You need to cook something greek...

The peanut gallery has told me I should be cooking greek food. Be glad I am cooking at all!! Hmmm maybe peanut butter is next on the menu! *evil grin*

Haido recently made spanakopita. Emphasis on the short O, spanakOpita, not spanakOHHHHpita, not spanakopEEEEta. Learn Greek. Spanakopita is spinach pie. Calm down carnivores, I don't like spinach either but somehow when it's in a spanakipita it's divine! Haido's recipe came from a book that her mom had bought in Athens decades ago.

I want one. I need one!! But I can't possibly wait until August to go look for one in Greece, patience is not a Greek person quality! What to do? Let's look on Ebay! *angels sing, click click, pay, wait* I love Ebay. You really can find anything on there. I hope my book is a second hand one that some old greek granny used for years. I will lie and tell people my granny gave it to me. That stays between us okay?

Shipping will take about 2 -3 weeks so until then google is my friend. I found a recipe by Nigella Lawson that looks good

She's half Greek? I didn't know that! I thought she was Italian. Best of both worlds! Then she married a kseno, Lawson, mh sas tuxei ;-)

When my mother heard I was going to make spanakopita she was thrilled. She really is expecting my future husband to jump out of his hiding place soon. Shame. She was also excited because I finally agreed to use ingredients from their garden. My parents are on this whole organic trip, me not so much, give me bug and worm free food with a side serving of toxic pesticides any day. I have a worm phobia *shudder*  (Yes worms. You think that's silly? That's what a phobia is, an IRRATIONAL fear!!). I would rather drink litres of pesticide than see a worm within 1000kms of my food. Excitement all around as my proud mother presented me with a bowl of spinach, mint and dill, straight from their garden. I was wary - "If I see ONE worm!!!" - *finger wagging, threatening eyes*

My mother claimed to have washed them already. Murphy's law, the first leaf I picked up was probably the only one she missed.

I thought she said she washed them?? Look at the dirt!

OH.
MY.
GOD.

That's not dirt. IT'S BUGS!!! *SCREECH*

 No way. Nuh uh. Forget it. I'm out. Fuck this organic bullshit.

Woolworths, sign me up for life!

Post trauma comfort food

The recipe says 750g of spinach, but Woolies sells packets of 200g, so 800g it shall be. Haido always adds more than the recipe says, and especially dill, she says dill and spinach are an excellent combination. More of everything!

Dill

Mint

The recipe also says to add spring onions. I'm sure a normal onion will be fine. Okay I'm not sure. *Haido on speeddial*. Yes, a normal onion is fine.

I need to learn how to chop onions properly. Although butchered onions taste the same. But still.

Microwave or steam spinach until it's limp (~3 minutes per bag). Allow to drain in a colander and when cooled press out as much water as possible. Chop the spinach and put into a large mixing bowl.  

I don't have a bowl big enough to fit all the spinach in at one time, and I haven't learnt how to adjust times for bigger quantities of food. I vaguely recollect that two bags won't mean 6 minutes. So I painstakingly microwaved one bag at a time.

Press out as much water as possible -  this was tricky, I pressed and pressed but water kept coming out. Is it actually even possible to press all the water out? I can't press anymore!

Spinach ball anyone?

I thought microwaving each bag was a mission. Squeezing the spinach bit by bit took ages. Now I know how much 800g really is! Am I doing the squeezing thing the caveman way? Is there a much simpler way?

Chop the spinach -  this implies that the spinach is choppable. I ended up with a bowl of squished mushy spinach balls. Not choppable. Kind of sliced/ torn/ pulled apart, yes, chopped, no. Maybe I need real knives.

Forget what the recipe says, you can NEVER have too much feta

Feta pie with a splash of spinach

Crack the eggs into the mixture - Barefoot Contessa taught me to use a little glass bowl for eggs. Crack them into the bowl first to prevent having to pick any shells out of your mixture. So smart.

Mixture is ready (it took a lot longer than I expected, I need to find a better way of pressing the water out of the spinach), time for the phyllo pastry. I should have read the fineprint BEFORE I even started thinking about making spanakopita.

Defrost for at least EIGHT hours?? FFS. *Haido on speeddial* Okay apparently if I take it out the freezer it will be fine to use it after 45 minutes. Yay we don't have to wait until tomorrow to eat spanakopita!

* Twenty minutes later*

Patience is not a Greek person quality. I'm sure it will be fine.

Cracks galore. I should have waited!!

 Layer half the packet of filo pastry in the pan, brushing each layer lightly with olive oil

This little glass bowl is coming in real handy! Yes pink

My embarrassing first layer. Barefoot Contessa teach me!!

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming

Roll up the edges tightly and brush the top lightly with olive oil

No hunny, there will be no rolling with these nails. It's physically impossible. And yes, the nail technician did ask me if my friends tell me I look like a whore with such long nails... shut up and do your job woman!

That's how I roll

Aaand done! Looked much better in real life, damn you Blackberry!

The phyllo pastry was crisped to perfection right down to the bottom layer. I'm convinced it's because I used my Le Creuset tin <3

The spanakopita was a success! Absolutely delicious. High five Nigella! I need to get some of her books for sure.

Then I read the fine print.

 Erm. So my recipe from nigella.com isn't a Nigella recipe? *gasp* Do you mean she isn't Greek either?? *spits out the spanakopita*

That last bit was a lie. I would never waste food!

duffs10, you Greek minx, whoever you are, your recipe is a hit!