Southern Twist on Hortopita

This recipe is an extreme modification of the recipe from the cookbook “Ikaria:Lessons on Food, Life, and Longevity from the Greek Island Where People Forgot to Die” by Diane Kochilas. I don’t know that she would even recognize it.

This was a great way to change my leftovers from New Year’s Day into something new and tasty. Since the Greek cookbook had recipes for black-eyed peas, I felt including them wouldn’t be to strange.

Bruce gave it two thumbs up. He felt it was better with the black-eyed peas. I wouldn’t include them if I were making spinach pie.

Serves 6

Ingredients

• Sheets of thawed commercial phyllo dough (thawed in the fridge overnight in original package)
• 4 1/2 cups of cooked collard greens
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons of fresh ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon of dried dill or more to taste
• 1/4 cup of fresh mint, finely chopped (optional)
• Leaves from fresh bunch of oregano, finely chopped (can use 1 teaspoon of dried oregano)
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 bunches of scallions (optional), chopped
• 1 cup of cooked black-eyed peas
• 1 1/2 cups of grated Manchego cheese (or the traditional crumbled feta cheese)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup of olive oil, divided

Tools:

15 inch round baking pan or a 16 x 12 inch shallow rectangle pan or a 12 inch cast iron skillet for a thicker pie, cooking brush, large skillet, large mixing spoon, wooden spoon, small mixing bowl, fork, wax paper, dish towel, kitchen scissors or shears, sharp knife, and a large mixing bowl

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Drain your cooked collard greens and squeeze as much water as you can out of the greens.
3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil when the skillet is hot.
4. Sauté the onions and scallions until the onion is translucent.
5. Add the collard greens, salt, peppers, dill, mint, oregano to the skillet.
6. Cook the mixture until the collard greens start to stick to the skillet. Scrape the collard greens into the large bowl and add the cheese. Stir to combine.
7. Using the same skillet, heated on medium heat, add the black-eyed peas. Stir until they are warm. Scrape the black-eyed peas into the collard greens mixture. Stir to combine.
8. Crack eggs into the small mixing bowl and beat with fork. Add the eggs to the collard greens and black-eyed peas mixture. Stir well to combine.
9. Using the olive oil, oil the bottom and sides of your pan.
10. Remove phyllo from fridge and remove it from the packaging. Save the packaging. With dry hands, unroll the phyllo sheets. Cover the unrolled phyllo with wax paper and place a damp dishcloth over it. As you remove one sheet at a time, cover the rest. Phyllo dries out very quickly, so keeping it covered prevents it from drying out.
11. Gently cover the bottom and sides of your pan with one piece of phyllo dough. If one sheet doesn’t cover the bottom of your pan, use a second sheet to cover the exposed bottom and sides. If the phyllo tears, don’t worry about it. Just gently push the torn pieces together. Do not trim the phyllo that is over the sides.
12. Brush the phyllo sheet with olive oil from the edges inward. The edges dry out first. Add another layer of phyllo sheets over the bottom and sides. Repeat this process for more four more layers. You should have six layers of phyllo sheets.
13. Carefully spread the collard greens and black-eyed peas mixture over the phyllo layers.
14. Lay a sheet of phyllo over the mixture. Repeat step 11. You should have six layers on top.
15. Using your kitchen scissors/shears or the sharp knife trim the edges around the side of the pan as close to the top of the filling as possible.
16. Using your sharp knife, score the top layers into six pieces.
17. Immediately put in the preheated oven.
18. Bake 40 to 55 minutes, until the top is golden. Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 15 minutes. With a sharp knife, slice all the way through to the bottom.
19. While the pie is baking, save the remaining phyllo by rolling up the remaining sheets with the original protective paper. Cover the phyllo with wax paper and then wrap it in plastic wrap. Slide the rolled phyllo back into the original bag and then the box. It stores in the fridge for a week. It can also be refrozen and will last up to three months.

Notes:

I used homemade phyllo. I couldn’t get it as thin as I had hoped.

I used leftovers from New Year’s Day.