I like that it's not individual triangles. I did that once and it wasn't pretty. May try Ina's method some day. Thanks!

I think I made triangles with phyllo a zillion years ago, different fillings IIRC. It was a total PITA, too much dough vs ingredients, and hard to make it look pretty. This looks so nice out of the oven (be sure to score it as she suggest and brush w butter)

I made baklava for my son's Greek Day when he was in third grade. He signed "us" up for that. Last time I ever made anything with phyllo! This looks good, though, and DH loves spanakopita, so maybe...

That does look yummy. And you're right - it is perfect with a salad for lunch. I love phyllo but it's one of those things that I forget about for years at a time. I used to make mushroom strudel with phyllo. I'll have to see if I can find that recipe again. I have also used it to top off individual pot pies.

I took a Spa Cuisine class and they wrapped fresh banana slices and a sprinkling of semisweet chocolate chips in phyllo,tand baked it. Yum. Id love to see the mushroom strudel recipe. Maybe I will make both for a lunch.

Do you mind giving more details about your cooking club? Do you get together to cook? Do you each bring something you've already cooked? This is a new idea to me.

We pretty much get together to eat, with some exceptions.

Our town has a neighborhood association, which has a number of clubs under its umbrella, and this is one of them. I have been part of it for 8 years now!

We meet on Thurs nights for the most part, once a month, except in summer. We take turns hosting at our homes. At the start of each Fall we meet to decide on a schedule of themes, and then circulate the monthly schedules. There are tons of different themes, not just regional but also things like "using your fave gadget" or "eat this not that" or "inspired by a book" etc etc. It is usually just women, but once in a while we do a couples thing on a weekend.

Based on the theme, we all email each other with what we plan to make and bring it to the dinner. At the dinner we discuss each dish and share recipes, and EAT and gossip and chat and drink. We also collect (non perishable) donations for the food pantry. One of my fave things is that we all bring our tupperware and such and take home leftovers; lunch the next day is so nice!

We have had as small at 5 and as many as 50 at a dinner. We usually do something interactive once a year. One year we had a chef come and show us how to make raviolis. We have also gone to cooking classes. One time we all made bread at my house with a local artisan baker, that was an all-day Saturday affair that we combined with a salad theme. The time I had 50 here (couples) was when we had a chef come with a huge fresh salmon he fileted in front of us and then cooked with 2 diff sauces.

It is a lot of fun partly because people take it seriously. Once in a great while if someone is in a bind they show with just a bottle of wine. But for the most part everyone is into it and we get to try interesting, fun foods and pick up great tips and recipes.

Thanks for sharing, mtn. I love that idea.

Okay, I've just pulled my spanokopita out of the oven (yum!) and I have a couple of questions for mtn or anyone who uses phyllo. When I thawed the dough, it was cracked and broken. I haven't used phyllo in a long time, but I remember getting some packs like this in the past. Is it because the dough has been in the store freezer too long? Did I not defrost it long enough before trying to unroll it (it seemed thawed, but still cold)?

We have a Greek market near us, maybe next time, I'll try their dough. Also, the pack I bought only had 20 sheets in it. Do most brands have the 40 sheets Ina seemed to think were in a box?

It is still delicious, but if I were serving to guests, I think I'd like to do it exactly as in the recipe and the broken sheets made it hard to spread the butter.

Hi Daisy,

The brand I used (below) had 2 packages of 20 sheets each. I halved the recipe I think .. i used 20 sheets not 40. ( I also used only enough EVOO to coat the pan when sauteeing the scallion ... it seems like a lot to me in the recipe, YMMV)

Mine said to thaw ON in the fridge, which I did. Even so, when I opened it, it cracked. It happened to separate the long rectangle into a ~perfect square and a smaller rectangle. So I used just the square part. Maybe it was a 9 or 10" square IDK. Rolled up it looked just as nice.

However, after I made the first one (10 sheets) I noticed the sheets below that were whole, so my second one was the full size (I think 9x14).

I made a few sort of "cigars" with the leftover small rectangles.

I have the same sort of issue with other premade frozen doughs (cracking). I think i might leave it to defrost a tad bit longer next time.

I was also wondering if you can put melted butter (or ghee) in a sprayer. That would make it easier. I used an olive oil sprayer on the leftover cigar ones; I didn't taste that one but DH liked it fine

PS Glad you liked it.

A Greek friend taught me to keep a damp tea towel on the phyllo sheets that are awaiting being used. It helps keep them flexible.

Hi Rita, yes, I did that. But I think Daisy had the same issue I did ... as soon as I took them out of the package and unrolled them to lay on my marble, there was breakage.

Here's a video of me making spanakopita. Originally it had sound, but Youtube might have removed it:

OMG that is crazy that it is a Cooking Forum video. I guess our next GTG needs a camera crew!

Lars, they look super.

It's one of my favorites and one that I've not made in a while.

BTW, I think Ina's idea of sprinkling breadcrumbs in between was a nice addition ... but i would not use a lot and would only use panko. I also think scoring it and brushing it w butter makes for an even nicer presentation that the traditional, time consuming triangles (and a better filling ratio).

