Spanakopita Bento

Spanakopita Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Today I experimented with filo pastry pie, which I baked in a muffin tin. I used feta and spinach filling, like I did for spanakopita in this bento. I thought the little pies would make perfectly sized bento portions and the kids would have fun eating them. Besides the spanakopie, I packed the usual sides: corn on the cob, carrots, broccoli, car-shaped Okinawan sweet potatoes, cherries, strawberries, blueberries and a little ripe raspberry. It went over pretty well!

Spinach Pie Bento

Spinach Pie Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I made spanakopita (Greek spinach pie) for dinner for the first time, and was happy to note that it was well-received. It seemed my daughter most enjoyed playing with the papery topping, though she did eat everything and asked for seconds afterwards. I wondered aloud whether it might be appropriate for bento, since the flaky crust wouldn't seem to keep well, and my 7-year old piped up "I don't mind if it gets soft! I like the spinach part best anyway." Well, okay then! I cut a few pieces to fit snugly on one side of the LunchBot Duo, and brightened up the drab color scheme with some watermelon radish and yellow carrot flowers. On the other side I packed some steamed broccoli, shoyu kabocha, kiwi, strawberry, grapes and blueberries. Another super quick one. Here's the recipe I used, adapted from Mollie Katzen:

Spanakopita (Greek Spinach and Cheese Pie)
2T olive oil
1C chopped green onions
1lb. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
Finely grated rind of 1 lemon
1/2C chopped flat-leaf parsley
6oz. feta cheese, crumbled
1 1/2C whole-milk, small-curd cottage cheese
1/2C finely grated Romano cheese
1 egg
8 sheets fillo dough
melted butter

Preheat oven to 400F. Heat olive oil in saucepan, saute onions until tender, then add spinach and cook 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in lemon, parsley and feta into spinach mixture. In a separate bowl, combine cottage cheese, Romano cheese and egg. Stir until blended, then add to spinach mixture. Add salt and pepper if desired. Scrape mixture into 9-inch pie plate and bake 15 minutes. Remove from oven. Brush fillo sheets with butter, crumple, and place on top of pie. Bake another 10 minutes or so, until fillo topping is browned.