Spanakopita (Spinach Pie)

This past weekend I had a great cookout with wonderful friends, and I made one of my favorite Greek dishes of all time, Spanakopita.  It's a great vegetarian option as a side dish or even a main meal!  It's not difficult to make, but the Filo Dough takes some patience.  The ingredients you need are:

1 box filo dough
1-1.5 lbs Feta Cheese, crumbled
15 oz. container Ricotta Cheese
12 oz. baby spinach
4 eggs
1/4 cup olive oil
chopped Leeks (about 1.5 cups)
salt and pepper to taste
about 2 sticks butter

Start by making the filling.  Use a large bowl to put the spinach, crumbled feta cheese, ricotta cheese, eggs, olive oil and leeks.  Stir to moisten the spinach.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Stirring the spinach mixture takes some muscle and some time.  It will start out very fluffy and dry, and as you mix all the ingredients together the spinach will moisten and flatten.  Once the spinach and cheese is completely mixed together, set aside.

Now it's time for the filo.  Make sure you have taken it out of your freezer and kept in the refrigerator at least overnight to thaw.  Roll out the filo from the box and work quickly but carefully.  Spray the pan you will use with PAM to prevent it from sticking.  Have 1 stick butter melted and on hand for brushing the filo with.  Start laying each layer of filo down in the pan, brushing with butter after each layer.  This is important so that it doesn't dry out.  There is nothing worse than dry filo!  See my post on bougatsa below for a demonstration of how to lay out filo; it is done the same way.  Once you have used a little more than half of the filo for the bottom layer (i.e. if there are 20 sheets in the box, use about 12 for the bottom and the remainder for the top), you can put the spinach and cheese filling in the pan.  Then continue layering the filo on top and brushing each layer with butter.  Melt butter as needed; I usually use about 2 sticks (I know it sounds like a lot of butter but it makes it delicious!)

Once you are done, fold over the edges of the filo and cut off any excess.  Then scour the spanakopita with your knife where you would cut it once it's done, but don't cut all the way down.  Put in a preheated oven of 375 degrees F., and bake for about 1 hour or until the top is golden brown.

Once done baking, let cool for at least 30 mins-1 hour.  Spanakopita is best served room temperature (in my opinion).  This lets it settle so all the mixture doesn't fall out when you try to pick up the pieces and eat it.

Good luck making spanakopita and kali oreksi!