As you can tell, I like the triangle version, and I think I was able to get sufficient filling in each triangle. The video is of a class taught by Olychick, who used to post frequently on the Cooking Forum but now posts more often on Home Decorating. I bought the cookbook that she recommended. That day we made a lot of different things with phyllo dough, provided by Oly, and it was fresh dough that had never been frozen, which made it easier to use. We also made little cups with phyllo dough, baked in a muffin pan, that were filled after being baked, but I don't believe we made baklava. I only edited part of the video that I took, and I don't even now if I have the rest of the raw video. In 2007, it was more difficult to edit video than it is now.

I would consider making Ina's recipe (I like most of what she makes), but I agree that Panko would be better than regular bread crumbs. I also like butter a lot more than olive oil, but I am supposed to be eating olive oil instead of butter in my current diet.

You are so lucky you all have gotten together to cook! We need an East Coast version of that ladies ! cT?

the other thing that occurred to me is that the triangles are appetizery ... if made as a strudel it can seem more like a main

what was in your filling?

Mtn you inspired me to make mini spanakopita triangles to bring as an app to a dinner party tomorrow night. I used to make these on a fairly regular basis but threw my tried and true recipe away when I purged my recipe files, because rarely do we indulge in this much butter now. However, these are worth the splurge! DH joined me part way through the process, which made it go much faster.

Spanakopita triangles

Right out of the oven:

Great job mtn and Bonnie!

Bonnie, yum!

Too funny, I made this again today for lunch with friends. Still didn't take a photo! Anyway, i wanted to mentioned that i do not use as much oil as Ina does to saute the scallions. I do it by eye.

This time I tried using less phyllo layers. I read other recipes that used 4 or 6 layers ... Ina had 10. I did 6 today. TBH I think 8 might be perfect .. everyone liked it but I missed all that crunch! Ten, and the associated butter and panko, is a bit more than needed.

You're on a roll (pun intended!) Mtn. It's funny how rarely I use my old favorites recipes, always seeking to try something new (and healthier) instead. I used the recipe that I linked above, modifying it to add a clove of garlic to the sauteed onion as other reviewers suggested. I really had to search to find a recipe exactly like the one I used to make. This version contains cottage cheese, which makes for a creamier filling. Next time I will try Ina's recipe with your modifications. As we say here, quoting Ina: "Jeffrey likes good chocolate", (or whatever the main ingredient in her recipes happens to be.)

I've also seen people add nutmeg, but it is easy for nutmeg to overpower.

That looks excellent!

Any thoughts on freezing these? I'd like to make a bunch to take for lunches as well as samosas done with the phyllo. Could I freeze them after they are baked? Better to do it before baking? I'd really rather freeze them fully cooked as we are often racing in the morning and grabbing something ready to go is much easier, but not sure if they would turn into mushy blobs.

Daisychain01, The link in my post above states, " I have frozen these before baking. Just add a few minutes to cooking time when you cook them in a frozen state. I have also doubled this recipe for large parties."

After baking these last night I froze theem and will thaw and bake them for tonight's party. I will let you know the how they turned out.

Thanks, Bonnie!

Oly made the filling that I used in that video, and she said she used the recipe from Greek Cooking in an American Kitchen.

Here are the filling ingredients:

1-1/2 pounds fresh spinach, well drained

1-1/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp pepper

1-1/2 Tbsp flour

3/4 cut fine chopped onion

1/2 cup fine chopped green onion

1/4 cup olive oil

5 eggs

3/4 cup find chopped leeks (optional)

2-1/4 tsp dried dill

1/2 cup find chopped parsley

1-1/2 cups small curd cottage cheese

1-1/2 cups crumbled Feta cheese

3 Tbsp olive oil

---------------------------

3/4 cup butter

3 tbsp olive oil

1 pound phyllo

Cut spinach into 1/4 inch lengths (should measure 6 cups). Squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Combine with salt, pepper, and flour,.

In a small skillet, saute onions in hot oil 5 to 8 minutes. Set aside

In a medium bowl, beat eggs slightly. Add onions, leeks (if desired), dill parsley, cheese, and oil; combine with spinach.

Oly may have revised the recipe slightly - I would have to look back at the rest of the videos, but she did say that this was her favorite Greek cookbook. It's a lot more expensive on Amazon now than when I bought it, and I bought a hardback edition.

I use the wonton wrappers to make samosas. Easy to work with.

I used to make them in triangles, but actually now i bake the wrappers separately in muffin tins, and serve it with the chicken samosa filling. My kids like it better that way and it's much easier.

Hmmm... I do have wonton wrappers in the freezer, but I kind of have my heart set on trying the samosas the same way as the spanakopita in the roll of phyllo. I'm going to cook and freeze this time and see how it goes. I wouldn't do it for guests, but we'll see how it is for quick lunches on the go (sadly, I care less about impressing my family than guests :)

Back to say that baking and then freezing worked well. I then thawed them and brushed with butter and reheated. Delicious!

I'd love to take credit for it all, and am a veteran spanakopita maker, but I was not the person who Lars is referring to. Must have been another Oly, not Olychick (or at least not the current Olychick)!

I make it without a recipe now, but always use fresh baby spinach, fresh chard if I have it or can get it, green onion, lots of parsley, feta, parmesan, eggs, oregano and other herbs. I don't cook anything first, just mix it well and pile it on the bottom layers of filo, then top with more layers of filo, buttered between them all. I bake it in a 9 x 12 dish, score the top few layers of filo, then cut in squares to serve. Believe it or not, the spinach does not get watery - (I think baby spinach doesn't have much moisture content). It cooks up beautifully and is much more appetizing looking than when made with frozen or cooked spinach.