Ok I detest Cottage cheese, I don't know why but to me its like eating snot, hehe. When I saw this recipe for Spanikopita (one of my favorite dishes of all time!) I had to try it.. but then I saw the dreaded cottage cheese...
so instead of walking away I decided to see what I could use instead.
I was also making the Lamb dish from Greek Style Lamb Kebabs , at the same time. It was amazing the 1st time so I couldn't wait to make it again!
This said, I now had yogurt (I even found Greek style yogurt woot!)
I decided that cream cheese would be a better choice than cottage cheese, So I put about 1/2 cup softened cream cheese, and about 1/4 cup Greek yogurt in instead of the cottage cheese. Also being summer in Texas the oven was not an option.. so I pan fried them instead.. here is my version of this wonderful recipe!
Spanikopita rolls
Ingredients
1 Tablespoon Olive oil
3 green onions, chopped
10 ounces frozen chopped spinach. thawed and squeezed VERY dry
4 ounces domestic feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 Cup Cream cheese Softened
1/4 Cup Greek Yogurt
1/4 teaspoon each Garlic powder and Cumin
1/4 teaspoon Lemon Juice
4 Tablespoons Melted butter
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pound phyllo, thawed
Oil for pan frying (I used about 1/3 Olive oil and 2/3 Vegetable oil to make about a 1/4 inch deep layer of oil in a large frying pan)
Cook the green onions in about a tablespoon of Olive until just soft this took me about 3 minutes.
While the onions were cooking I mixed the spinach, feta, cream cheese, yogurt, garlic, cumin, and lemon juice in a medium bowl. Add cooked onions and season with salt, and pepper.
Then I took the phyllo that I had left on the counter for about 45 mins after pulling it from the freezer. I took the two sheets, then brushed the melted butter all over, then placed about 2 rounded tablespoons of the filling across one end about a quarter of an inch from the end, folded the sides over folded the end into the filling and rolled much like an egg-roll, I placed these under an slightly damp towel (I mean this thing has to be almost dry otherwise use plastic wrap or something else!) at this point I heated the oil in the frying pan to a medium heat (you don't want this too hot because the filling will not heat through and it you want it all warm and gooey!) I tested my pan with a sheet of phyllo that tore during the separation process. Place the rolls in the pan and when they are golden brown turn them, and try to get them all brown on as many sides as possible then try to to burn yourself eating them hehe.
