Sunday, April 19, 2009

Nettles Spanakopita Hand Pies

Another marathon weekend under our belts and nary a drop of rain!! The Homestead Herbalism Saturday and Sunday classes came around this weekend to explore the fine wild cuisine of northern Chester County. In two days, we devoured 3 gallons of Spring Tonic Soup, 2 qts of chickweed and garlic mustard pesto and well over 30 nettles spanakopita hand pies. Holy Smokes~ that was was some darn good eatin'!
((simply divine))

Here is the wild commando version of this recipe (which means, use what you have, don't worry about the quanities so much. It is a very forgiving recipe)

Steam roughly 3-4 quarts of early spring nettles tops, which will reduce to a few cups (you could substitute spinach if the nutritious nettles don't live nearby) Drain well.
two blocks of feta cheese, crumbled
cracked black pepper
a teaspoon or so of lemon zest
and a sprinkling of lightly toasted pine nuts
1 pkg thawed phyllo dough
Mix the first five ingredients together while the greens are still warm to get a nice creamy mixture.Unwrap the phyllo dough and use only three sheets at a time, cover the rest with a tea towel or damp paper towels. Don't let it dry out!!
Cut the sheets in three equal size  pieces (the long way), put about two heaping TB of the mixture at the end of the sheet, and do the flag fold all the way to the end of the sheet! Brush with olive oil or butter and pop into a 350 degree oven until lightly browned and crispy, about 15-20 min. Just try to let them cool off before devouring.

oh my...

3 comments:

kansasrose said...

mmmm this looks delish Suebabe. I know we have this plant in these here parts. I think it's called Poke. Does that name ring a bell? Or stingin' nettle? Or is that a different plant? I'm confounded....as always. :)

happy earth day hon!

bustillo

Susan Hess said...

oh, not poke. this is indeed,'stinging nettle' or just nettle, like I call it in the post.

Patricia said...
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