Spank your pita

There was a function at work recently, with a catered lunch. I snagged a couple little triangles of something that looked kinda good. Phyllo crust with something inside. I ate this little treasure, and wished I'd grabbed about 6 more! Was so good I felt I could live off it (and probably die eating it!). A few days went by and I couldn't forget it, and wanted to know what it was so i could make and eat more. I went to the book store to find the cookbook our caterer had written. I had recognized spinach in it, so looked through the Spinach & S recipes. Turns out what I'd tasted was Spanikopita.

Kevin and I nicknamed it spank your pita, as we didn't have a good idea exactly how to pronounce it, and when we said spank your pita we both knew what we meant. (Check here for proper pronunciation.)

Spanikopita, by Karen Schultz

Crust:
6 TBSP margarine, melted
9 sheets phyllo dough, cut in half (short side)

Filling:
1 TBSP margarine
1 (10 oz) package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1/2 c onion, chopped
1/4 c freen onion, thinly sliced
4 oz feta cheese
1 c monteray jack cheese, shredded
1 lg egg, beaten
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp nutmeg

In a skillet, melt margarine. Add spinach & onions. Saute 4 minutes. Let cool slightly. Combine other filling ingredients & add to spinach mixture.

Place one half sheet of phyllo on bottom of a greased 8x8 pan. Brush lightly with melted margarine. Layder with phyllo and margarine until 9 layers deep. Fold over excess on edges onto itself. Cover 9th layer with spinach. Layer phyllo & margarine until 9 more layers. Cut through all layers into squares/triangles, whatever smaller shape you want.

Bake 375 degrees for 30 minutes.


I made some last weekend. Not quite as good as hers, but definately yummy. I think I had too much margarine, as it seemed pretty oily. Plus the layers of phyllo were a bit "soggy" from the margarine. Still quite tasty though.