For lunch today I made Spanakopitas with a roasted red pepper sauce and I had two glasses of Pinot Noir.
Phyllo Dough thaws quickly.
I just blanched some spinach and mixed it with feta cheese, parm and some sauteed garlic and red onion.
You use melted butter and a pastry brush to make the Spanakopitas.
I make mine with two layers of Phyllo and fold them into triangles. Then brush with more butter.
For the roasted red pepper sauce I put the peppr right on the flame of the stove and I let it get black and charred from the flame.
The skin is all that burns. It becomes all black.
Then I put it in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap so the steam from the pepper helps the skin come off.
After awhile you can peel all the black charred skin off and rinse it and all the seeds away.
I saute more onions and garlic and then I deglaze with white wine and blend this up in a blender with the pepper then add cream and chopped basil to the sauce.
>>7451160
Have you ever tried making a full-size spanakopita?
>>7452398
The triangles are the best though.
>classic images.jpg
>>7452413
It's only image.jpg
>>7451173
Spank my silly little ass those taste of heaven when drenched in sour cream.
>>7452409
Depends. If you can pull off a proper full-size spanakopita it's the food of Gods. You can fit in a lot more filling and you get to really appreciate the flavour of it, rather than just munching loads of fylo.
t/ Greek person
>>7452471
Not Greek, but I prefer the full sized one as well. With the triangles you might as well just be eating a sheet of phyllo
>>7452428
>Spanakopita drenched in sour cream
Zeus is gonna zap yo' lard ass
>>7452486
I agree there's too much fylo for my liking in the small ones. Proper spanakopita is meant to look like this, with thick crusty fylo rather than thin crispy one (usually you have to make this yourself or try and ask if they stock a frozen version of it).
A good tip is to add leak and/or spring onions to the spinach mix and some breadcrumbs to soak up the spinach juices. Also transfer the cooking tray to the bottom of the oven for some of the cooking time so that the bottom of the pie goes crispy (like in the pic).
>>7452514
I think puff pastry makes it a lot better than the phyllo, that stuff is like eating paper.
I always use this recipe. http://www.budgetbytes.com/2012/09/spinach-pie/
>>7452487
Senpai pls I bet you haven't even tried it
>>7452514
Do they ever use rice in the filling over there? My mother makes spanakopita once in a while using a recipe she got from Greek immigrants that lived next door when she was growing up. Maybe they couldn't find enough feta back so they used rice as a filler.
>>7452522
still, you should be using homemade tzatziki sauce for dippin
>>7452522
Sadly, I have. A good alternative is tzatziki. Just take a bowl and mix a big tub of greek yogurt, a couple of minced raw or roasted garlic cloves , one shredded cucumber (mix it with salt and let it drain for a bit), little bit of white vinegar, a teaspoon of sugar, salt and pepper and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil
Trust me, it's much closer to the flavours of the spanakopita and much more "authentic". It also goes with pretty much anything from fried fish to grilled meat, to regular old bread or pita
>>7452568
Senpai pls
>>7452552
No, but I assume that's the same reason why people use breadcrumbs or sometimes put sheets of fylo in between. To absorb moisture from the spinach and to make it "meatier".
>>7452576
>Senpai
Fine, don't make tzatziki (which takes 10mins) eat it with sour cream..Your loss.
>>7452588
Thank you senpai I can't afford to make tzatziki
Maybe store bought tzatziki is okay?
>>7452602
This is the stupidest post I've read all day.
>>7452522
I don't need to because tzatziki is superior in every way to sour cream.
>>7452614
Senpai I can't afford to buy Greek yogurt, cucumber, garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil that is much more expensive then a small tub of tzatziki for $2.50
>>7452622
Okay I don't want to be insensitive because I have no idea how much things cost where you live BUT:
a 500gram (16oz) tub of greek yogurt costs about 2-3 dollars, I imagine a cucumber cannot possibly cost more than 1.5 dollar, garlic costs less than a dollar (and like salt and pepper you probably already have some in your larder) and olive oil, well if you can't afford it then just don't use it. It's not essential for tzatziki as long as you buy full fat yogurt, it is however a good idea to have a bottle of it in your house and 27oz of extra virgin olive oil cost you 5$ in walmart and you only need a tiny amount for the tzatziki (so you will only actually spend 20 cents worth of olive oil to make it).
In total, the above work out to about 4$ dollars for 600-700 grams of tzatziki and it keeps for at least 4-5 days in the fridge and can be eaten as a snack or a dip at any time except for breakfast. So all in all, I think you are mistaken.
>>7452622
That's the mentality of poverty. You will always be poor.
>>7452691
>can be eaten as a snack or a dip at any time except for breakfast
Tzatziki is so good at breakfast, idk what youre on about
>>7452622
>Buy Greek yogurton sale, cucumber and bulb of garlic
>Olive oil from dollar store
>Salt and pepper from fast food place
It'd cost about the same as tzaziki
>>7452707
Of course, it tastes delicious but I tend to put a shit-ton of garlic in my tzatziki (about twice what I suggested to the lad) so I'd only eat it for breakfast if I knew I wasn't leaving the house that day.
>>7452718
Well seing as those ingredients make twice the amount of the small tub the guy was talking about, it would actually cost half as much (gram for gram).
>>7451160
>roasted red pepper sauce
How the fuck is that even remotely Greek? You may as well have had tortellini with soy sauce.
>>7453110
We do eat roasted red peppers quite a lot. But only as a side (usually stuffed with cheese) or blended as a dip (the latter is more contemporary than traditional). I've definitely never seen it as a sauce for spanakopita. In fact no-one ever eats spanakopita with sauce here
>>7453110
>>7453187
Spanakopita are great on their own but I make a small amount of the roasted pepper sauce to dip them in and its a very nice extra touch.
It takes some of the dryness out of the phyllo when you eat it.
>>7452398
Ive done full sized pans of spanikopita and they work out ok. But everyone in the family likes the triangle finger food version better.
They take a bit more effort to fold up but I enjoy them too.
I think they turn out better because you get good browning and caramalazation of the dough, And it breaks up alot so when you cut the pan it kind of ruins the effect of the phyllo dough crunch.
>>7452718
>""""""""""olive oil"""""""""" from dollar store
lmao enjoy ur machine grease
>>7454030
Check this pic >>7452514 and the one in this reply. If you get good phylo or make it yourself properly and make sure to baste it correctly (and do the trick where you cook it on the floor of the oven). It should caramelise just as well.
Of course, I agree that small spanakopitas are better as finger food. Keep in mind that the recipes are slightly different, if you google around or look at the one I posted large spanakopita tends to have a "meatier" filling
>>7454293
>>7452718
>olive oil from the dollar store
lol
>It'd cost about the same as tzaziki
lolno try at least 8-9 dollars
>>7452699
Senpai...
>>7454299
You're wrong, read the thread. Unless you're inferring that someone would buy a whole bottle of olive oil specifically to make tzatziki, in which case you're a fool.
