Hortapita alla deborah

Horta = greens    Pita = pie

You may have heard of Spanakopita.  That would be Spinach Pie.

Sure enough, spinach is a common green used in Greece.  

But around these parts, all sorts of greens can go into a pie.  

This is a recipe I concocted, based on available greens in my pantry one day.

I wasn't sure about the fennel bulb as well as the capers instead of olives and couldn't figure out what 5 TBSP of sweet "trahanas" were or even the parentheses meant (a Greek product similar to burghul) until...you guessed it - I Googled the word.

Go ahead and Google it yourself.  I found a package of them in the store and will bring the mystery Greek product home.

But in the end, what a wonderful flavor this 

Hortapita alla deborah turned out to be.  So here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 package phyllo pastry

1 big mound of clean spinach

1 cup capers

1 fennel bulb sliced & diced

1 bunch of scallions diced

2-4 leeks sliced

1 bunch of fennel leaves chopped

1 cup of feta cheese crumbled

3/4 cup olives diced

5 TBSP trahanas (optional)

1 cup olive oil (IF using trahanas - or less without)

4 eggs lightly beaten

4 TBSP toasted sesame seeds

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Saute chopped spinach, fennel bulb, scallions and leeks in olive oil until soft.  Remove from heat and cool slightly and add rest of ingredients.  Mix and dump into a pastry lined pie pan.  Bring sides of pastry over top and swirl into shape, leaving a vent hole in the middle.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake in a medium temp oven (350 F or 175 C) for about an hour, until brown on top and bubbly inside.  Cool and slice and serve with a salad.  It gets better and better for leftovers and can be eaten even cold. 

Yamas!