Old school spanokopita

There was a day when Annalena was a vegetarian, and an activist. In the 70s and 80s, they did seem to go hand in hand. If you were a political activist, you were a vegetarian as well. It may still be the case, I don't know. We have so many splits and definitions of what constitutes an activist.

Annalena went to more vegetarian potlucks than she can remember. And ate more bad food than she WANTS to remember. In the last post, I mentioned lentil loaf. How about tofu chili? or "neat balls," and so on and so forth. You all have your own vegetarian horror stories. Tell them here.

A good cook is always a popular guest at these events. And you should only know the various titles that Annalena picked up along the way, so that there was an excuse to invite her to the buffet. And sometimes, the hosts would be bold enough to ask "Can you make that spanokopita?" See, spanokopita is something I learned to make early one, and to make it very well. It's rich. And it's also easy. And very few people make it this rich any more. But you should. And since you WILL need party food this time of year...

You will need a pound of phyllo dough. Don't even think of trying to make it. If you live in a neighborhood where there is a brisk market in Greek and Middle Eastern groceries, ask the grocer what brand she or he recommends. Tell them what you're making. And follow their advice.

The package will have at least 20 sheets in it. This is something to keep in mind for later in this recipe.

You are also going to need either two pounds of fresh spinach, stems removed, or two packages of frozen spinach, thawed. Also a 16 ounce container of full fat cottage cheese, a pound of feta, six eggs, two sticks of butter, and a bunch of dill.

Either cook or thaw the spinach. Whichever way you go, squeeze out the water and chop it. Combine it with the cottage cheese, the feta (which you will have crumbled,), the six eggs, and the dill, chopped. Mix this all up, completely. Taste it and add salt if you like.

Put it aside as you prep the phyllo. First, preheat your oven to 375 and while that's happening, melt the butter in a pot. When it's all melted, get a baking sheet. Use a small brush, and paint the surface of the sheet. Put down a sheet of phyllo and butter that. Repeat this, ten times.

The phyllo will frustrate you if you let it. It bunches, it crumbles, it tears. So what? The layering will make that irrelevant, because every tear will be covered by phyllo on top of it.

When you've finished with ten, spread the filling you've mixed over it, in an even layer, and then repeat the process with the remaining sheets of phyllo. If you have any left over butter, pour it over the last sheet. Tuck the sheets together under the filling, and then score it: you know what I mean: cut vents all over it. Then put it in the oven and bake it for about 40 minutes.

The dough should crisp up and turn a beautiful brown. If it's not brown enough for you, run it under the broiler for a minute.

And you're done. This is a big pan of food, but everyone eats too much of it.

Did it seem difficult? I thought not. Make it, and you, too, may be the next star of your next separatist movement meeting