My First Spanakopita

I was volunteered to make the spinach pie (aka spanakopita in Greek) for Christmas 2007. I'd never made one before, but I've seen it done so many times, I figured it was easy enough. Plus, my sister made one a few weeks before, her first one, and it came out great, and we were using the same recipe.

I'll admit, it was delicious. My ratio of phyllo was a little off; could have used more on the bottom. Plus, I ran out of olive oil and had to stretch it at the corners, which were pretty high due to all of the folding over.

The recipe I used is from an old Greek cookbook, slightly modified by adding a half cup of uncooked rice (to soak up the water from the spinach) and a diced onion. You can find a good recipe here at Foodtv.com. Follow the variation that refers to the 13 by 9 inch pan. Easier and just as tasty.

Here, sauteeing one diced onion and olive oil.

2 pounds of baby spinach, wilting. Be sure to mix the onions in so they don't burn.

Melting butter and olive oil. This is for brushing between the layers of phyllo.

Crumbling the feta. One pound of feta to two pounds of spinach. Crumble it into fairly large chunks so that it doesn't melt when you mix it in with the spinach.

Ready to go into the oven.

Spanakopita is served!