Welcome to Greek Week and you don't even have to join a Fraternity!

If you are a daily reader of my blog, by now you know how I feel about my friends, and how I have been blessed with some of the most fabulous friends anyone could ask for.

When I asked my friends for help making this blog a success, so many of them volunteered to help me out. You have seen my friend Maria's pierogi party, and today, my dear friend Aliza Gerstein offered to come and show me how to make some delicious Greek Specialities. I am posting the Spanokopita today, followed by the Baklava. My close friend Rae, and my son Steven completed today's group of chefs.

Later in the week, my other friend of Greek heritage, Athena has several other Greek recipes and salads for you. So check the blog carefully these next few days, we have a lot of fabulous recipes coming your way.

I have known Aliza for about twenty-two years. She moved to town shortly after we did. Her husband Stanley was the Rabbi at our Temple and Bar Mitzvah'd all my children. Aliza (her proper title for those of you who are not Jewish) is the Rebbetzin as the Rabbi's wife is known. She is truly one in a million! She was my children's Hebrew School teacher for several years. As my son Steven will tell you, being his Hebrew School teacher will earn Aliza her place in heaven!

It was so wonderful to watch Aliza and Steven together, interacting with each other on such a different level today. Rabbi and Aliza were with us to celebrate Steven's graduation from law school recently, and ironically, my son Jeffrey (who was also one of their students) had the honor of returning their kindness when the Rabbi needed some medical assistance at Johns Hopkins this past summer...what goes around, comes around! They have been part of our lives for such a long time, through good times and bad.

When I was young and new to town, Aliza and the Rabbi were so supportive of me. As a girl growing up in an Italian Catholic household, and converting to Judaism, I often had questions or needed advise, the Gersteins were always there to give it. When my mother was a patient in the hospital, some years ago, the Rabbi made it a point to visit her along with the members of his congregation. We became part of their family, and they became part of ours...

When we started to talk today while we were getting ready to prepare the Greek Specialties, I mentioned to Rae and Aliza the hint on the blog a few days earlier about putting some oil in the water when you hard boil the eggs. Aliza laughed and said she had been doing that for years, and then told us of a trick her mother used to do with the eggs when she boiled them.

Her mother used to put the skins from the onions into the pot when she boiled the eggs, because although, it didn't impart an oniony taste to the eggs, it made them taste richer, and gave them a beautiful beige-gold glow. Aliza then revealed a beautiful family secret to us. Her mother was not Jewish, but she converted like I did. When I asked Aliza if I could tell this story, she hesitated for a second because she said her mother never really talked about her conversion, but then she agreed. She told us that years ago, converts were afraid of not being accepted by other Jews in their congregations so they rarely discussed it. One day, she was discussing it with Rabbi Stan, and he said that those people who convert were an honor to Judaism, and that we should all remember our Bible studies, and that David's mother Ruth was a convert too. She said that changed her whole perception of her mother's conversion.

She said that as a young girl, her mother always colored Easter eggs. When she converted, she could no longer do that, so she used the onions as her way of dying the eggs, it was her little secret that she shared with her daughter Aliza. I never realized just how much Rae, and Aliza and I had in common, because Rae's mother was not Jewish either.

Aliza was born in Athens, near the Acropolis, and lived in Greece for the first few years of her life, and this is why she is such a stupendous Greek cook. Tomorrow, I will tell you the beautiful story of how she came to the United States and met the love of her life Rabbi Stan!



SPANAKOPITA
Greek Spinach Pie

Aliza Gerstein

Note: If your Fillo dough is frozen, place it in the refrigerator the night before you want to use it.

1 package (16 ounces # 4 Phyllo) Apollo Fillo dough
Note: # 4 Fillo Dough has fillo sheets that are 12 x 17-inches and about 28 sheets to a package)
4 (10 ounce) packages Frozen chopped Spinach
1 large Bermuda or Vidalia onion, peeled and chopped (or two large regular yellow onions)
3 scallions with greens, minced
1 pound Feta Cheese
¼-½ cup grated Romano Cheese
5 -6 Eggs, slightly beaten (start with five eggs first)
Fresh Dill, approximately ¼ cup, chopped (or 1 tablespoon dried dill)
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Dash of Nutmeg (optional)
½ cup Extra virgin olive oil (to sauté the onions)
Approximately 1 cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil to brush on the dough (heated in the microwave about 45 seconds)

FILLING:

Preheat the oven to 350º

Place spinach in a microwave safe dish. Set the microwave on defrost (about 10 minutes to start) completely thaw Spinach in the microwave, adding time in 2 minute intervals. Put it in a dishtowel and squeeze all liquid out.

