Happy New Year! Welcome to 2011. I’ve been gone a while…busy with the holidays and such, but I felt now was the time to start blogging again. I made SO MANY new and fun things over the last couple of months, I will need to blog every day for a while just to catch up! 🙂 So, I guess the first thing I will blog about in 2011 will be an old stand-by…at least in this house. It goes back to my Greek roots and tastes fantastic every time. It can be a little tough to do at first, but as soon as you figure out how to work with Filo (fee-lo) dough quickly, the possibilities are endless. The original recipe has a ton more calories, but with a few tweaks here and there, this is lighter, and tastes just as good…if not better.
Spanakopita (Spinach Pie)
Cooking Spray
2 tsp Olive Oil
30 oz. frozen Chopped Spinach, thawed and squeezed to remove excess water
1 c. Onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp Fresh chopped Parsley
1/8 tsp Ground Nutmeg
8 oz. Fat Free Egg Substitute
4 oz Crumbled Feta Cheese
1 tbsp Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/4 tsp ea. salt & pepper
1 lb frozen Filo Dough
-Coat a 9 x 13 baking pan with cooking spray.
-Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add spinach and onion and cook until liquid is absorbed, about 5-7 minutes. Stir in parsley and nutmeg. Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl. Let cool just slightly. In a smaller bowl, mix egg substitute, cheeses, salt & pepper. Then combine 2 bowls. Mix well. *note: the reason why I separate these things into separate bowls is to avoid scrambling the eggs when adding them to the hot spinach. This gives the spinach mixture a little time to cool down.*
-Pull filo out of the package and cut in half to create a rectangle that fits in the baking pan a bit better. Lay 1 sheet of filo in and up the sides of prepared pan. Coat surface lightly with cooking spray. Top with 7 more sheets of filo, coating each layer with cooking spray. Spread spinach mixture over dough and top with 8 more sheets of filo, coating each layer with cooking spray as before. Roll the overhanging sides of dough into the edges of the pan creating a sort of border. *note: work with your filo quickly so as not to dry it out. Also, be creative here, you can layer the spinach mixture and filo like lasagna sometimes if you’d like.*
-With a sharp knife, cut into 12 squares almost through to the bottom, but not quite. You don’t want the filling leaking out everywhere. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
-Preheat oven to 375. Bake until crisp and golden, about 45 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting, then cut through all the way to the bottom. Enjoy!