Spani-brocco-kopita: The happy accident from pregnancy brain
When I was pregnant with my first baby, just about everyone told me that having quick things to pull out and bake in you first few weeks (even months) is a crucial element of not losing your mind as a new parent. When I was 8 months pregnant the nesting instinct kicked in, and in addition to painting and decorating the nursery I started cooking up a storm.
Spanikopita is one of my absolute favorite casserole dishes, alongside lasagna and baked mac-and-cheese. Since my brother is the lasagna king (and I fully expected him to bring me homemade lasagna) and even adding broccoli I couldn’t argue that mac-and-cheese would be a healthy meal, I started with the Spanikopita.
However, pregnancy brain is a real thing. There’s even a Hebrew phrase for it that I learned from a pregnant Israeli friend as I was sharing some of my more embarrassing stories: טפשת הריון (transliteration: tepeshet haraion; loose translation: silly pregnancy). Whether from lack of sleep, crazy hormones, or something as of yet undiscovered, it was fully happening to me. Which meant that when I went to the store, even with a list of groceries and quantities carefully written out, there was no guarantee that I would return from said store with what was on that list. Which is how I ended up with not nearly enough spinach, and this turned into Spani-brocco-kopita, which I argue is an excellent mistake to have made. If you’d prefer your Spanikopita without broccoli, simply double the amount of frozen spinach.
Ingredients:
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
16 oz frozen spinach
2 cups broccoli
3 eggs, lightly beaten
¾ lb feta cheese
½ cup fresh chopped parsley
1-2 tbl fresh chopped dill
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
1 pkg phyllo dough
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
Olive oil
optional: 1/3 cup pine nuts
Step 1:
Heat a sauté pan and olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until softened and fragrant, about 8-10 minutes.
Step 2:
While the onion and garlic are cooking, thaw the spinach in the microwave. Squeeze out all of the excess water so your spanakopita doesn’t get soggy. Sit down because you’re 8 months pregnant and somehow THAT made you tired.
Step 3:
Steam the broccoli and chop into bite-sized bits.
Step 4:
Sing along to the Whitney Houston song you’re playing! Stop, because you realize you have zero lung capacity and feel like you’re about to pass out after half a chorus. Realize you left the onion cooking for too long, but since it’s only on medium heat it hasn’t burned yet.
Step 5
Mix the onion, garlic, spinach, broccoli, parsley, and dill and eggs in a large bowl. Crumble the feta cheese over the mixture, add the salt and pepper and pine nuts (if you remembered to buy them…) and continue to mix until the cheese is evenly distributed.
Step 6
Debate using olive oil because it’s much healthier, but then decide that the extra fat from the butter is good for the growing baby. Melt the butter. Then melt a little extra, for good measure.
Step 7
If you’re baking this right away, preheat the oven to 375º. In a 9x13 glass baking dish, brush the bottom with butter using a pastry brush. Layer the phyllo in the pan one sheet at a time, brushing each layer with butter. Typically the sheets are larger than the pan, so each sheet can get folded over and act as two sheets. You’ll use half of the box for the bottom layer, and save the other half for the top layer. I use a whole box of phyllo per casserole, which comes to about 9 sheets for the bottom layer and 9 sheets for the top. This is a lot of phyllo, so if you like yours less crunchy you can use fewer sheets for each layer and freeze the rest.
Step 8
When you’re halfway through the phyllo, spread the spinach and broccoli mixture evenly in the baking dish. Continue to layer the rest of the phyllo on top, buttering in between each layer. Butter the top as well.
Step 9
Bake at 375 for 45-60 minutes, until golden brown on top. Rotate once halfway through baking.
Note: if you’re freezing this to bake for later, wrap tightly with plastic wrap and put in the freezer. Take it out about an hour or two before baking to thaw (and to let the glass baking dish warm up!) then follow the same baking instructions as above.