Spanakopita at its best is a matter of three ingredients and one technique: spinach, feta, filo — and the question of whether you brush the pastry with butter or with olive oil. In Greece the answer is unambiguous, and it has a practical reason: olive oil does not just make the sheets crispier, it also keeps them crispier for longer. Butter sets and softens as it cools; oiled filo stays what it is meant to be.
This recipe is the tray version, not the folded triangles. A tray needs no patience with fragile sheets of pastry, the result is the same — and you can cut it into pieces that freeze individually.
For a tray of about 24 × 30 cm, 8 pieces. 40 minutes of work, 45–50 minutes in the oven.
| Amount | Ingredient |
|---|---|
| 12 sheets | Filo pastry (about 250 g, frozen, fully thawed) |
| 1 kg | Frozen leaf spinach (thawed and very well squeezed) |
| 250 g | Feta, roughly crumbled |
| 1 | Leek (or 4 spring onions), in fine rings |
| 1 bunch | Dill, finely chopped |
| 2 | Eggs |
| 2 tbsp | Semolina or breadcrumbs (binds residual moisture) |
| 130 ml | Extra virgin olive oil (120 ml for brushing, 2 tbsp for the filling) |
| 1 tbsp | Sesame (optional, for the top) |
| — | Nutmeg, salt (sparingly, the feta salts it), black pepper |
Put the thawed spinach in a clean tea towel and wring it out hard, in batches. 1 kg of frozen spinach comes down to about 350–400 g this way. It sounds like waste and it is the difference between a spanakopita that holds its shape when cut and one that leaks. If you only let the spinach drain, you end up with soup inside the pastry.
Sweat the leek in 2 tbsp of olive oil for 5 minutes until soft, without browning. Let it cool — hot filling softens the pastry as you layer it.
Mix the squeezed spinach, leek, feta, dill, eggs and semolina. Season with nutmeg, pepper and salt cautiously — the feta brings enough salt with it, so taste first, then salt. The mixture should be moist but not wet: if it clings to the spoon, it is right.
Brush the tin with olive oil. Filo dries out in seconds — always keep the remaining sheets under a damp cloth. Lay six sheets into the tin one at a time and brush each with olive oil (about 10 ml per sheet), overlapping them slightly. Then spread the whole filling over evenly. The remaining six sheets on top, oiled individually again. Brush the top sheet generously so that it takes on colour.
With a sharp knife, cut the portions right through all the sheets down to the filling now (8 pieces, 6 × 12 cm each). That way the pastry will not tear in random places later. Scatter the sesame over the top.
Bake at 180 °C top and bottom heat for 45–50 minutes, until the surface is deep golden brown. Pale gold is not done: the bottom sheets need the time to cook through, otherwise the base tastes of raw pastry.
Leave it in the tin for at least 20 minutes, better 30. Straight from the oven the filling falls apart when cut and the pastry splinters. Spanakopita is best warm — eaten warm and the next day at room temperature are both right.
In spanakopita the oil is the technique, not the ingredient. Every layer of filo gets brushed with fat; what you choose decides the texture of the whole tray. Butter foams out during baking and makes the sheets short — delicious, but they go soft as they cool. Olive oil bonds with the pastry, stays liquid and keeps the layers apart. That is why a cold spanakopita made with olive oil is still crisp, and one made with butter is not.
In flavour the difference is finer but it is there: the astringent note cuts through the feta and the sweetness of the leek. And for Lent, when dairy and often eggs are given up in Greece, olive oil is the only option anyway — the nistisimi version of this recipe.
One tray needs 130 ml, which is why the 500 ml bottle suits this well: enough for two trays, without the bottle standing opened in the cupboard for months.
One day at room temperature, 3 days in the fridge — but then please re-crisp it in the oven at 160 °C for 15 minutes; in the microwave the pastry goes leathery. Thawed from the freezer it loses some of its crunch but stays good.
Filo — thin, pale sheets from the freezer, usually 12 to 15 per packet. Yufka is thicker and more elastic, meant for börek. Puff pastry makes a completely different dish.
Too much moisture in the filling, almost always from the spinach. Second suspect: too little oil between the sheets, and the filling then draws moisture into the pastry. The semolina in the filling is the insurance.
About 1.2 kg of fresh leaf spinach. Both kinds reduce to 350–400 g after cooking and squeezing — the filling goes by that, not by the starting weight.
Yes. Prepare it up to the scoring, keep it covered in the fridge overnight, bake it the next day. The filling must not come into contact with the pastry, though, or it soaks through — so assemble it shortly before baking, or cover it very well.
