Spanikopita Triangles recipe.

Yep. We really made Spanakopita. Ok, my husband did most of the work.

You like Greek food. But you know, it's hard to find. Even harder to try to make.

At my house, it's a staple. We live on black olives. And feta cheese. And hummus. Oh, the odes I could write to hummus.

We've got spanakopita down to a science around here. So much so that we have it as our traditional Thanksgiving Dinner food in lieu of turkey. And, it's a big production in the kitchen that takes all day, just like turkey, so it's very fitting for the occasion.

Spanakopita is a spinach pie, usually made in a big lasagna pan, and then cut into servings. But, we make it all folded up in individual pocket sandwiches. These freeze easily, and can be re-crisped in the oven.

In our recipe we cut up everything very very tiny so that all the flavors mix well, and there are no eaters objecting to large chunks of anything.

Self-Contained Spanakopita Triangles
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onions
3 Tablespoons of chopped garlic
2 teaspoons Marjoram
1 teaspoon Fennel Seeds
2 cans of tomatoes (I like to puree mine with my hand blender) or use petite diced
1/3 cup of chopped Peloponnese Kalamata olives
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 Tablespoons of Dill Weed
1 cup finely chopped mushrooms
2 bags of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and chopped smaller
2 cups of cottage or ricotta cheese
3 cups of feta cheese
1 box of Phyllo dough not frozen (thin sheets of pasty dough, comes in a box, in freezer section)
1 stick of butter, melted to liquid

Directions:
IN a saucepan heat up the olive oil and cook the chopped onions for 5 minutes. Add garlic, marjoram, fennel. Then add tomatoes, olives, spinach, salt, pepper, mushrooms and simmer until most of the liquid is gone for 30 minutes or so. This is almost the filling for your spanakopita.

Turn off stove heat, and let pan of spinach concoction cool.

Turn on oven to 350.

Unroll the box of Phyllo dough so it is just a stack of the sheets of dough. Dampen some paper towels (squeeze out excess water) and lay them over the top of the Phyllo to keep it from drying out. It will dry out really fast and crack apart if you don't do this. Slice longways down the center of the stack, cutting it into two stacks of long skinny rectangles. Cover with paper towels.

Now take the cooled pan of spinach concoction, and add your ricotta and feta cheese. Stir it in.

Building your spanakopita:
Take off paper towels. Brush melted butter all the way down the top of both long skinny rectangles of Phyllo. Put about 1/4 cup of the spinach/cheese mixtures in a triangular shape on the ends of both rectangles. Now, fold the phyllo like a flag fold over the mixture until you've wrapped it all up into a self-contained triangle. Brush the entire outside of your spanakopita with the melted butter and put it on a cookie sheet.

Repeat this procedure until you've used up all your Phyllo and/or your spinach concoction. If you have extra spinach concoction, freeze it in a tupperware container and you can use it to make more another time, without all the prep. Or, you can layer it in to your next lasagna. (which is awesome)

Bake 'em for about 20 minutes, or until the outer shells are light tan and crispy.

They are so good just out of the oven, but again, they freeze great if you don't eat them all right away.



In addition to tasty Pelopponese pre-made delectables, don't forget some chunk feta cheese, sliced or cherry tomatoes, and the pita bread for dipping in the Hummus, Baba Ganoush, or Tzatziki. I also like to make a bowl of chopped up cucumbers, tomatoes, and feta, with olive oil and salt and pepper as a side salad.

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Mommy's Wish List Disclosure: Peloponnese Foods sponsored this post.