Authentic Greek Recipes: Greek Spinach Pie With Cornmeal (Plastos)

There are several different ways of making spinach pie (spanakopita) in Greece. We have previously featured 2 - here and here. The recipe below - called Plastos - is popular in Greece and is normally made with a variety of aromatic herbs. We have made it here with spinach, but it includes aromatic herbs. The main difference between this and other pies is that instead of pastry, cornmeal is used. This gives it a nice crunchy taste - you can see in the photo above how it came out of the oven.

Ingredients

1 kg spinach finely chopped

8 spring onions finely chopped

4 tbsp fresh dill finely chopped

2 tbsp wild fennel leaves finely chopped

Any aromatic herbs available in your area that are suitable for pies. We used Mironia (translates as Shepherd’s Needle, Venus’ Needle, Venus’ Comb) and Kafkalithres (Mediterranean Hartwort). Use 1 small bunch of each herb you use.

300g feta cheese

2 cups cornmeal

150 ml olive oil

Salt to taste

Preparation

Put the spinach, spring onions, dill, fennel and aromatic herbs in a pan. Bring to the boil, mix well and simmer for 3 minutes.

Remove, drain well and place in a bowl to cool.

Crumble the feta cheese and gently mix in with the greens mixture.

Add 50 ml olive oil, salt and set aside.

Spread 50 ml olive oil in a shallow oven dish.

Sprinkle half of the cornmeal on top of the oil.

Carefully spread the greens mixture on top, making sure that the cornmeal remains on the base without getting mixed in.