Diva's Spankopita

This is an old picture that I came across while browsing through my food photos. I made this in March of this year when I was visiting my friend Min in Seattle. We mostly ate out (to my dismay), but there was one night when we had and old friend and his wife come over for dinner. Although it was his kitchen, I was appointed head chef. I must say that he made an excellent sous chef, as he would help me chop and clean up everything while I cooked. I LOVE cooking without cleaning.

I have to admit that I felt a bit of pressure as he sprung this dinner thing on me at the last minute. He also told them that I was a good cook, so there was added pressure to maintain my reputation. Thankfully, my creative spirit pulled through and I was able to make a successful dinner.

Today, I plan to share the appetizer I made. I'm a huge fan of the Greek pastry; Spankopita. This is my own take on it, and I really had to make do with what I had, so it was rather improvised.

Ingredients:
Store bought flaky pie pastry (Oh the shame of it not coming from scratch)
1/2 a bag of spinach
1/2 red onion
1 container (500g) of feta cheese
1 dash of marsala wine
1 pinch of dried oregano
pepper to taste, no salt because the feta cheese is really salty

Directions for the pie shell:
Roll out dough. Put it in a round pan. Continue to knead with fingers (as opposed to toes). Pinch out ripples for the crust.

Directions for the filling:
Heat pan with olive oil and garlic. Saute onions, and spinach at a med-low heat. Add a dash of marsala wine, this is totally optional but I just couldn't help myself because it was a really nice bottle and I wanted to try it out. =) The adding of the marsala was indeed a huge risk because a little goes a long way with this extra sweet, dry, Italian sherry. Fortunately, it gave this dish a unique and unexpected flavour.
At a low heat, add 3/4 of the feta cheese into the pan. Cook for 2 minutes. You can add the pepper any time you want, or you can do what I do, and add some at the beginning and some at the end. Add oregano at any time as well. =)

Pour filling into the pie crust. Top with the remaining 1/4 container of feta cheese.

Directions for baking:
Preheat oven for 10 minutes at 350 C.
Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 C or until crust is golden brown and the top looks crispy.

If anyone has a name suggestion for this dish, please let me know!