Kolopi

Kolopi, a spinach pie for fasting, is baked together with the bread on Saturdays of Lent on the island of Kythnos. The spinach is chopped, a little salt is added and all is mixed together by hand with chopped onion, dill, and pepper along with some olive oil and a little rice to absorb the liquid that the greens will produce as they bake. With flour, water, salt, and oil we knead the dough and use it to make small squares of thick pastry. The spinach stuffing is spooned onto the pastry and, after wrapping it into the shape of a half-moon, it is baked in the oven. Often, a finely chopped beet chard is added to the spinach.

In the olden days, kolopi was made only in wintertime, when spinach is in season. Today, it can be enjoyed all year round.