Spanakopita with Feta & Pine Nuts
This is one of those meals that you can place in front of someone you love and say with barely-concealed smugness ‘I grew basically everything important in this dish’. And nine times out of ten they’ll take the easiest course of action and simply praise you. Which, after all, is the deep and secret goal of all vegetable gardeners. Or, at least, it’s mine.
Silverbeet is one of those plants you should always have growing in your garden. It can be started from seed and - in our climate - grows well all year round. You can pick just a few leaves from each plant at a time, giving you an extended harvest so you always have some to cook with or shred and toss into sandwiches and salads. OR, you can pick a heap, shred it up and stick it in a pie like those genius Greek folk did oh so many years ago (Spanakopita literally translates to ‘spinach pie’).
Whatever you decide to do with your silverbeet, I hope it is always lovely and lush and leafy (but you really should make some Spanakopita. It’s the bomb.)
Spanakopita
Serves 4
Ingredients
5 cups silverbeet, thinly shredded
8 cloves garlic, finely diced
1 large brown onion, thinly sliced into rings
2 tsp olive oil
1 cup pine nuts
400g feta, crumbled
1/4 cup of butter, melted
about 10 sheets of filo pastry
* Note: I used a 14cm x 25cm bread loaf tin, but you can really use any small-ish baking dish you like, just make sure that you have roughly the same number of layers of filo pastry and keep in mind that using a larger tin will result in a thinner layer of the Spanakopita filling.
Method
Put the silverbeet and garlic in a large saucepan and fry over moderate heat until the silverbeet has softened and all extra liquid has evaporated (the silverbeet should be quite dry). Transfer to a large bowl.
In the same frying pan, fry the brown onion in the olive oil until the onion has softened and turned a golden brown. Add to the bowl with the silverbeet.
To the silverbeet and onion, add the pine nuts and crumbled feta cheese. Mix everything until well combined.
Paint the bottom of your tin* with a thin layer of molten butter using a baking brush. Take the first sheet of filo pastry and lay it on the base of the tin. You will probably need to fold the filo sheet into halves or quarters to fit it neatly into the base of the tin. Make sure to paint each side of the filo with a little butter before folding. Continue adding layers of filo until you have roughly 10 layers on the base of your tin.
Spoon the spanakopita mixture on top of the filo and press flat so it is fairly well-compacted inside the tin. Then add more layers of filo on top of the spanakopita mixture. Paint each sheet with butter as before, but this time scrunch the layers up a little so they aren’t lying perfectly flat on top of one another. Leaving some space in between the sheets will help them become crisp and flaky in the oven. Repeat until you have about 16 layers of filo scrunched on top of one another, then place in the oven and bake at 180˚C for 30-40 minutes, or until the top layers of filo have turned crispy and golden brown.
