Greek Spinach and Feta Cheese Pies - Spanakotiropita
Spa-na-ko-ti-ro-pi-ta-kia
…a very long and kind of difficult Greek word but a Greek word very worth learning. Because this word literally means mini, or small, spinach and feta cheese pies and are so delicious to eat too! This is one of my favorite Greek recipes and even though I know that many other food cultures and countries have similar pies (like Börek or pite) this is the recipe I learned already as a child from my Greek aunt. We used to make this recipe together when I was younger, only to ending up being in Sweden today and making it for hubby instead (or ok, I mostly did It for myself). There are lots of ways one can make a pita but today I want to teach you how to makes “pitakia”, meaning small triangle pies. I am very excited to share this recipe with you all. It’s actually a lot more simple to make than one possibly can think, so lets do this!
First, a Greek language lesson…
The reason I write spanakotiropita is because in these pies I have both spinach and feta cheese. If making Greek pies with only spinach, they’re called spanakopita (or spanakopitakia. If adding “ -akia” in the end it means they’re small/mini) and if making Greek pies with only feta cheese they’re called “tiropita” (or “tiropitakia”).
Spinach - spanaki (σπανάκι)
Cheese - tiri (τυρι)
Pie - pita (πίτα)
…and when combining these words you simply get the names of different kinds of pies.
Use Greek phyllo dough
For this recipe we’re using Grek phyllo dough. In Greece they use two different kinds of doughs for their pies and the phyllo dough is probably the one that is most known. We are not going to do the phyllo dough by ourselves, it’s way too much work and even in Greece most people, restaurants and even bakeries buy their phyllo dough pre-made. That is what we are doing for this recipe too and that is the reason why it’s actually quite simple to make this recipe.
Please, don’t be cheap on the olive oil
You probably know that we Greeks really worship our olive oil, and especially in food we are never cheap with it. When I say this, I mean in both quality and in quantity. Use an olive oil in good quality and also use a lot of it in your cooking - including when making these pies. The reason we use plenty of olive oil (but obviously, still don’t drain them in the oil) in our pies is because it makes the phyllo dough extremely crispy, but it also helps sticking together the phyllo dough pieces. You can also use a combination of butter (not margarine) and olive oil if you’d like.
Frozen spinach is fine
In Greece we rarely use frozen spinach. Not because there’s a big difference in taste but mostly because the quality is so high in fresh spinach and it most often is even cheaper than frozen spinach anyway. In Sweden however, where I am today making this recipe and writing this post, spinach is kind of expensive and that is the reason why I want to show you how to make this recipe with frozen spinach and STILL get an amazing result!
THIS RECIPE IS:
Authentic Greek Recipe
Vegetarian
Nut Free
Very crispy on the outside and soft and moist on the inside
Perfect for festive occasions like parties and birthdays, but also for picnics, as a snack, as breakfast or even just as a side to a bigger meal. In Greece we eat spanakotiropitakia for all kinds of occasions!
How to assemble a spinach and feta cheese phyllo dough pie:
Brush on some olive oil onto one phyllo dough pastry sheet and place another sheet on top of it so that they get glued together.
Cut the piece, from the short side, into three long strips of approx 7 cm each, and then brush on a little bit more olive oil.
Place approximately 1 overfilled tbsp of the filling in one of the corners and fold the phyllo dough, over the filling, into the other edge to form a triangle. Fold the triangle up, bringing the point at the bottom left up to rest along the left edge. Turn the lower left corner over to touch the right edge – like folding up a flag. Continue turning the triangle over like this until you reach the end of the phyllo. Repeat doing this with the remaining filling and all of the phyllo dough strips.
If your dough is dry, be sure you brush on more olive oil.
OR, check out this step-by-step video/reel on how to make these phyllo dough pies. It’s only 25 s long.
Greek Spinach and Feta Cheese Pies
approx 15-20 pieces
INGREDIENTS:
1 onion
1 leek, white part only
500 g frozen spinach, thawed and drained
4 tbsp fresh chopped dil or 40 g frozen dill
1 tbsp lemon juice, can be excluded
300 g feta cheese
1 egg*
Salt and a little bit of black pepper
1 package of phyllo dough
Plenty of olive oil or a combination of butter and olive oil
HOW TO MAKE:
Finely chop the white part of the leek and the onion. Heat up a frying pan and fry the onions soft with some olive oil.
If the spinach is in big pieces be sure you cut it into smaller pieces. Then add the spinach, dil and lemon juice to the frying pan and combine everything together. If there’s lots of liquid left, let it
Mash half of the feta cheese with a fork and add that to the pan together with the egg. Combine everything together straightaway so that the egg gets blended well together with the mixture but don’t let it be cooked.
Add salt (approx 0.5-1 tsp) and some black pepper after taste.
Heat oven to 200 degrees C (390 F) and line two baking sheets.
See the middle part of this post to get photos on how to assemble the pies or check out this reel.
Brush on some olive oil onto one phyllo dough pastry sheet and place another sheet on top of it so that they get glued together.
Cut the piece, from the short side, into three long strips of approx 7 cm each, and then brush on a little bit more olive oil.
Place approximately 1 overfilled tbsp of the filling in one of the corners. Crumble over a little bit of the remaining (uncooked) feta cheese, and then fold the phyllo dough, over the filling, into the other edge to form a triangle. Fold the triangle up, bringing the point at the bottom left up to rest along the left edge. Turn the lower left corner over to touch the right edge – like folding up a flag. Continue turning the triangle over like this until you reach the end of the phyllo. Repeat doing this with the remaining filling and all of the phyllo dough strips.
If your dough is dry, be sure you brush on a little bit more olive oil in between.
Place the pies onto a baking sheet and then bake in the oven for approx 30’-40, or until golden on top.
NOTES:
If you’re egg allergic it’s possible to skip the egg entirely. The egg is used to bind the ingredients together (especially if the filling is a bit watery), but it’s possible to do that without the egg if you just cook the filling on low heat for some extra minutes (5-10’) until the water has been absorbed. That’s it! That’s a way of excluding the egg.