When my great-grandparents emigrated from Greece to America at the turn of the last century, they brought with them four sons and four daughters, including a newborn little girl they named Eleftheria, or "Freedom." They also brought with them, as immigrants do, the recipes that would help make them feel at home in their new country. Not written-down recipes -- but dishes made from their hearts, their hands, and their heads. They came to settle in Washington, DC from the city of Ioannina in the northwest of Greece, a city known for its fine silversmiths, its university, and (I was always told) its good cooks. This is our family recipe for a spinach pie called "batsaria" (baht-sahr-YA), the lesser-known cousin of spanakopita. If you love spanakopita but don't like to fiddle with filo dough, this one's for you! I brought a pan to our recent DC Food52 holiday party and cookie swap, and those who tasted it (and even took some home for supper) encouraged me to submit it to this contest.

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