SPANAKOPITA

These are the yummiest!!! On the way to Vegas we stopped for dinner in Baker at Mad Greek. I just had a grilled cheese sandwich. But I saw these little pastry looking things and it said they were phyllo dough filled with spinach and feta cheese. T had said I could order whatever I wanted and I wanted to try these. The were soooo good! It took me awhile to find a recipe for them. It's a lot of work, too, but it was fun to make. I got this recipe from myhusbandcooks.wordpress.com.

SPANAKOPITA
16-20 sheets phyllo dough
1/4 up butter (melted)

Filling:
1 1/2 cup fresh spinach
1/4 lbs feta
1/2 onion
4 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt

Special equipment:
pastry brush
silicon mat or parchment paper (I used neither)

1. Follow directions for use on phyllo dough for defrosting and preparing to use.
2. Preheat oven to 400.
3. In a food processor (I just used my little electric chopper), add the spinach and process for 10 seconds or until the leaves are well chopped. Add the onion (chopped into chunks to make it easier to process) and whole garlic cloves. Process again for about 5 seconds or until the onion and garlic are small pieces. Now add the remaining filling ingredients and pulse a few times until all of the ingredients are integrated.
4. Carefully unroll the phyllo dough. It's delicate. You want to unravel it, so the sheets are laid out and easy to get to. Take one sheet and lay it out on a wide open surface. Next you want to take your pastry brush and melted butter and light brush the sheet. Then lay down another sheet over the top of the first sheet and brush with butter. Repeat until you have 4 sheets down. NOTE: cover the unused phyllo dough with a lightly damp towel, it dries out really easy.
5. Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, slice the brushed sheets from short side to short side, making them about 2"-3" wide.
6. Dab about a tablespoon of filling on one of the far sides of the dough strips. Fold over one of the corners and cover the filling to make a triangle. Push the triangle over, continue this all the way to the end of the strip. It's like folding a flag.
7. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicon mat (like I said, I didn't have either, I just "Pammed" the cookie sheet. They can be fairly close together because the don't really expand.
8. Brush the tops again with a bit of melted butter. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for about 5 minutes. Serve warm.