Passport & Plate - Anna Tamvakis's Spanakopita
Greece | Thursday, March 13, 2014 | 5 photos
Ingredients
Ingredients for Anna Tamvakis’s Spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie)
Home-made pastry
• 300 grams of normal flour
• 1 cup of warm water
• 2 table spoons good quality extra virgin olive oil
Spinach filling
• 1 large bunch fresh spinach (silverbeet or English spinach)
• 4 eggs beaten together
• 1 onion diced
• 200 grams feta cheese
• 200 grams pecorino/romano/kefalotiri cheese (a hard Greek sheep’s cheese)
• Melted butter for basting tray and pastry layers
• Salt
• Pepper
How to prepare this recipeI. THE SPINACH - Wash, cut thinly and dry the spinach (do day before if possible to remove excess moisture).
Chef's tip: Use paper towels to dry quickly.
II. MAKING HOME-MADE PASTRY - Mix flour, warm water, extra virgin olive oil into pastry ball in bowl until all ingredients are evenly mixed in. Kneed thoroughly on clean, flat surface using palm of your hand until pastry ball is dry and hard. Add extra flour to prevent pastry sticking.
III. RISING THE PASTRY - Place firm and dry pastry ball in bowl and cover over with a warm damp cloth. Leave for at least an hour until pastry rises.
IV. THE MIXTURE – Add cut spinach (must be dry), 4 beaten eggs, crumbled cheeses, finely chopped onion and salt and pepper into bowl and mix thoroughly with your hands.
V. ROLLING THE PASTRY – Sprinkle flour on clean, hard surface. Roll out risen pastry ball as thin as possible with rolling pin. Cut into thirds for 3 pastry sheets or as required for baking tray.
Chef’s tip: Aluminium baking trays work best.
VI. THE FIRST PASTRY LAYER – Grease baking tray with melted butter before placing first sheet of pastry into baking tray. Be careful to allow pastry sheet to overlap edge of baking tray.
VII. PLACING THE MIXTURE – Place mixture evenly above pastry sheet into baking tray.
VIII. TOP PASTRY LAYERS – Place second and third layers of pastry above spinach mixture and cut off extra pastry around tray rim. Grease butter between the layers of pastry and above the third layer to create golden crunch.
Chef’s tip: Place leftover pastry edges above the spinach mixture before placing final pastry layer.
IX. DIAMONDS – Mark top layer of pastry gently with a knife diagonally into pieces, in order to make cutting pieces easier after baking.
X. BAKING – Place for about 1 hour in pre-heated oven at 170-180 degrees Celsius. Apply foil if needed to avoid burning top layer of pastry.
XI. EATING – Eat as many pieces hot and store/hide others in the fridge to eat over the next week!
The story behind this recipeSPANAKOPITA STORY
The aroma of 90 year-old Anna Tamvakis’s Spanakopita (Spanich Pie) is the smell of 4 millennia of Mediterranean Epicurean history. From its known roots in Kythera – the island of the Athena – it holds an epic niche in Sydney’s Greek community. Over its 75-years, my Yayá’s (Greek for grandma) pita has marked all great family occasions – births, deaths, marriages and football games. Pious citizens succumb to its allure by stealthily popping in a piece or three before mealtime prayers.
What is it about Yayá’s pita that is so special? It is the buttery crunch of the crusty pastry that her weathered hands lovingly roll? Or is it the luscious filling of fresh garden spinach and carefully chosen, bitey Greek cheeses? The debates go on forever, as each of us procures another piece while feigning an answer.
“What is the secret ingredient?”, newcomers ask naïvely, as if attending a secret society for the first time. Yet there are no secret ingredients here. ‘Beauty in simplicity’, as in Italian cooking, is the key. In true Greek philosophy, moderation is to be cherished in the pursuit of pleasure. There is however, one ingredient that cannot be store bought nor can one be taught how to use it. This ingredient, true to this oral tradition, is not written down. You'll only know what this is when you make pita yourself.
Every good Greek boy boasts that his yayá’s pita is the best. I know in my heart that Yayá’s is unique. But I accept that everyone else’s is special too. This recipe is more than special to me, however. It is essential to my identify. As a keeper of a vibrant food history, Yayá has bequeathed to me a responsibility to carry her love forward. This culinary inheritance is a hallmark of Mediterranean cultures where human links between past and present are forged through heirloom foods. I just know that in Cinque Terre I’ll taste the love of all the ‘nonas’, whose dedication to their craft keeps these invaluable traditions alive.
