Spanikopita Recipe

Today at the grocery store they had organic whole wheat phyllo pastry which I had never seen before. Then I remembered the bag of spinach in my fridge getting close to its expiration date, so I decided it was a good day to make spanikopita. It turned out so delicious! They're fluffy, crispy and cheesy with lots of flavour.

A couple of quick notes about the recipe: These are really yummy at room temperature but be careful not to put them near anything moist (like fruit) in the bento or they'll get soggy. The most efficient way I've found to make these is to set up a production line sort of set up. I make eight or nine at a time which is way faster than making them one at a time.

Recipe: Spanikopita

Ingredients:

• 1 9 oz bag of spinach (255g)
• 1 cup cooked rice
• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley (or 1 tsp dried)
• 1/4 cup fresh dill (or 1 tsp dried)
• 1 shallot (or small onion), diced
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp olive oil
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 16 oz package of phyllo pastry (453g)

Ensure phyllo pastry is completely thawed. The best way to do this is to leave overnight in the refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Fry shallot in olive oil until translucent.

Steam spinach until wilted. Squeeze out all of the liquid and chop finely.

Combine spinach, rice, feta, parsley, dill, shallot, egg and lemon juice and mix well to make the filling.

Cut phyllo into strips about 1 1/2" wide (the spanikopita should be small to fit snugly in a bento). Brush with butter. Spoon about half a tablespoon of spinach filling onto one of the ends and fold as shown in the picture below.
Once folded, brush again with butter and sprinkle with a little nutmeg. The finished result:
You can fit quite a few of them on a cookie sheet!
Bake for 17 - 20 minutes until outside is crispy and starting to turn brown. Recipe makes about 60.

You can freeze these before they're cooked and then bake them in the morning when you make bento, or you can freeze them after baking and take them out of the freezer the night before to thaw.