Italian Sausage Spanakopita
Traditionally, spanakopita does not have meat in the recipe, but we don’t care! Along with adding ground hot Italian venison sausage, I also add chopped seeded Kalamata olives into the traditional spinach and feta cheese filling. Although these triangles are time consuming to make, they are quite easy. The triangles are perfect as an appetizer, but if you want this dish without devoting the time to wrapping individual triangles in phyllo dough, you can use a casserole pan and make a main course dish or side. The hot Italian sausage and olives add additional protein and flavor, and it becomes delicious and very filling. Both the triangles or the pan of spanakopita can be assembled and frozen for later use. I make the tzatziki sauce, which is the perfect complement to spanakopita, very thick and hearty. My wife eats it by the spoonful, and it can double as a dip for crunchy pita chips, so you may want to double the recipe.
Ingredients
½ pound ground Italian sausage
2 pounds fresh spinach
1–2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups crumbled feta cheese
1 cup minced seedless Kalamata olives
½ package phyllo dough (in the freezer section of your grocery store)
½ stick of butter melted
Dip
1 large cucumber, peeled and shredded with grader
½ teaspoon salt for the grated cucumber
2 cups full fat Greek plain yogurt
1 tablespoon fresh dill
1 tablespoon fresh mint leaves
¼ cup finely chopped Italian parsley
2–3 cloves fresh garlic, pressed
1 tablespoon olive oil
Juice from ½ a lemon
Directions
In a small frying pan, brown the venison meat over medium heat. Strain off any excess liquid in a strainer, and place the meat in a large mixing bowl and allow to cool.
In a large pan or wok, heat oil and add 1 pound of the spinach over medium heat, and cook for about 4 minutes or until the spinach is dark green and wilted. Remove the cooked spinach from the heat and place in a strainer over the sink. Press as much liquid out of the spinach as you can with a sturdy spatula or wooden spoon. While that continues to drip moisture in the sink, cook the other batch of spinach in another tablespoon of oil until it is dark green and completely wilted. Move the first batch of cooked spinach to a cutting board, and put the second batch in the colander. Again, press out as much liquid from the spinach as possible with your sturdy spoon.
Chop the two batches of spinach into roughly 1-centimeter by 1-centimeter chunks and add it to the bowl of meat. Add the feta cheese crumbles and chopped Kalamata olives. Mix all the ingredients well.
Spanakopita Triangle Instructions
Unwrap one roll of phyllo dough, and lay it flat on a slightly damp towel. Place another slightly damp towel over the top of the roll to keep the dough from drying out as you work.
On a large cutting board, lay one sheet of phyllo dough down, and brush it lightly with the melted butter. Lay another sheet of phyllo dough directly over the first sheet, and press out any air bubbles. Using a pizza cutter or pasta cutter, cut the sheets of dough lengthwise into 3 equal strips. With a large tablespoon, scoop out a spoonful of the filling and place in the bottom corner of one of the strips. Arrange the filling into a triangle on the lower edge of the strip where one side is the width of the dough strip. Fold the filling in the dough as you would a flag — folding the lower corner up to form a triangle and continuing to fold up in the shape of a triangle. Place triangles on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and brush each triangle with melted butter. Bake at 350 F for 15 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.
Spanakopita Casserole Dish - 9 x 13 Pan Instructions
Butter the bottom and sides of a 9- by 13-inch baking pan (either glass or metal). Lay 1 sheet of phyllo dough on the bottom of the pan, brush it with melted butter, and lay another sheet of phyllo dough on top of the first sheet. Repeat buttering the next sheet of dough with two more sheets. After you have 4 or 5 sheets down, spoon the spinach, cheese and meat mixture over the phyllo dough and smooth evenly. Lay a fresh sheet of phyllo dough over the filling, and gently press it down onto the filling. Brush it with butter, and lay another fresh sheet of dough on top of the buttered sheet. Do this with 4 to 5 sheets of dough. Tuck the sheets of phyllo dough along the edges of the casserole dish in to seal in the filling. Brush the top sheet with butter, and bake in the oven at 350 F for 20 to 25 minutes.
Tzatziki Dip
While the spanakopita is baking, you will make the tzatziki, a Greek yogurt sauce. After peeling a large cucumber, shred it with a cheese grater. Sprinkle the shredded cucumber with salt, and let it sit for 5 minutes in a colander over the sink or a large plate to draw out moisture.
Chop the dill, mint and Italian parsley finely. Crush the garlic, and add all the ingredients for the sauce in a medium bowl. When squeezing the lemon for the juice, do so in a small bowl first to be able to pick out any seeds that come with the juice. Add the seed-free lemon juice to the bowl of yogurt, oil and herbs. Press out any additional moisture from the shredded cucumber, and add the salted cucumber to the bowl and mix well.
The Tzatziki dip is a great side to the spanakopita. I eat it on its own as I enjoy the appetizer. You can also dip the spanakopita triangles in tzatziki as they go great together in one bite.