Hi mrsag and pdswife, fellow Wives Of Greeks ...! And hi CharlieD, too. We'll get to that recipe in a second.
Mrsag, yes, I speak Greek. But remember, it's always easier to learn a language when you're surrounded by it. Come on over and I'll teach you myself!
So, we're all agreed that olive oil's the only way to go, right? However, regarding many of the other ingredients (and this is somewhat in response to Cindy who started her own "spankopita" thread), there are a GREAT many variations. More than just regional differences, I think every family and every bakery here in Greece gives their own twist to spankopita!
I gather that outside of Greece everybody thinks that filo is THE dough to use for the crust, but please know that it just ain't so here. And filo has some pretty unpleasant aspects to it, in my very humble opinion. Not only does it most resemble shards of glass when it's fresh out of the oven, but when it has cooled, it gets very unpleasantly chewy. And it doesn't re-heat worth a d**m.
I prefer a dough that's much more similar to a standard pie crust. We can get such a thing ready-made in sheets (called "kourou") like one buys filo, or of course, you can make your own. Think about it -- it's yummy and it re-heats far, far better.
Still thinking of Cindy: I don't really think there are specific proportions to spankopita, it's very much a matter of taste and I really can't emphasize enough that there are HUGE variations. However, that being said: olive oil's a given, feta's the only way to go, and there's always a top and a bottom crust.
Healthy-minded folk and/or spinach lovers might have a good 3/4" of spinach in that layer. Folks who intend to make a piece or two into a meal might go heavy on the feta layer instead. Those of us who like our veggies with a bit of life still in them will go out of their way to make sure the spinach and other greenery is still recognizable. Others -- like my mother in law (maybe a dentures thing?!) -- will make the interior into a green mush most resembling what I used to feed my kiddies prior to teeth. Ick.
Leeks are absolutely yummy, as mrsag notes. You can use just leeks, or you can use leeks together with onions (spring onions we're talking about -- scallions, right? -- not regular, round onions!). You can even make the pie just with leeks and perhaps some dill -- that's called "prassopita" (leeks are "prassa" and "pita" as you probably know means pie). Thats INCREDIBLY yummy!
There's also "hortopita" which means "greens" pie. Or even (for your silly-but-true Greek lesson of the day) "spanikoprassohorTOpita" which means spinach-leeks-greens pie... Get my point about variations?!
Cindy, rice is something some people add in. In that case, the insides of the spanakopita are essentially "spanakorizo" (spinach rice) but without the lemon. Spanakorizo is something many Greeks eat as a main course. It's simply spinach, onions, dill, rice, oil, lemon, salt, and pepper. (By the way, if rice is getting added into a spankopita, it's only partially cooked along with the onions, dill, and spinach.)
Here's my recipe, although I play fast and loose with quantities and I think everyone else should too:
1-½ to 2 kilos of fresh spinach and/or other greens and/or leeks
Spring onions (approx.10 fine – ≤ 1 cm. in thickness – fewer if thick)
A large bunch of fresh dill
2 eggs
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper, freshly ground
½ kilo soft feta
Several teaspoons of milk, evaporated or regular
A large baking pan*
Pie crust to provide bottom & top crusts for the pan(s) of your choice
Oven temperature: 350◦ Fahrenheit / 177◦ Celsius
Baking time: 20-30 minutes
* this recipe is for my own 90-cm wide oven which has, accordingly, unusually wide pans. A narrower oven and/or pans will require you to downscale the ingredients …or, of course, plan for several pans!
The complexity of spankopita comes into play in the making, although this is largely because in our house we try to achieve a difficult balance: greens not overcooked; none of the wonderful juices discarded; a final filling on the dry side. Pretty obviously, if you throw all of the ingredients into a pan and cook them and they shed (as they will) quite a bit of water, unless you fart around as we do, you're going to end up with either (a) overcooked greens, or (b) a soupy mess.
So what it comes down to is a series of procedures of draining the greens when they're cooked right, reducing the liquid, reassembling. I have it all written down because I did so for a friend a few years back -- if anyone wants it, you can PM me and I'll send it to you as a .pdf file. Otherwise, I can elaborate in another (lengthy no doubt, sorry!) post.
Another thing? The quality of the feta you use is REALLY important, however, last time I was in the States and looked at feta, I admit I got depressed. First of all, some of it wasn't Greek (Pfaaa!) and secondly, there was only one variety and it looked a bit rubbery, and thirdly, boy was it overpriced! I'm sorry about that since what you want to make THE best spanakopita is a very creamy feta (a cream-cheese consistency) because it will melt down into the greens below which is absolutely ... scrumptious!
One last thing: there's a great variety in shaping spankopita too. Little individual ones -- served as snacks or hors d'oeuvres -- would be called "spankopitakia" and they can be dumpling-ish or folded triangles. Bigger ones, but still individual can be big enclosed triangles, or even a line of filling rolled into a sheet of filo (sushi-like) and then coiled around itself like a snake. Same snake but longer can be coiled into a round pan and then served cut into individual wedges. And then there's the roll type which involves spreading filling onto several sheets of filo and rolling that up into a big, fat roll which would be sliced to serve. Traditionally, though, for home, it's cooked in a square or rectangular pan with a top and bottom crust only, and sliced into squares to serve ...
Okay, enough for one day! You Greek ladies tell me: what do you think?