Spanikopita & Block Parties

Well, when I finally broke down and made spinach pies for the first time I was surprised that it actually wasn’t that hard!  It’s like bechemel, once you make it a couple times it’s not that hard and worse case you scrap it and order pizza as we like to say in this house.

I’ve made a couple spinach pies and Barefoot Contessa’s are by far the best. 

3 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
2 tablespoons good olive oil
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
3 (10-ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach, defrosted
6 extra-large eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons grated nutmeg
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons plain dry bread crumbs
1/2 pound good feta, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 cup pignoli (pine nuts)
1/4 pound salted butter, melted
6 sheets phyllo dough, defrosted
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Step one – make the filling.

In a medium sauté pan on medium heat, sauté the onions with the olive oil until translucent and slightly browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the salt and pepper and allow to cool slightly.

Squeeze out and discard as much of the liquid from the spinach as possible. Put the spinach into a bowl and then gently mix in the onions, eggs, nutmeg, Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, feta, and pignoli.

 Step four- Eat and enjoy!

Adam loved these, well he loved the crispy bits.

We had a block party on Saturday and we brought some of these spinach pies and they were a big hit.  It was really nice to spend some time with our neighbors.  They had a grill, a potluck table and even a painting station for the kids. 

It made me a little sad that we weren’t going to be on this block as Adam grows up.  There are tons of kids and Adam would have grown up riding bikes with all of the babies that are so close to Adams age and he would eventually have gone to school with them, well I don’t really understand DC elementary schools and the waiting lists and the lottery system but he would have ended up in school with some of them.  Maybe I’m particularly sensitive to this because Randy and I grew up around the corner from each other,  rode bikes together and went to the same elementary schools (and intermediate and high school).  But, I also know that Adam will have experiences and opportunities that I could only have dreamed about, that he will learn about different cultures and that he will grow up meeting and keeping friends from all different places.   Also as Uncle Meej says, he’ll have an amazing college essay to write!