I have a real thing for spanakopita, to the point where it occasionally takes over my brain until I do something about it. Does anyone else feel this way sometimes? I rarely give in to it entirely (although, sometimes I definitely do) but I realized at some point, that it was less about the actual Greek pastry and more about the cooked, flavourful, dense amounts of lemony greens.
So this is what I have been making to fill that triangular pastry void, and it’s totally been working.
Every once in a while, there is nothing like a big leafy green salad. Kale is usually my go-to green (original, I know) but it is a nutrient-dense crucifer and also tastes good on day two and three, it’s hard to argue with that. But every once in a while I need something juicier.
I always forget about spinach (the kale of the 90’s). It is also a dark, leafy green (big nutrients), it still tastes good after an overnight fridge-wilt (because we commonly eat it cooked too, unlike most lettuces), and it tastes relatively mild. I’m not talking about boxes of pre-washed by a stranger baby spinach, I’m talking about full-grown heads of spinach that you have to chop and clean yourself. It’s so worth it, trust me, it’s far juicier and more flavourful. Save the boxed spinach for recipes like our Spinach and Artichoke Dip, or a convenient smoothie boost.
I can’t tell you how happy I am that this recipe translates so well to dairy-free. It’s a dish that my cousin (trained Chef and so much more) created and would put out as an appetizer around Christmas time when all of our families would get together. My Mom then started making it because we all loved it so much, so it now tastes, to me, like every fun family occasion.
I hadn’t thought about it in years, but suddenly it’s all I could think about. It’s a little bit retro now, it was born back when pine nuts were cool and sundried tomatoes were sort of new and fancy and everyone had a jar of those Costco ones in their fridge.
There isn’t a lot that is better than strawberry season. It means the weather is probably getting consistently warmer, school is almost done for the summer and , of course, strawberries suddenly taste AWESOME.
My Mom use to take my sisters and me down to Granville Island where we would buy a big container of strawberries, eat them all for lunch while we fed the birds our donuts and then go back to buy more to take home with us.
