I met Lisa Vihos when David and I visited Lakeland College in Wisconsin last October. We were in a workshop together and I loved her poems. Later we talked about food and cooking and I was thrilled when she agreed to contribute a recipe. Lisa's poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Free Verse, Lakefire, Wisconson People and Ideas, Seems, and Big Muddy. She loves to cook for family and friends (see how happy she is in the photo above, with her sister and dad?). Lisa maintains a weekly poetry blog here. And here's what she has to say about this week's recipe for spinach pie:
I learned how to make spinach pie from my paternal
grandmother, Irene Vihos, who was born on the island
of Melos and came to America in 1932 as a young woman
with a small daughter and very limited English. My grandfather was already
here, slinging hash in a Greek diner in Detroit.
My father was not yet born. When I knew my Yaya, she lived on Avery Street in a
dark house filled with old things. The bright spot in all this darkness was the
kitchen, where she served nose-tickling Vernor’s ginger ale in colored metal
tumblers and cooked up dandelion greens she had picked along the roadside,
drizzled with olive oil and lemon.
In the bright kitchen in the dark house, my Yaya
taught me to make a puff pastry for spinach pie. She did not teach me to roll
individual thin sheets of phyllo dough, though recipes for this can be found on
the Internet. I am told there is
one bakery in New York that still makes fresh phyllo. I
switched to frozen phyllo in my twenties and never turned back. I like Athens brand, available in
any grocery store.
A Note About Phyllo
Phyllo can be one of the most
maddening substances on earth. After making many dozens of spinach pies in my
life, here is what I have learned about it:
Like a recalcitrant child, the phyllo dough will constantly
be telling you, “you are not the boss of me!” And just as you would do with a
child, you must lovingly push onward and let it know in the kindest of ways
that in fact, you are the boss, and it is going to have to do your bidding.
It helps immensely to properly follow the thawing
instructions as written on the box. Take it out of the freezer two hours before
you will use it, just like it says. Do not try putting the phyllo in direct
sunlight for a 20-minute speed thaw. Plan ahead!
Have all the ingredients mixed and ready before you open the
phyllo package. Don’t be leaving your phyllo exposed to the air while you are
melting butter or mixing spinach or anything like that. If you must leave your
phyllo unattended to go to the bathroom, answer the phone, or help a child tie
a shoe, make sure to cover the sheets with a clean, dry dish towel to protect
them from the air.
Work quickly and stay calm. A few sheets may stick together.
A few sheets may end up in shreds. No matter. If you keep your wits about you
and just keep pushing on, you will end up with a spinach pie. I have made a
whole pie from shreds and a few well-placed sheets that kept their shape! Remember, butter is your friend and can be
used to glue everything together if need be.
In the making of spinach pie, as in life, there are no
mistakes! Only reminders to pay closer attention to detail next time. Be quick,
but not sloppy. Mend when mending is required. Do not skimp on butter. Stay
calm. Be kind and gentle. Do not tear into fragile things. Share. Spinach pie
tastes best when eaten with friends. Yasoo!
Lisa’s Yaya’s Spinach Pie
1 lb. package frozen phyllo dough
3 10 oz. packages frozen chopped spinach
8 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
24 oz.. container small curd cottage cheese (sometimes, I only
use ¾ of it and I eat the rest for lunch)
2 eggs, beaten
2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1.5 sticks of butter, melted (approximately - if anything you will need more)
3 Tbls chopped fresh dill (optional)
Remove phyllo from freezer at least two hours before you
will be making your spinach pie and leave it on the kitchen counter to thaw.
(Read the instructions on the box. They know what they are talking about! See “A
Note About Phyllo” above.) Preheat the oven to 375. Melt
1.5 sticks of butter on low heat and keep it melted but watch so it doesn’t burn.
Put the frozen spinach bricks into a large sauté pan on low
heat. You are not really cooking it, just getting it to thaw. Once thawed, drain
off every bit of water so that your pie won’t be soggy. Transfer the spinach to
a large mixing bowl, and add crumbled feta, cottage cheese, eggs, and dill (if
you wish). Mix thoroughly and set aside.
Brush a shallow cookie pan (something with low sides) with a
layer of butter. Now is the time to
unwrap and unroll your phyllo. Cover it with a dishtowel if you have to
stop for any amount of time. Three Athens
sheets will comprise one layer. To every sheet apply liberal amounts of butter.
Use half the total available phyllo for the bottom of the pie and save half for
the top. IMPORTANT: make sure as you are laying in the sheets that you allow
them to overhang the side of the pan. You will need this overhang to seal up
the edges before baking.
With the bottom layers in, apply one more swath of melted
butter. Sprinkle with half the parmesan. Layer in the spinach mixture. Sprinkle
with the other half of the parmesan. Then assemble the top layers of phyllo
just like the bottom ones, always applying a liberal coating of butter to each sheet
of phyllo.
When all the phyllo is laid on, carefully roll up the
overhanging edges inward toward the center of the pie and tuck them in and
under themselves. You are essentially scrolling up the edges and turning them
under to make a nice buttery seal. The phyllo along these edges will be dry and
crumbly at this point, like an old book that has been left in the sun for a
couple millenia. Don’t panic. Just keep your cool and keep rolling and tucking (see
“A Note About Phyllo” above). Plaster down these flaking edges with large dabs
of melted butter.
Just before you put the pie in the oven, take a serrated
steak knife and score into the top layers of phyllo along all the lines where
you plan to cut it once it is baked. My sister recently taught me this trick
and I swear by it now. Don’t cut all the way to the filling because green stuff
will ooze out. You are just making a perforation to allow for easier cutting
later. If you know how to make diagonal shaped pieces, you can do this, but my
Aunt Helen says that diagonal pieces are only for baklava. Spinach pie should
always be cut in squares. She was born in Greece, so I’m going to trust her
on this one.
Bake the pie at 375 for 40 minutes. Lower the heat to 350
and cook for another 10-15 minutes. It should be a nice sandy brown; browner
than cookies, let’s say, but not dark
brown. You’ll know. Let the pie cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.
Unless you really can’t wait, then go ahead and try it, but you will probably
burn your mouth on the filling and that really hurts.
