Spanokopita Triangles

Spinach & Ricotta Filo Pastries
(makes about 40)

My first memories of this dish was when i went travelling with my sister in Greece in 2007 and i'm pretty sure we had spanokopita from a little Greek bakery most mornings (and then maybe pita gyros for lunch) for the fortnight we were there! It's taken awhile to get around to attempting this, but here goes.

This was an experiment of noble efforts i felt, especially as i embarked on it rather late on a Thursday night with an 8am meeting the next day... i guess sometimes you do it for the love and curiosity of cooking?! Actually, i think i just had no idea what i was getting myself into and sometimes once you get started you just can't stop, a bit like Pringles! 

This was my first attempt at playing around with fiddly filo; it looked and sounded so easy - take one sheet off, oil/butter it and then put the next sheet on and just repeat. Maybe it is and i just needed to have a softer touch ~ it's just so fragile and surprisingly time consuming! I think it'd be better in a procession line approach but be warned, it really does take a good part of 2 hours to make this many!

Defrosting time for filo: at least 2-3 hrs
Prep time: 90-120 min
Cooking time: 20 min

Ingredients:
30 sheets of Filo pastry (1 packet, 375g) - needs to be defrosted a few hours in advance
1 brown Onion
2 cloves Garlic
4 Shallot stems
200g Danish Feta
200g Ricotta
40g shaved pecorino
2 eggs 
600 g greens (silverbeet/rainbow chard/kale/spinach)
Salt and pepper
50g Butter
50g Olive oil
Canola spray oil (optional)

Special equipment: brush for spreading butter

Method:
1. Finely dice the onion, garlic and shallots and pan-fry.
2. Finely slice the greens and saute with a bit of salt. Squeeze the excess liquid out with paper towels or a kitchen towel.
3. Mix the greens, onion, garlic, shallots, feta, ricotta, pecorino, egg (probably need 2 eggs for the whole recipe actually), salt and pepper in a large bowl.
4. Melt the butter and mix with the oil in a small bowl.
5. Lay the filo pastry out flat. Remove one sheet and brush with the butter/oil mix (or use spray oil if it is torn). Lay another sheet of pastry on top and brush again with butter. Repeat again with one more piece of pastry.
6. For triangles, cut the filo pastry either thirds length-wise for triangles (or can cut in half again to make 6 smaller triangles). Put the filling in a corner, then fold over to form a triangle and continue to fold over, using butter at the end to join the ends.

 7. For Spanokopita rolls, you can cut along the horizontal into 5 or 6 pieces and again put 2-3 tsp of filling in and roll it up, using butter to seal it at the end. 

8. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until crispy and golden brown.

Tips: I did get a tip after that you're supposed to put a moist paper towel/cloth over the rest of the pastry when working with it to avoid dry patches which leads to tearing.. will try it next time, if there is a next time! 

Experiment outcomes: I did also split the ingredients and tried a recipe with and without an egg, then using butter or oil in between (hence the diff shapes to help me remember which was which). My conclusion was that the egg helped with the moisture on the inside, and layering with oil and butter alternately is better cos you get the crispiness without it being too oily at the end.