Recipe given to my wife from Greek woman she used to work with at a hospital in Toledo, OH.
Filling
3 TSP Olive oil or butter
6 cloves of garlic
2lbs of baby spinach, remove any thick stems
16oz crumbled feta
7 eggs, beaten
For the coating:
2 sticks of butter
2 springs of fresh thyme
1/2lb of filo dough
In a large mixing bowl, add the spinach. Saute the garlic in the oil until soft and drizzle over the spinach. Add the feta and beaten eggs and stir around until thoroughly mixed.
For the coating, melt the butter and drop the thyme in. Don't overheat, just until it melts.
Unroll the filo dough. Wet a paper towel and place it over the filo dough and then cover with a light weight kitchen towel. As you pull layers off the filo dough, return the towel and paper towel.
In a 9x13 pan. Place a total of 6 layers of filo dough at the bottom the pan....but as you lay every 2nd layer, brush the topside with the butter coating and a fine basting brush. Put in 1/3rd of the spinach mix. Press down gently with a spatula. Add 6 layers of filo dough, basting ever other one. Add 1/3rd of the spinach mix. Repeat until all the spinach mix is in the pan. Place down 6 more layers of filo, basting each one this time. (Honesly, I usually just baste every layer with butter...but you don't have to).
Bake at 375 for ~40-45 min, or until the top is golden. Set out to cool.
Now, I find this is best served at room temp. So once it cools, I just leave it out for a while and pick at the pan for the rest of the day. If you like it hot, that's fine too. I also eat it cold right out of the fridge. Letting a piece warm up on the counter works well too.
AL