SPANAKOPITA
from The Vegetarian Epicure, by Anna Thomas

2 lbs. fresh spinach
1 lb. filo (thin middle eastern pastry sheets)
7 eggs
1/2 lb. feta cheese
1 onion
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
oregano
butter

To prepare the filling: Wash all the spinach well and put the leaves into a large bowl. Sprinkle them heavily with salt and then rub it into the leaves with your hands as you tear them into small pieces. After a few minutes of this, the spinach will be reduced to a quarter of its former bulk. Rinse the salt off thoroughly and drain.

Beat the eggs, crumble the feta cheese, and mix together. Add this to the spinach. Chop the onion, sauté it in some olive oil until it begins to brown, and add that to the spinach also. Season the mixture with lots of fresh-ground black pepper and a little oregano.

Now choose a large, oblong baking dish (about 9" x 13") and butter it. Melt about 3 to 4 tablespoons of butter in a pot and stack the pound of filo on a flat surface. Brush the top sheet with melted butter and fit it into the baking pan, with the edges hanging over the sides. The pastry sheets are very large and should extend quite a bit over the edges, even after being fitted against the sides of the pan. Continue in this fashion, brushing each sheet with butter and fitting it into the pan on top of the others. Turn each sheet slightly so that the corners fan out around the pan rather than being stacked on top of each other. Do this until you only have two or three pastry sheets left.

Now pour the filling in and then fold over the ends of the pastry sheets to cover it, brushing with a little more butter. You should have sort of a strange-looking, wrinkled crust on top when you finish. Butter the remaining sheets and place them on top of the whole thing, folding them down to the size of the pan.

With a sharp knife cut through the top layers to the filling in about three places. Brush the top with butter and bake at 375* for fifty minutes. Cut into squares and serve hot.

Serves 8 generously.