Sauté onion in ¼ - ½ cup olive oil (in a small frying pan) until golden.
In a large bowl fork beat the eggs. Crumble in the Feta and add the Romano cheese.
Add the onion, scallions, and dill. Mix with a spoon. Mix in the spinach, add pepper and nutmeg.

In a small pot or microwave, heat the rest of the olive oil, just until it is warm.

Unwrap Fillo dough and cover with plastic wrap.

Use about a 15 ½ ” x 10 ½-inch baking pan or 2 smaller pans.
Using a Pastry Brush, brush pan (bottom and sides) with oil. Layer bottom and sides with one layer of Fillo dough. Brush the dough again with oil and continue to layer fillo, brushing each layer, until 10 Fillo sheets have been used. –(You will layer them in two different directions, see pictures below)

Spread Spinach filling, in one layer. Continue to spread the rest of the fillo sheets over filling, brushing each with olive oil. Generously brush top fillo sheet with oil.

Score top few layers with a very sharp knife, in the size squares you wish to serve. Brush the top layer with a generous coating of olive oil

Bake 350º F oven (on the middle shelf,) for about 45 to 50 minutes.
Be sure Fillo is golden brown. Let rest about 5 minutes and take a sharp kinve and cut through all the pre-scored cuts.


This is what you will need for the recipe:

A closeup in case some of you may not know that the fresh dill looks like
That is fresh nutmeg in the container with the silver handle
next to the ground nutmeg in the container
(always grate it fresh if you can, that's what we did today)

Note: This dish is so easy to make if you just take the time to prep everything ahead of time, then all you will need to do is assemble it...it's a snap!


SPANAKOPITA
Greek Spinach Pie

Aliza Gerstein

Note: If your Fillo dough is frozen, place it in the refrigerator the night before you want to use it.

1 package (16 ounces # 4 Phyllo) Apollo Fillo dough
Note: # 4 Fillo Dough has fillo sheets that are 12 x 17-inches and about 28 sheets to a package)
4 (10 ounce) packages Frozen chopped Spinach
1 large Bermuda or Vidalia onion, peeled and chopped (or two large regular yellow onions)
3 scallions with greens, minced
1 pound Feta Cheese
¼-½ cup grated Romano Cheese
5 -6 Eggs, slightly beaten (start with five eggs first)
Fresh Dill, approximately ¼ cup, chopped (or 1 tablespoon dried dill)
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Dash of Nutmeg (optional)
½ cup Extra virgin olive oil (to sauté the onions)
Approximately 1 cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil to brush on the dough (heated in the microwave about 45 seconds)

Peel the onion, but leave the dark brown nub on the bottom
(I did this before Aliza arrived, and cut what I thought was a large onion
Aliza said we need a second one because she normally
uses either a Vidalia or Bermuda onion, so if you are using a regular
large yellow onions, use two)


Cut the onion in half right through the nub


Make thin slices


Turn the onion 90 degrees

and make thin slices again,


you will have diced your onion


Discard the brown nubby part (root end)


Repeat with the other half


Set aside


Wash the scallions


Cut off the little bulby root part


Cut off a tiny little bit at the top of the scallion


Cut the scallion into very small pieces


Set aside


Wash the dill


Cut the thick bottom stalks off


Mince the upper parts of the dill very fine
Set aside


Break the eggs into a separate dish


Beat the eggs with a fork


Set aside


Place the four packages of spinach into a large microwavable container

and place in the microwave on the defrost setting


I started with ten minutes and added another 5 minutes, but you can do increments of two minutes so you just defrost and don't cook the spinach

Make sure the spinach is completely defrosted and you will
see the large amount of liquid in the bowl
Drain as much liquid from the bowl as you can


Place the spinach in a clean dish towel


Gather up the edges of the towel to create a ball
do this over the sink if possible


Squeeze the towel as hard as you can


and continue to squeeze to get out all the liquid

Set the spinach aside


Place about one cup of Extra Virgin olive oil
in a microwavable dish and set aside


