The other day Anastasia sent me a text at 8.05am alerting me to the fact that one of our favourite cookware stores was having a 50% clearance sale. I immediately sent her a text back letting her know that I would meet her at the store after I dropped the kids off to school. I also suggested if she could exercise some restraint until I got there as she is just as obsessed (if more) when it comes to kitchen gadgets and bakeware.

By the time I got to the store Anastasia had already amassed a huge pile of things she 'needed' for her kitchen. I managed to quickly match her speed and mania and before I knew it I had a mountain of stuff that I apparently needed for my kitchen too. One of the things I managed to pick up for just $15 was a large, round French metal baking dish. I held it up to show Anastasia and we both said simultaneously -'spanakopita'!




Growing up, Anastasia was one of those clever Greek girls who actually paid attention to her mother while she stood by her side in their Northcote kitchen. Hence, her knowledge of Greek food is phenomenal and her kourabiedes, galaktoboureko and baklava are to - die - for!

The recipe below is Anastasia's fast and easy butter free spanakopita. The exclusion of butter does not mean that this pie is 'light' as there is a fair amount of heavy cream involved here. Rather, the absence of butter means that this spanakopita is quick and easy to assemble as you are not brushing each and every sheet of filo pastry with melted butter.




Anastasia's Spanakopita

Ingredients

1 x 375g pkt of filo pastry

250g fresh spinach leaves

2-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

A bunch of fresh dill, roughly chopped

600g fetta, crumbled

½ cup of grated parmesan

12 strokes freshly grated nutmeg

3 organic eggs, beaten

300ml thick cream

Olive oil



Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Grease a 30cm round baking dish with some olive oil and set aside.

2. Heat a little olive oil in a pan and add the garlic, spinach and dill and cook over a low heat until the spinach has wilted. Allow the spinach mixture to cool and then add the fetta and parmesan and stir until well combined. Add the nutmeg and season with salt and pepper to taste.

3. Lay a couple of sheets of filo pastry on top of each other and then scatter a little of the spinach and fetta mixture over the filo. Scrunch the pastry up and then place it into the prepared baking dish. Repeat the process until you have no mixture left and/or the baking dish is well packed with bunches of scrunched up spinach and fetta filled filo pastry sheets.

4. Beat the cream and eggs together and gently pour the mixture over the pie ensuring that the pie is evenly drenched. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. Allow the pie to rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.