Cigarettes greek spinach pies

- Μαρτίου 11, 2023

Cigarettes were made by the women of my area for the Shrove Monday table.

They were cigarette-shaped spinach pies for lent.

Everyone likes them and if the next day they are not crispy, we can just bake them for a few minutes in the oven and they’ll be crispy again.

Ingredients for about 40 cigarettes:

For the fillo:

500g soft or all-purpose flour

80ml or 60g olive oil

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 teaspoon of salt

250ml water approximately at room temperature

For the filling:

600g spinach

80ml or 60g of olive oil

5 spring onions, finely chopped

1 large onion, finely chopped

1/2 bunch or 1 cup of dill, chopped

15g fine semolina

Salt and pepper

To open the fillo:

Mix corn flour and flour in equal amounts

To shape the filo

About 2 teaspoons of cinnamon

Olive oil

Dough:

In a bowl, mix the flour with the oil until it becomes like soil (we want the flour to be well wetted with the oil)

Add vinegar and water and knead until you get a soft enough dough that doesn't stick to your hands.

Add the salt and continue kneading for at least 5 minutes.

Cover the dough with cling film and let it rest for at least an hour.

Stuffing:

Blanch the spinach in boiling water for 2 minutes and then place it in a bowl of cold water. We drain it well with our hands and chop it.

In a pan, sautée the onions until soft.

Combine all the filling ingredients in a bowl and mix.

We divide in 4.

Fillo:

We divide our dough into 4.

We take 1 ball and with the help of the mixture of corn flour and flour we open a sheet with a diameter of about 60cm with a thin rolling pin.

We spread a lot of oil and half a teaspoon of cinnamon (I take about half a teaspoon of cinnamon in my hand and drop it like I'm salting) on the entire surface of our fillo.

We divide the fillo with a wheel into 5 strips vertically and into 2 horizontally (we will have 10 pieces from each sheet). We spread 1/4 of our filling on the edge of each piece of dough. Roll all the pieces lightly and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.