Pita (greens pie) (cfa)

24 pieces

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 Swiss Chard; bunch
1 Spinach; bunch
1 Curly endive; bunch
1 Parsley; bunch
1 Green onions; bunch
10 Mint leaves
½ pounds Fila; 8 sheets
¾ cup Olive oil
1 tablespoon Salt
1 teaspoon Pepper
1½ teaspoon Rice; uncooked
¾ pounds Feta; crumbled or 1/2 pound
;Romano or Swiss cheese,
;grated
Cinnamon
FILA:
2 cups Flour; sifted
½ teaspoon Salt
½ cup Water
3 tablespoons Olive oil

Directions

You need tissue paper thin dough, called fila or leaves, for this flaky, layered pie of mixed greens and cheese. Fila sheets are available, packaged in 1 pound box, at some greek shops, or follow recipe above for scratch fila.

Wash greens and drain well. Finely chop the Swiss chard, spinach, endive, parsley, green onions, and mint. Spread the greens out on an old cloth and let stand at room temperature several hours to dry.

Unfold and spread out fila sheets separately to dry slightly.

Spread 2 tablespoons olive oil in the bottom of a 10 by 16 inch baking pan. Place 1 sheet of fila in the pan. Spread lightly with olive oil. Arrange 3 more layers of fila on top (each spread with oil) so that they hang over the top edges of the pan. Toss together the chopped greens, salt, pepper, rice , feta, and ¼ cup of the olive oil, and pile the greens mixture into the dough lined pan.

Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon. Now fold over the edges of first sheet toward the center of pan, spread lightly with olive oil, place another sheet of fila on top, and spread it lightly with oil. Continue to fold down the other 3 sheets of dough, oiling edges and inserting a sheet of fila between each.

Cut only teh top layers of fila into squares. Bake in a hot oven (400 degrees (F)) for 1¼ hours, or until crust is golden brown and the greens are tender. Finish cutting into squares and serve hot or cold.

If you cannot buy the fila, you may make it this way: Sift 2 cups flour with ½ teaspoon salt and mix in enough water to make a soft ball (approximately ½ cup water); knead in 3 tablespoons olive oil and knead until smooth.

Let sit 30 minutes. Using an extra long rolling pin or broomstick, roll out one eighth of dough on a floured board until it is paper thin and approximately 16 by 24 inches. Continute to roll out pieces until you have 8 sheets of the thin fila dough Source: "A Sunset Book": Cooking with a Foreign Accent circa '58 MMed by: earl.cravens@...

Submitted By EARL CRAVENS On 10-04-94

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