Σπανακοπιτα (Spanakopita, Spinach Pie): A Public Apology

Perhaps you have heard of Socrates's Apology where Socrates defends himself against charges of: corrupting the young, and by not believing in the Gods. Well, now it is my turn to apologize to my readers and all people around me for not being truthful and for, in some way, corrupting them by not cooking authentic Hellenic dishes.

I will start with a very familiar recipe for Σπανακοπιτα, spanakopita or spinach pie. I have been cooking a type of spinach pie that can be found in books and the Internet.  Oh, the humanity! Most of these Americanized recipes incorporate, oh my God, ricotta cheese. What? In Hellas they don't cook with ricotta cheese! I cooked several pies over the years and shared them with you on many happy occasions. You gave me very positive feedback and you made me feel humble and successful in your company. I failed you. I am truly sorry for this BUT I now have a chance to redeem myself by showing you a recipe that has been used by my ancestors back in Hellas.

It was several years ago when I was conversing on the phone with relatives from Hellas where I would begin to talk about my Σπανακοπιτα recipe and I just could not understand why I couldn't get them interested in it. I thought that because I was using, dare to say it, frozen spinach turned them off. So I started to use fresh spinach but that didn't do it. I was perplexed. I begun to have nightmares and even sometimes I woke up screaming incoherent Hellenic curse words. Something was wrong and I wasn't ready to admit it. Here is an image of the hideous pies I was cooking.

Fast forward eleven painful years to March of 2013 when I visited the old country for three weeks. Once or twice a week I would go to the supermarket

to buy food when I saw something very different. They had a wide variety of frozen spinach, zucchini, leek pies. Below is a package showing spinach pie rolls.

The following is a different product that has spinach, leeks and cheese.

Of course the traditional "village style" spanakopita, spinach pie. See how the edge of the pie is rolled towards the inside. This got me thinking. Keep reading.

Here too. Look at the thickness of the pie shell and how intricate the edging is.

Of course the zucchini pie was very interesting. I was intrigued by the intricate formation of these well organized rectangles.

Look at the beauty of this frozen spinach and leek pie. The way the edge is rolled inwards forming a perfect quarter-circle. Each slice appears to be equal in are than all the rest. A geometrical marvel! As you can see in Hellas they are serious when it comes to vegetable pies.

There I was in a Hellenic supermarket taking pictures of frozen pie boxes. I must of been a great dinner time conversation at home for many Hellines. Right there and then, I knew I wanted to explore the pie universe of the Hellenic culinary circles. I ran outside the supermarket and I knew that I wasn't going to stop running unless I found a bakery store. Sure enough five blocks further down I saw a bakery. Hurray!

I stormed in and the lady that was working there probably thought that I was some sort of nut but I was like a kid in a candy store. They had spinach pie!

Look at the edge of those pieces. Look at the color of the pie shell. NO PHYLLO DOUGH HERE, PEOPLE! The person behind the counter looked at me a little funny when I asked her to turn the pie tray around to take a picture from a different perspective.

Right there and then I knew what I was going to cook a spinach pie as soon as i was going back home to the USA. Traditional Hellenic Spinach Pie! I bought a piece of the pie to reverse engineer their recipe. The lady asked me which piece I wanted. Oh boy. What a question! Which piece should I buy? Five or six minutes later I decided on a corner piece due to the intricate way the dough was folded. I started to talk with the sales lady about cooking a pie and she gave me several good ideas. Specifically about how not to double cook the spinach. Sweet! keep reading.

Here is the bag and the receipt. 

Immediately I ripped the bag and looked at the slice. It was like a piece of art, a Van Gogh and a Picasso put together, a Rolls Royce and a Bentley. I loved the way the dough was shaped around the edges.

 

Then I started to play with it because I wanted  to see what was in the contents of it. 

I saw spinach, feta cheese, dill, leek, and scallion. I didn't see any common onions or ricotta cheese. Of course there wasn't any phyllo dough either. 

