Spanakopita, that much beloved bite of delicate, buttery filo wrapped about a delightfully salty filling of spinach and feta cheese arrives just in time for the holiday festivities!

Now that the kids have hit the ski slopes of Killington, I finish my morning coffee, breath a sigh of contentment, and plan the day’s finishing touches to the Thanksgiving meal tomorrow….shy Isaac my only companion…he’s hiding under the bed thoroughly upset after Dave and Cheryl’s midnight departure from NYC ahead of the holiday traffic.  Isaac is Dave & Cheryl’s cat of many years, sometimes grumpy, sometimes disdainful, sometimes patiently enduring of the many affectionate, playful attempts by his humans to entertain and love him….and occasionally displace him from the noisy, civilized city to the silent, snowy Green Mountain town of Killington.

He is sure they think of him as a peppy puppy instead of the dignified, mature feline that he truly is.  But he remains tolerant. After all, who can blame them for wanting to befriend and love such an elegant master of the household?  Such is the nature of humans.

Excuse my brief departure from things culinary…felines are unusual additions to my environs, and I wanted to include all family members in this post!

Now where was I?  Oh yes, spinach feta triangles are always requested at Thanksgiving in our household.  They are a labor of love, but well worth it.  Thank goodness for filo dough!  It’s easy enough to put together the filling…the time consuming part is folding those individual triangles and then sealing them in butter.  Once the task is completed, it takes only minutes to bake them to a fragrant, golden brown…and only seconds to devour!

Spinach Feta Triangles

Ingredients:

• 1 lb box of filo dough, thawed in refrigerator overnight
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
• 8 oz feta cheese
• 1 lb chopped spinach
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 Tbl butter or olive oil
• 1/2 bunch of fresh dill, minced
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten

Melt butter in small sauce pan and bring filo dough to room temperature.

Meanwhile, in small skillet, saute onion in the butter/olive oil over medium heat until translucent, perhaps 5 minutes.

I use frozen chopped spinach which I’ve allowed to thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then squeezed dry by the handfuls.  Discard the spinach liquids or save to use in a soup.

In a large mixing bowl, combine spinach, cooled onions, crumbled feta cheese, eggs and minced dill.  You will not need any additional salt as the feta is salty enough.  Mix thoroughly.

Remove filo dough from the box, unseal the cellophane wrap and before unrolling, cut the log into quarters using a sharp knife.  I wrap 3 of the quarters in plastic wrap while working with the one quarter.  Unroll the quarter and cover with plastic wrap or a slightly damp towel to keep the filo from drying out as you work.

I tape large sheets of parchment paper on my work surface because this will be messy work.  Place 1 strip on the parchment and brush melted butter quickly all over the strip.  Place a heaping teaspoon of filling at the end closest to you.

Fold one corner of filo over the filling to form a triangle.  Fold over and over as with folding a flag.

Brush triangle entirely with butter and set on parchment/plastic lined baking sheet.  Repeat with remaining filo strips.  Do not be alarmed if your initial folds have the filo cracking or the dough spilling out.  Filo is easy to work with if buttered…just push all back into the triangle shape and keep folding…sometimes I find that the messiest beginnings of a triangle turn out to be a very neat package at the end of folding!!!  The only time I discard the filo strip is if it tears in half or crumbles due to drying out.

If freezing, place the baking sheet of plastic covered triangles in the freezer for 1-2 hrs, then package up into sealed plastic bags or containers.  Freezes well at this point.

Bake freshly made or frozen triangles on a baking sheet for 7-10 minutes in a 350 degree oven until golden brown.