You will have now prepped everything that you can and will
be ready to begin the filling soon


Preheat the oven to 350º


You are now ready to start making the filling
This will be so easy because you already did all the work :)

Place the other half a cup of oil in a frying pan and heat it


Add the onions to the frying pan
Sauté onions until golden,

add the scallions,
saute for another minute or two


Set aside


Place the beaten eggs into a large mixing bowl


Give them another quick beating with the fork


Open your Feta cheese


Using your fingers, begin to crumble the feta


Add the crumbled Feta cheese to the eggs



Add the dill


Add the nutmeg

and pepper



Mix


Mix in the spinach


Mix well
(Rae doing the mixing)


Add the onion/scallion mix



Mix well again


Add the Romano cheese and mix again


At this point, Aliza thought the mix was a little too thick


We beat an additional egg to add to the mix


Blend well...perfect


Heat the rest of the olive oil just until it is warm by


microwaving it about 45 seconds, this makes it easier to brush on the fillo dough


Unwrap Fillo dough




and cover with plastic wrap
(Aliza used the bottom of the bag that the dough was wrapped in as a cover.
She said not to use a damp paper towel because
it can make the dough to wet. We were going to work quickly,
so the dough wouldn't really dry out.


Me watching Aliza's skillful hands in the
fabulous Chef Hat with Hot Peppers
Rae made me


Lay the Fillo out flat


Brush the bottom and sides of a 15 ½ ” x 10 ½-inch baking pan
or 2 smaller pans with the olive oil


Carefully lift up your first sheet of fillo dough
She also said not to worry if the dough ripped,
because in this type of dish, it didn't matter.
If you were making triangles, then
you have to be more careful


Layer the bottom of the pan lengthwise with one layer of Fillo dough
Brush the dough again with oil

and continue to layer fillo lengthwise,
brushing each layer with oil,


until 6 Fillo sheets have been used,
brush with oil between each sheet
and brush the sides with oil too

(Note how the dough is up a little on the inside side of the pan)




Now, lay two sheets widthwise (next to each other to form one layer and so they will create an overhang of the dough over the side of the pan.


Brush with olive oil again, and brush the dough
that is overhanging too, so it doesn't dry out


Repeat with another two sheets (you will have used four sheets of dough,
but have only created two layers of dough)


Now lay another sheet of dough lengthwise again,
(you are almost creating a type of basketweave)
brush with oil



Place another sheet lengthwise on
top of the last sheet, brush with oil again


Repeat two more time lengthwise brushing with oil between each layer




Notice how the dough is overhanging the width of the pan




You should have used about 14-16 sheets on
the bottom of the pan
(Rae keeping a count for the blog)


This is how it should look right before you put the spinach in


Place the spinach filling on the dough


Spread Spinach filling, in one layer



Fold in all the overhang edges of dough onto the spinach
to mix to create a seal of sorts





Brush with olive oil


Continue to spread the rest of the fillo sheets
lengthwise over filling, brushing each sheet with olive oil




Before you place the last sheet on the top,
use the pastry brush with oil to push down any
edges that are sticking up to make the layer smooth


Brush with oil


Place the final sheet on the top of the pie


Use a scissor to trim the last piece so it fits neatly into the pan



Generously brush top fillo sheet with oil


With the pastry brush push down any of the edges that are sticking up
almost like folding in a pie crust


Score the pie with a very sharp knife in three to four rows lengthwise
(we did six rows)
Only score it through the top few layers of dough, do not go very deep





Then, starting in the top corner of the pan,
slice on the diagonal to create diamond shapes,
as before, only score it through the top few layers
of dough, do not go very deep.





You can see that the cut doesn't go deeper than the first layer of dough


Generously brush this top layer with oil one last time


Bake in the preheated oven for about 1 hour on the middle shelf,
(check after 45 minutes if getting too brown, place a piece of foil across the top,)


until golden brown


Let the pan sit about 5-8 minutes, and then take the sharp knife
and cut completely though the previous cuts you made lengthwise.



Let the pie rest about another 10 minutes
and go back and cut completely through
the diamonds cuts you made before




Carefully remove the diamond shaped pieces to a serving plate



Enjoy...you will never want to eat this is a restaurant again
after making it as home, you cannot compare the difference in taste!



Watch it disappearing...

Come back soon and watch us whisk up Baklava!!!!!