Hour Detroit highlighting diverse, family holiday recipes

As we head into the holidays, we're immersed in all kinds of family recipes that have been passed down for generations. That's why Hour Detroit Magazine is featuring "From Their Table To Yours", a series of diverse, traditional holiday recipes that have been curated from families around the Metro Detroit area.

You can see all their recipes and read more at www.hourdetroit.com. You can pick up a copy of the magazine, too, for all the recipes.

Detroit chef and editor Dorothy Hernandez joined us in the FOX 2 Cooking School to show us how to prepare one of the recipes, spinach and cheese pie. You can get the recipe below.

Olga’s Family Recipe: Spinach and Cheese Pie
Ingredients:

  • 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 lbs fresh spinach, washed and drained
  • 2 ½ cups scallions, sliced thin
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • ½ cup fresh dill, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground pepper
  • 1 lb. crumbled Greek feta
  • 1 lb. ricotta cheese
  • 3 whole eggs
  • 1 16 oz. package phyllo dough sheets
  • 1 lb. unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
  2. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large sauté pan; add half of the spinach and sauté until spinach wilts, tossing with tongs, about 2 minutes. Remove spinach and squeeze out excess liquid. Repeat the process again with remaining half of the spinach, using 1 more tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil. Chop spinach roughly and set aside to cool.
  3. Heat remaining two tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil in sauté pan, add scallions and garlic, and sauté for 3-4 minutes. Set aside to cool.
  4. Once the scallions and garlic mixture is cooled, add it to the spinach. Season with dill, salt and pepper. Mix well. In a separate bowl combine the feta, ricotta, and eggs and mix well.
  5. Combine spinach and cheese mixtures together until well blended.
  6. Brush one sheet of phyllo dough with the melted butter.
  7. Top with a second phyllo sheet and brush with melted butter again. Fold the phyllo in half lengthwise. At the bottom of the sheet, place ½ cup of the spinach and cheese mixture. Fold the corner of the phyllo over to enclose filling and form a triangle continue folding (like a flag), maintain triangle shape.
  8. Put triangle, seam side down, on a baking sheet and brush the top with butter. Make more triangles in the same manner, using the phyllo.
  9. Back triangles in the oven until golden brown, about 35-45 minutes. Transfer triangles to a rack to cool slightly.
  10. Important tip: While working with phyllo you should cover the phyllo stack with 2 overlapping sheets of plastic wrap and then a dampened kitchen towel. Keep phyllo you are not working with covered so it will not dry out.