Peta

Peta

Filling                                                               Dough for crust

2-3 pounds spinach (fresh)                                1/3 cup butter

2-3 small onions                                               1 cup flour

½ cup olive oil                                                  1 egg

½ - 1 pound feta cheese                                   ½ tsp. salt

5-6 eggs                                                           ¼ cup warm water

dill (fresh or dried dill weed)

½ tsp salt

Italian parsley (optional)

Clean and cut up to 2-3 pounds spinach (fresh) and place in an extra large mixing bowl.  Set aside so spinach can drain free of water.

Chop up 2-3 onions.  Cook onions in sauce pan with ½ cup olive oil mixed with a little water.  Use about ¼ cup water.  Cook about 15 minutes or until onions are tender.

Crumble ½ to 1 lb. feta cheese.  A fork works well.  Also, you can use the cheaper feta cheese for peta.  The cheaper feta is usually stronger in taste and not as tasty to eat plain.

At this point, prepare the dough.  Melt about 1/3 cup butter.  Put about 1 cup flour, 1 egg, and ½ tsp. salt in a small bowl.  Add 2/3 of the melted butter and ¼ cup cup warm water to flour and egg.  (Reserve a little melted butter for the finished dough).

Mix until all flour is moistened (use hand or fork).  If dough seems too sticky, add a little flour.  Knead dough on floured surface until consistency is such that it does not stick to the surface.

Divide dough into 6 pieces.  Form each piece into a ball.  Roll each ball in the remaining melted butter.  Flatten first ball and place on a small plate.  Flatten ball 2 and 3 and place on top of ball 1.  Repeat this with remaining 3 balls, placing these 3 on a second plate.  Put plates in a warm (not hot) place.

Now complete mixing the filling-

Drain all water from the cut up spinach (place large plate on top of spinach and invert bowl to drain.  Some water will remain on leaves and this is all right)

Add 5-6 eggs to spinach.  Add crumbled feta cheese and the cooked onion mixture.  Add small bunch of dill (chopped) or ¼ to 1/3 jar of dill weed.  (I used Spice Islands brand of dill weed.  This is the ¼ to 1/3 jar measure.  The amount of dill added is strictly by taste and experiment).  Add ½ tsp. salt (again by taste).  A few sprigs of chopped Italian parsley is also good but optional.  Mix all ingredients with your hands.  It will be a little juicy but it should taste good enough to eat as is.  I never drained any of the juice because I feel that the juice helped the taste when baked.

Now you are ready to roll out the dough-

On a floured surface-

Place the 3 layers of dough.  Dust both top and bottom of dough well.  It must be able to spread easily on surface and should not stick to the rolling pole.  Using a long pole (18-24 inches long) or a sawed off broom handle, carefully start rolling the dough.  Roll dough from center out as you would pie dough.  If dough starts to stick, roll up dough on the pole and sprinkle more flour.  Unroll dough and continue rolling until piece is large enough to fit the large round peta pan or whatever pan you have.  You now have 3 layers of very thin dough rolled at one time.

Thoroughly oil the baking pan with olive oil or regular cooking oil.  Place dough in pan.  To place dough in pan, again roll the dough around the pole.  Unroll over the pan.  Put the side of the dough with the least amount of adhering flour toward the bottom.  This prevents unnecessary sticking.

Place filling in pan.

Roll out second set of 3 layers of dough.  Place on top of mixture.  Place floured side toward the mixture.

Carefully seal edges.  Moisten if necessary to make sure edges are sealed well.  This is important because the peta will be turned over half way through the baking.

Place peta in 375 degree oven.  Cook for about 25 minutes or until top crust is cooked to light brown.  Remove from oven.  Turn out the peta, upside down, on a cutting board or over sized platter (flip the peta onto board or platter so the bottom side is up).  Add more oil to baking pan if bottom seems dry.  Return peta to pan, bottom side up and return to oven.  Cook until crust is browned and cooked, probably about 25 minutes or more.

Remove from oven and cut.

I have tried to give you as much of the method as I can without being there.  What I have recorded here is just about the same as I took it down as when YiaYia did it.  I have had to try to put exact amounts to things that she did by feel.  I got so I could also do them by feel.  Get your feta cheese at Wegmans or at the Public Market on Railroad street at Roussos Market.  Roussos has 2 kinds.  A strong one which is cheaper I think and the other which is milder and more for eating plain.  I used the stronger for peta.

For questions with this, list them out on a separate piece of paper with space for answers and I will return immediately.  You have no idea how long it took to get all of this down and to try to make sure I did not forget anything.  I probably did anyway.

GOOD LUCK AND GOOD EATING!

I found that you can freeze this with ease.  Just wrap well.