again 6-8 layers deep, pushing the edges of the filo dough sheets down into the sides of the pan.

10) Put the pie in the oven, and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the crust is golden.

*A side note: if you are cooking a pie from the freezer, do not thaw in advance. Just put the pie from the freezer in the oven at 350, and bake it for about 40-45 minutes. And there you have it!

Until our next dinner,

ceh.