SPANAKOPITA, ARMENIAN STYLE

Spanakopita, Armenian Style image

Delicious traditional recipe. A little more cheesy than the typical recipe. I have included more detailed instructions on rolling the filo into triangles, for those who haven't used filo before. It can be tricky. I teach my friends to fold the triangles by practicing on a napkin to get the hang of the triangle fold. PS. Contrary to Tarra's opinion, there is NO comparison between filo and puff pastry, and ricotta has almost no taste...similar to cottage cheese!

Provided by manushag

Time 1h20m

Yield 24 serving(s)

Number Of Ingredients 9

Ingredients

1 (10 ounce) package frozen spinach
8 ounces butter (divided)
3 -4 scallions (green onions)
3 -4 tablespoons parsley
1 tablespoon fresh dill
black pepper
1 egg
8 ounces feta cheese
1 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough (thin)

Steps:

Preheat oven to 350Squeeze thawed spinach until most of liquid is removed.
Melt two tablespoons of butter in saute pan. Saute chopped scallions. Add chopped dill and black pepper.
Add spinach and stir, allowing liquid to evaporate, but don't brown.
Remove from heat and cool.
Meanwhile, crumble feta in a bowl and add egg. Stir.
Add spinach mixture to cheese mixture and mix.
Melt one stick of butter and carefully scrape off foam from the top. Pour off liquid butter leaving residue in the bottom of pan. This is clarified butter, or ghee.
Lay out filo dough and cover with a damp cloth or paper towels and cover with a dry towel, when not in use to keep filo from drying out.
If you want small triangles for an appetizer, cut filo in two equal rectangles and stack. Cover with damp towels.
Take one sheet of filo and place on wax paper, shorter side closer to you.
Brush with melted clarified butter.
Place a spoonful of filling two inches from the bottom and slightly to the right of center.
Fold right side over filling, and left side over right, making a long strip, approximately 3 inches wide, with filling on the right side of folded strip. This will make it easier to fold triangle without breaking filo.
Brush with melted butter.
Fold bottom two inches up, over filling and press gently. Fold filo diagonally up from left point of bottom. Fold again straight up, creating triangle. Continue folding in this manner, diagonally and straight until you have a perfect triangle.
Place all triangles on a cookie sheet brushed with melted butter.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes until light golden brown.