Dear Reader,
I received so many outstanding entries in the 2022 Write a DearReader Contest, it seemed a shame to only publish the winners. So I chose several columns to be Honorable Mention. Today's piece was written by Lee Rothberg. Thanks for your entry, Lee…
When Auntie, our family's matriarch, immigrated to America from Greece, she left behind material possessions, yet preserved her heritage by carrying the memories of the recipes that she had cooked with her mother. She trained me to prepare these traditional recipes so that my family could enjoy the festive meals that were a cherished part of my childhood.
Her kitchen was the epicenter of our weekly feasts. I still remember the incredible aromas that would drift out from under the covers of the pots on her stove, hinting at what delicious treats were to come: roasted chickens, rice-stuffed zucchini and tomatoes, spinach-filled meat patties and her legendary, chicken noodle soup. She would present the food to our family and stand back to study us at the dinner table, like a sculptor admiring her perfectly completed creation.
Auntie had an intuitive feel for how to coax the best flavors from any food. This gifted instinct was the reason why I could never duplicate the flavor of her recipes, especially our family's favorite Greek appetizer, Spanakopita, made with spinach, feta cheese and eggs, wrapped in flakey, filo dough. She would thoroughly blend the ingredients and drop two tablespoons of the mixture onto a rectangular, filo "sheet," and begin the process of folding each one into a traditional, triangular shape, in preparation for baking.
Filo is so thin that it dries and crumbles into confetti in minutes. Antiie'd oil and cover the sheets with a damp cloth and proceeded to form each triangle with an assembly line speed that reminded me of "Lucy and Ethel" in their chocolate candy-wrapping caper, minus the comedic chaos. The geometric perfection of each pastry was artistic. We visited every Saturday and she always had a batch ready for us.
When my twin sister and I moved to raise our families in the suburbs, we implored her to teach us how to make her famous Spanakopita, lest we perish from craving in between visits. She had us gather the ingredients and we dutifully mixed the spinach, eggs, flour and cheese, and then she said... "Add some sugar."
We turned to her in amazement and replied, "Sugar? You never said sugar!"
"Yes, I did," she insisted.
"I don't think so," we both chanted in our stereophonic cadence.
"You are cooking with spinach," she answered. "You always need a bit of sugar when cooking with a bitter vegetable."
We exchanged a knowing glance and said, "Of course, what were we thinking?"
(Note that "a bit of this," and "some of that," were her standard quantities.)
That solved the riddle of why her Spanakopita always tasted better, she had secret ingredients: sugar, and experience with "Auntie" measurements.
As cooking is often squeezed into a hectic day, I have created a condensed version of Spanakopita. And, because food allergies are common, I was mindful of creating a recipe with alternatives to gluten, cow's milk and eggs.
I have excluded the filo and use sheep's milk feta cheese. I make a pie instead of triangles, which makes it super simple and yet, still amazingly delicious.
When I put it in the oven to bake, the scent fills my kitchen and I say out loud, "Yes, I remembered to add the sugar."
My Auntie is laughing. I can hear her as clearly as if she were standing next to me.
Spanakopita
2- 12oz bags of frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and drained.
14 oz of feta cheese crumbled (Greek sheep's milk feta in salty brine)
4 eggs (or equivalent substitute)
1/3 cup quinoa flour (or any flour alternative)
2 teaspoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon pepper
No added salt
Oil for the baking dish
Mix crumbled cheese, eggs, defrosted spinach and flour in a bowl
Blend well, with your hands
Put in a well-oiled glass lasagna-sized dish (13 x 9)
Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes
Cool and cut into 12 squares
– Lee Rothberg, Honorable Mention, 2022 Write a DearReader Contest
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
* This month's Penguin Classics is The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton. I have a copy of the book to share with a lucky reader, so start reading and enter for your chance to win
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