Cookbook Challenge goes Greek

For Cookbook Challenge #20, I decided to try something that has long intimidated me: Spanakopita.  I think it's the filo pastry that has worried me.   Recently there was a huge long post on the local Mommy Facebook forum about easy meals and one of the moms posted that Spanakopita was easy.  So I decided to give it a try!

Cookbook Challenge #20: Spanakopita from Linda McCartney on Tour

This book was gifted to me by my mom when I was in university.  As I previously mentioned, I went through a vegetarian stint, and my roommates and I loved to try dishes from around the world.  Bingo!  Linda McCartney (Paul's first wife), a dedicated vegetarian, put together this colourful book full of exotic meat-free dishes.

I particularly like the photos of the meat-less chocolate soufflé and custard.
 It's such a relief to have vegetarian desert options.

As soon as I started putting the meal together, I discovered a critical error - I bought 1lb of spinach instead of 2!  Given that spinach is a pretty important ingredient in "Greek Spinach Pie", I debated delaying the meal for another night.  But things were already cooking, so I decided to forge ahead.

I was amazed at how much the spinach cooked down; I started to worry about my plan to use half the required amount.  I added some extra leeks & feta to make up for the missing spinach, crossed my fingers and popped it in the oven.

Short Spanakopita with Mediterranean Salad

Tada!  It worked!  I suppose it might have been taller if I had used the correct amount of spinach, but it was still delicious.  And I have to say, it was much easier than expected.  Hopefully next time I won't cook the edges quite as much.

I'm still not even half way through my cookbook challenge.  What book shall I chose next?

Finley likes his mommy's cooking!