Nate's Notes: Spanakopita tastes like memories

   There is nothing quite like making classic family recipes. 

For as long as I knew her, my paternal grandmother, who we referred to as Noonie, would make greek food whenever we would take the 5-hour drive from Indianapolis to visit her and my Papa at their house in Rochester Hills, Michigan.

Noonie loved cooking and was absolutely incredible at it. Whether it was sending us home with a gallon freezer bag filled to the absolute brim with koulourakia (a semisweet greek braided cookie), making pastitsio (a greek lasagna made with cream sauce rather than marinara) or just a general breakfast, you could always count on her to make sure you were well fed and happy. 

This love of cooking of course extended to Thanksgiving, when in addition to the myriad other traditional holiday dishes served for our family meal, Noonie would always make spanakopita. 

For those that have never had the pleasure of eating the deliciousness that is spanakopita, it is a dish made with a filling of feta cheese and spinach wrapped in phyllo dough triangles or sandwiched between two layers of phyllo dough in a lasagna pan. It is a truly delicious dish that I would recommend everyone try at some point (unless dietary restrictions don’t allow it of course).

Unfortunately, Noonie tragically passed away in August of 2011 from a sudden heart attack, dealing a massive blow to my family. Despite her passing, my family kept the cooking tradition and Noonie’s memory alive.

One way that her memory was kept alive was with my father’s cousin Connie filming a video of Noonie making spanakopita and describing her process/the recipe, initially for her own purposes but, once Noonie had passed, putting it on DVDs and sending them out to the family and eventually uploading it on YouTube unlisted. 

Flash forward to 2022 when a then senior-in-college Nate decides, “I wanna make spanakopita for the Central Michigan Life (the student-run newspaper on the campus of Central Michigan University) staff.” So, I sent a message to Connie to ask her for a link to the video so I could make it myself. 

After I had watched it I gained a new appreciation for the work that Noonie put into cooking for us, and by proxy how much work I had ahead of me.

The process involved having to get a couple ingredients not available in my college town of Mt. Pleasant, Michigan when I visited Detroit for Thanksgiving since the recipe calls for TOP GRADE feta and a pound of raw phyllo dough sheets. Thankfully I was able to easily find them thanks to recommendations from my Auntie Karen.

Once I had all the ingredients, I started the multi-day creation process, setting out five boxes of frozen Birds-eye spinach the day before to let it thaw and drain so it would be dry for the filling. Once the filling was made, then began the very careful process of laying the phyllo dough, which is incredibly prone to tearing, on the bottom of the two lasagna pans followed by filling followed by more phyllo. Then, into the oven it went.

Throughout the entire process I could feel Noonie’s spirit in me and it honestly made me emotional. There were moments I could feel myself getting teary-eyed thanks to this connection I was having to this beloved woman who I hadn’t seen since I was almost 11 years old.

Once the spanakopita had finished cooking I took the liberty of trying the cooked filling for myself (I couldn’t eat the phyllo since I am gluten-free) and I had an experience I never had before and haven’t had since , it tasted like memories, transporting me back to the days when I was still being referred to as “Charlie Brown” by Noonie.

It was truly an experience of a lifetime. And, while I’m not sure when I will be able to make it again, something I will cherish forever.

I love you Noonie, thank you so much for blessing us with your presence and wonderful cooking.