There was another ingredient in there but I will leave that for a different blog entry. I did not use this ingredient in the recipe that follows.

To make the long story even longer, I came back home in the US and as soon as I recover from jet lag guess what I cooked. Yeah baby. YEAH! Spinach Pie!

To start with I had to prepare the surface to work with the dough.

Now I needed to get the ingredients together. I had purchased three bags of spinach for a total of 30oz.

The spinach needs to be washed well. So, I placed one bag of spinach in a bowl and gave it a good wash. The dirt that came off of it was amazing. I took my time to wash it well.

After washing all of the spinach, I placed it in a bowl and, babe here is a huge secret, I added 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt and mixed it all together and let it sit for ten minutes. 

After that I took a handful of spinach and gave it a good squeeze. Lots of water that came out of it. So,  I kept doing that and I collected the squeezed spinach in a clean bowl. 

As I was putting the spinach in the bowl I would cut it with a knife. I wasn't going to cook the spinach. Normally, Americanized recipes dictate cooking the spinach, cooling it down and then making the pie. Of course afterward you have to cook the pie, thus cooking the spinach a second time! Oops. All the good stuff that the spinach has is gone after the second round of cooking.

I added to the bowl 20 oz of crumbled feta cheese.Unfortunately the choices are few and the cheese is marginal.

Added two farm fresh eggs. I will write a separate blog entry for this later on this week because I went to the farm with Eileen and had a great time playing with the animals. The eggs are from the Full Moon Farm located in Gardiner, NY.At the supermarket the sell ggs categorized: small, medium, and large. At Full Moon they sell eggs in egg cartons. Period.

Look at these beautiful yolks. Also, the eggshells were very different than the supermarket eggs. Generally speaking, we try to purchase as much as we can from local farmers in order to support them and because their products are superior to the supermarket ones.

 

I mixed the eggs just a little. 

 

I also added a few finely chopped scallions,

One leek,

Washed the leek very well. The leeks collect a lot of dirt and, in this case, was cut into small pieces and washed for a minute.

About one cup of dill,

and one cup of olive oil.

Of course Raspy was upset because there was nothing for her to eat. Look at her sitting there plotting to scratch me.

All the ingredients were mixed well in a large bowl.

Then I started making the dough. I used 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour.

3/4 of a cup olive oil, 

one tablespoon salt, 

one Full Moon Farm egg, 

and, hold on to your lunch pail, 3/4 of a cup white wine. Of course I used a Brotherhood Riesling that I purchased a few days ago from Washingtonville.

Mixed the whole thing well.

Then set the dough aside for 15 minutes and then separated the dough in four small balls.
Sprinkled flour in a clean area and ...

took one of the dough balls to work it with the rolling pin.

 Stretch the dough nicely in a circular fashion, especially since the receiving plate is round.
 

To place the dough easily on the plate you roll it on the rolling pin like so and ...

you unroll/drape it on the plate. Look at the plate. What a beauty.

 I used the second ball of dough and draped that too on a plate. Then I filed the two plates with the mixture I had prepared earlier.

Draped the edges of the dough towards the middle of the plate. 

Now both plates are ready to be topped with dough.

Now the plates are ready.

I cut the top layer of the pie in a variety of geometric shapes. The plate to the left has six regular, congruent, isosceles triangles whereas the other has a variety of shapes. Some triangular and some trapezoidal.

I brushed with olive oil the top of the pies.

I preheated the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and placed the two plates in there. Look at the plates being comfortable in the 350 degree oven.

Finally, 55 minutes later the pies are out of the oven. What a view. What a view.

One word describes these two pies. Perfection. The pies cut very well and each slice was well formed and looked perfect.

Thumbs up, dude!

I am biased but this is the best spinach pie I've ever had. With this recipe I have redeemed myself and I hope you will try this unique recipe and enjoy it as much Eileen and I have.

I tried brushing egg yolk and drizzled a little olive oil on the crust prior to baking.  The results were spectacular: