Spanakopita/Byrek is one of my favourite recipes ever, in fact I consider it as a special treat as it is healthy, delicious and nice to look at. You can use spanakopita as a starter and even make a really good impression if you cook it to a party with your friends or family. I believe that what makes it special is the fact that it really enhances the flavour of the vegetables taking away the earthy and bland taste.
All you need is:
1 pack of filo pastry (I buy it in the supermarket in the fridge section)
400g of spinach (I used the frozen one)
1 medium size leek
1 medium size spring onion
5 tablespoons of yogurt
2 tablespoons of ricotta cheese (I used vegetarian Ricotta)
Dill (is essential) you can use the dried or the fresh one
4 tablespoons of olive oil
30gr of cheddar (optional)
Salt
3 tablespoons of milk
For the preparation:
Tip: make sure you leave the filo pastry in the fridge until the filling is ready (otherwise it will get dry).
On a frying pan put 2 tablespoon of olive oil, the slightly chopped leek, spring onion and cook them together on a medium heat for about 3 minutes after that add the spinach, the dill and let them cook for 15-20 min adding salt as you prefer.
When you notice that the spinach, the leek and the spring onion are perfectly mixed with each other and cooked, turn off the heat. Now add the ricotta cheese and the yogurt and mix together all the ingredients, taste to see if the filling needs more salt and then gride the cheddar (optional). Mix all the ingredients together and put the lead on, to let them rest (there you go, you have the most delicious filling).
Now turn the oven on (180C/gas mark 5/ 356F) and in the meantime take a small cup and add the milk and the remaining oil (this will be the mixture you will use to stick the filo pastries together and to do this I use a kitchen brush). Now take the filo pastry out of the fridge and gently unroll it on a clean surface, after that take a kitchen cloth, wet it very well and squeeze it so that it is damp not dripping wet and cover the whole filo pastry (this is a trick that a greek friend of mine tought me) so that the filo pastry doesn’t get dry.
Now it is time to place the whole thing on a tray. Take a medium-sized baking tray and put a baking paper on it after that take the first filo pastry brush it with the special mixture of milk and oil being careful to brush on the corners as well and place it on the tray, after that you repeat the same thing for another 5 filo pastries ( please don’t forget to cover the filo pastry with damp cloth after you take one filo pastry at a time) after that, add the filling and repeat the same thing with remaining filo pastries. Make sure you don’t put the filling everywhere, leave the corners empty after that carefully seal the borders and brush for the last time with milk and olive oil especially on the borders. Leave to cook for about 25 minutes or until is nice and golden and there you go you have just cooked something really nice and healthy. I am sure people will love spinach even more after trying this.
Enjoy!
alifemoment 
Reblogged this on Tomatoempire and commented:
it seems really delicious 🙂
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This looks so good!
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Thank you very much for the very nice words, hope you get the chance to try it!!
Best wishes,
Alice
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Reblogged this on alifemoment.
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Mmmm… this looks really good. I love spinach and pastry together.
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Thank you so much dmariebates for the lovely words, please do give it a go!
Best wishes,
Alice
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Yum! Spanakopita is amazing.
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Thanks for stopping by,
I totally agree with you, love it 🙂
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Beautiful! Was one of my favorite dishes. Unforunately I can no longer eat filo because of gluten intolerance. 😦
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😦 I’m sorry for that,
I will try to do it using gluten free ingredients 🙂
Thank you very much for commenting,
Best wishes,
Alice
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There are alot of gluten free substitutes these dayas- pizza dough, noodles- but I would think trying to replicate filo dough impossible! I have learned to make things without crusts- this would work too! 😀
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One of my favourites! I’ll be posting some variations of this soon, after having been at a filo masterclass! … sorry, DailyMusings 😦
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Love this – one of my favorites! Can’t wait to make it for the family soon.
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I’m sure your family will love it 🙂
Easy and delicious,
Thank you for stopping by,
Best wishes,
Alice
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Can’t wait to try this, it looks great!
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Thank you for the really nice words Justjan,
I hope you will like and enjoy it 🙂
Best wishes,
Alice
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Spinach and pastry is my fav’ combination! Looks fab … will try it out soon .. thanks for sharing 🙂
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You are welcome and thank you very much for the nice words. Hope you will like the results!
Best wishes,
Alice
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[…] Now if you want to know what you need and how to do it you’ll have to visit A Life Moment. […]
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Looks great, just had to reblog that on Fizz. Linked, of course.
AV
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Thank you so much for the nice words and reblogging it I really do appreciate! 🙂
Best wishes,
Alice
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That looks soo soooo good!!
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Thank you very much Dana, I love spanakopita 🙂 🙂 🙂
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mmm mmm mmmph!!
How could one not?
I literally placed my whole palm over my computer screen looking at that 😀
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You are so kind 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thanks again for your nice comments 🙂
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I am definitely going to try the milk and olive oil for dampening and sticking together the filo pastry in this dish. I make a similar one but using feta and cottage cheese, and have only used melted butter to stick it together. Thanks for posting this!
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Thanks for stopping by Forestwoodfolkart, I am glad you found my post useful, generally I prefer using olive oil instead of butter because it has less saturated fat.
I hope you will give it a go and enjoy it 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Byrek, what of my favorite meals of all time. I mostly like to eat with some kind of meat or cheese but spinach is good as well
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Thank you Fiver Feeds for stopping by, I really do appreciate!
Best wishes,
Alice
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I like the recipe, yummy 😛
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Thank you for stopping by 🙂
I’m glad you like it, it is really popular in all Balkans and Turkey and I love it 🙂
I hope you will give it a go,
Best wishes,
Alice
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Alice I totally agree with you about this being a favourite recipe 🙂
I think I will try to create a vegan version!
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Thank you Laurena for the nice words, I’d love to hear your vegan version recipe 🙂
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Spanakopita is definitely a favorite treat around here, and your formula looks stellar. I can practically taste it already!
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Wow, thank you so much for your lovely words, you are really kind Hannah, I am really glad you like my spanakopita 😊😊😊
Best wishes,
Alice
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Sounds delicious!!!
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Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting 🙂
Best wishes,
Alice
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One of my favorite dishes and this one looks extra savory with the cheddar cheese and leeks. Mmmmm! Jo @ Let’s Face the Music
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Wow, what a nice comment to read, it really made my day 😊😊😊
Alice
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This is looks so good! I can’t wait to try the recipe!
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Thank you soooo much for the very nice words, if you try it please let me know how it goes I would love to hear from you the results!
Best wishes,
Alice
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I love spanakopita!! Will definitely be making this recipe!
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Thank you for trying the recipe, hope you will like the results!
Best wishes,
Alice
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I am loving this! Can’t wait to try it out ! tnx for sharing.
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Thank you very much Anu Nagaraja for the very nice words and checking my blog. Hope you will like the results and please let me know how it goes if you try it!
Best wishes,
Alice
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looks delicious, can’t wait to try it!
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Thank you so much for the very nice words! I really do appreciate. Please let me know how it goes if you decide to make it!
Best wishes,
Alice
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I will!
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I’m Romanian so the borek/byrek/bourek terminology was more familiar to me growing up but I’ve made this dish and called it spanakotyropita (the tyro is for the cheese) just as happily. The addition of the dill is more recent in my recipe book too. And I’ve yet to use leeks.
There are so many great dishes made with phyllo dough, aren’t there? I like the sweet ones as well especially the galaktobourkeo (semolina custard) which I bake as rolls.
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Thank you very much for the nice comments,
I totally agree with you Filo pastry is so versatile,
I love it, as much as I love Byrek 🙂
Best wishes,
Alice
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I made this lovely recipe using fresh filo,pastry from our Turkish shop nearby!
it wa superb Yummy! we werved it with a lovely mixed green salad & simple dressing!
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I think this recipe would be so much better with fresh filo but It is very difficult to find where I live!
Have a nice Sunday,
Alice
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You too, dear Alice! x
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Looks delicious! I love spinach so this is definitely something I wanna try in my own kitchen 😀 (even though I’m not much of a cook)
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Thank you so much for the nice words. It is a fault free recipe so I am sure you will like the results! Fingers crossed!
Best wishes,
Alice
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Thanks, gonna try my best! 😀
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Why don’t I know how to cook?? Everything looks so yummy here. I feel hungry. Got to avoid your blog til I take lunch
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Lol, thank you so much winfred for stopping by and the very nice comment. Please do give it a go, it is very easy to make and remember even the best chefs started from basic cooking. 🙂
Best wishes,
Alice
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Oh… you are really kind to say I can cook. Thanks.. I will try maybe
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I have been looking to make this for a while! I had this at a Greek festival and fell in love.
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Please do give it a go, you will love this, aswell. Alice ☺
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I believe so I live spinach so it has me captivated already 🙂
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