Spanakopita Deluxe aka Spanakoplava aka Bakapita

Sounds a bit odd, doesn’t it? But the slightly nutty flavor of the spinach/parmesan blends well with the walnuts, and the little bit of sweetness complements the feta and lemon. Lots of good textures too—soft, crispy, and crunchy. This recipe might look lengthy, but don’t worry. It’s really pretty simple…and I’ve taken care of the first seven steps for you already. 

Step one. Buy a few bags/boxes of frozen spinach to make something…it doesn’t matter what.

Step two. Stick the spinach in the back of the freezer and forget about it.

Step three. Clean out your freezer months later and spy said forsaken spinach.

Step four. Decide to make spanakopita.

Step five. Look up recipes to get inspired. Decide that nothing sounds exciting enough. Cudgel brain to produce something different, yet still delicious.

Step six. Realize that there is another food you love that’s sandwiched between layers of phyllo: baklava. Plus spanakopita? Reject the idea of combining the two. Reject the rejection.

Step seven. Poo-poo the idea of shaming this glorious idea by crafting it in the typical casserole square construction. Rolling it is.

Ingredients

Yields three rolls; half a roll is a meal for one person

Spanakopita filling
-20–24 oz (two 10 or 12 oz packages) frozen spinach
-2T butter or olive oil (for sautéing)
-1 small onion, small dice
-2 cloves of garlic, minced
-1/8c olive oil
-2 eggs
-24 oz crumbled feta cheese
-1/4c shredded parmesan
-2T lemon juice
-1t nutmeg or pumpkin pie spice
-1T salt
-2t granulated garlic
-2t granulated onion

Baklava filling
-2c walnuts
-1/4c+ honey (You know how honey sticks to the measuring cup…so make it over-full)
-1t ground cinnamon
-1t sugar

Assembly
-2 sticks of butter, melted
-1 package of phyllo dough (usually two 8 oz packs of ~20 sheets each)
-Honey, for drizzling
-Alcohol of choice, for maintaining sanity

Instructions

1. The day before you want to cook, open the spinach packages and dump contents into a colander over a bowl, preferably so the colander is a few inches above the bottom of the bowl. Leave out on the counter until spinach is on its way to melting (about 1–2 hours). Place contraption into refrigerator overnight. The next day, grab handfuls of the spinach and squeeze into the sink (or into the bowl to save and freeze in a baggie to make vegetable stock) to remove as much water as possible. This step allows the spinach to dry out a bit, which will make the cooking-down step much faster. If you’d rather ignore this, plan on adding another 15–20 minutes to Step 3. Last thing—make sure the phyllo dough, if frozen, is in the fridge at least overnight to thaw.

2. Add the 2T of olive oil or butter to a medium-sized pan (big enough to fit in all the spinach). Add onion and garlic and sauté over medium-high heat.

3. Add the spinach. Stir and cook, uncovered, until the mixture is pretty dry. We want a moistness close to hour-old brewed coffee grounds—damp, but not drippy/juicy. If your spinach mixture is too wet, the phyllo will not crisp up. No one likes soggy bottoms!

4. Take the spinach pan off heat and let it cool off while you prepare the baklava filling.

5. Either chop by hand or use a food processor to cut up the nuts. When you have the proper grind—I like a rough chop, maybe quartering the walnut halves, but do whatever you prefer—mix in the cinnamon, sugar, and honey. Set aside.

6. Melt 1 stick of butter and get out a pastry brush or basting brush. If you don’t have one, fold up a paper towel until you’ve got a wad about an inch wide. You can use this in lieu of a brush.

7. Hopefully the spinach is relatively cool now. Mix in the cheeses, oil, eggs, spices, and lemon juice. Spray a lasagna pan or baking sheet with pan spray. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

8. Get out your phyllo dough. Open only one roll to start. Keep the sheets you’re not working with covered with plastic wrap so they don’t dry out. If your phyllo dries out, you’re gonna have a bad time. Seriously…you think I’m overreacting, because that’s what I thought when all the recipes I looked at reiterated this. Phyllo is a bunch of very thin dough sheets. Maybe thinner than paper. If they dry out…you can’t get them apart without ripping them all to hell. In the end, this doesn’t REALLY matter (you’re slathering the layers with butter-glue and slapping it all together anyway). But try to keep them happy…and definitely have a bit of alcohol before starting (this does help). Also helpful if you have a partner to hand you sheets of phyllo...quick-quick like bunny.

Lay out one piece of phyllo. Brush it with butter: you don’t need to cover every visible square millimeter. Hit the edges, hit the middle. It’s not a bad idea to move quickly (keeping that phyllo un-dry!). Place a second sheet of phyllo on top of the first and brush that with butter. Repeat until you have about 2/3^rd of the package (~12 sheets of phyllo) in a stack. Do not butter the top of the last sheet.

9. Orient the phyllo stack/yourself so that the long edge of the phyllo is facing you. Grab the spanakopita filling and use a spoon/spatula/your hand to spread 1/3rd of it on this long edge. Keep away from the short sides about an inch back.

10. Butter one brush-width along the inner edge of the spanakopita filling.

11. Spread 1/3rd of the baklava mixture over the rest of the phyllo. Brush some butter on the top edge.

12. Slide your fingers under the phyllo and gently roll the dough up. As you roll forward, also fold the edges in so that the finished roll has tucked edges like a burrito. Gently squeeze all along the roll to shape it. Place the roll seam side down on the pan/baking sheet.

13. Repeat steps 8–12 to produce a second and third spanakoplava roll. If you don’t want to eat all of the rolls within a few days, freeze the extras now.

14. Brush the tops and sides of the rolls with butter and drizzle some honey on top. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. You want the phyllo to be golden and crispy and the fillings to be hot. Don't expect nice clean-looking slices...it will be messy. And delicious.

Opa!