My journey with phyllo dough started last year when I first tried making my Gulab Jamun Milk Pie. Since then, I’ve made the pie a couple more times and have slowly lost my fear of phyllo – it doesn’t deserve the bad wrap of being “finicky” to work with! So this year for Thanksgiving, when my husband, brother and I were divvying up the dishes amongst ourselves, I decided I wanted to try my hand at Spanakopita!

I have always seen it as either the slices of “pie” or the classic triangle appetizers at Trader Joe’s but when going through recipes, found one my Half Baked Harvest that made it as one pie but with a swirly top that was THE cutest and I know I had to make it the same way.

I opted for my own take on the filling – first of all, I wanted more oomph in the spinach mixture so I sautéed onions and jalapeños for some added depth. Second and more importantly – I am NOT a big fan of Feta. Now don’t come at me, its not that I hate it, I just find the saltiness overpowering in large quantities so I opted for a mix of some milder goat cheese and ricotta to still give the creaminess.

The result: a crispy buttery exterior filled with a flavorful NOT feta-y interior. By far my favorite thing from our Thanksgiving dinner. Leftovers heat up really well in the toaster oven, we ate it the next day with a large salad as a meal. I think this would be an amazing addition to your holiday table as an appetizer or even a main for your vegetarian guests! Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

 

Tips & Tricks

• I used Half Baked Harvest’s method of creating a star with the phyllo dough sheets and crinkling extra phyllo on the top: I love the look of the pie and her site has more instructions and step by step pictures
• If you are a Feta lover (unlike me) you can feel free to skip the goat cheese and just add more feta to have the overall amount of cheese stay the same

Recipe Information

• Prep time: 20 min
• Cook time: 50 min
• Yield: 8 entree servings 

Ingredients

• 16 oz frozen spinach
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup dill finely chopped
• 1/3 cup feta cheese
• 1/4 cup goat cheese
• 1/3 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/2 onion diced
• 2 jalapeños diced
• 2 garlic cloves crushed
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• Salt/Pepper to taste
• 12-18 frozen phyllo dough sheets
• 4 tbsp melted butter

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350F
2. Microwave frozen in 30 second intervals till thawed and drain out all liquid
3. In a pan, saute onions, jalapeños and garlic in a few tbsp oil until soft and fragrant, 5-7 min
4. Season with salt, pepper and chili flakes; add thawed spinach and mix well, allow to cool
5. Add feta, goat and ricotta cheese to the cooled spinach mixture and fresh dill and mix well
6. Adjust seasoning here if needed and add in eggs
7. To assemble: place one sheet of phyllo and spread with melted better, cover with another sheet of phyllo, repeat one more time so you have three sheets of phyllo
8. Rotate the pan and do the above step with 3 sheets of phyllo in a perpendicular fashion making an “x”
9. Rotate the pan again and do the above one more time so you have a star
10. Add the spinach mixture to the middle of the phyllo set up and pull the edges of phyllo onto the center
11. With the remaining phyllo dough, spread butter and roll each sheet up and around itself like a cinnamon roll and place on the top
12. Transfer to oven and bake 45-50 min until crispy on top