Betty Teller

A number of years ago, my brother-in-law told me that he never set foot in a grocery store when my sister was out of town on her frequent business trips. "They don't sell anything to eat," he complained. To him, shopping for food in a supermarket made about as much sense as walking into a yarn store when he needed a new sweater. He wanted the finished product: Raw materials were of no interest.

He really, really doesn't cook. In fact, I'm not sure he knows how to use a can opener. He doesn't heat things in the microwave. He even leaves the job of making restaurant reservations to my sister. If it weren't for the drawer full of take-out menus from places willing to deliver, he would have starved while she was away.

But my how things have changed.

No, he hasn't learned how to cook. (If you knew him, you'd know how ludicrous that idea is.) It's just that supermarkets now cater to him, the ultimate consumer. Year by year, ready-to-eat food has been taking over..

It started with salads. Then they added sushi. Fresh-baked bread. Made-to-order sandwiches. Rotisserie chickens. Macaroni and cheese and other hot dishes. In-store cafes.

On the shelves, the choices expanded even further. If, unlike my brother-in-law, you know how to push a microwave button, your options became vast. Three minutes and ding, dinner.

Next, convenience moved into the fish and meat departments. If you can take the time to remove the pre-seasoned, already cut up and partially cooked food from its packaging, and place it in the oven or a crockpot, then you're really cooking. (Well, sort of.)

I am happy that folks like my brother-in-law are no longer in danger of starvation. But given the sheer number of practically instant foods available, and the quantity of "ready in 15 minutes" cookbooks out there, I get the distinct message that those of us who still know how to cook, and like to do it, are the ones in peril.

Like other endangered species, our natural habitat is shrinking.

For a long time, we've been losing our hold on the supermarket's center aisles. Half of them stopped being about food a long time ago -- they made way for such grocery store staples as greeting cards, haircare products and garden furniture.

But I'm finding the remaining aisles less and less useful every week. Other than an occasional brave foray into the ethnic food, baking and canned tomato sections, these days I find myself mostly clinging to the outside edges of the store, where they stash the fresh produce, meats and dairy. Forget the cereal section -- that's always been scary territory. But now, even frozen foods have turned against me. For every forlorn package of puff pastry stashed on a hard-to-spot top shelf, there are five eye-level displays of frozen desserts. I can find eight brands of precooked, shelled, breaded or spiced shrimp for every 2-pound bag of raw ones. Frozen vegetables huddle together for protection from the thousands of single portion diet meals that have usurped their space..

Now I'm the one who goes to the market and can't find anything to buy.

OK, OK. I admit I'm far from the norm. And I realize there's no compelling economic reason that stores should cater to my quixotic desire to make an insanely labor-intensive ethnic dish rather than buying the pre-made version. Most people don't cook that way, and I'm not trying to change that. You'll notice that I haven't burdened you with my favorite recipes for handmade Chinese dumplings, Thai curry or Moroccan tagine. Eat out, or go buy the frozen versions with my blessing. There's a lot to be said for convenience.

But we're in the middle of wine country, surrounded by thousands of acres of vineyards. Would it really kill Safeway to stock a couple jars of grape leaves?

This column gave me the perfect excuse to call my dear old friend Karen, who, among her many other talents, is the queen of easy yet impressive appetizers. She didn't disappoint me, steering me to a fabulous new product - bite-size, pre-cooked fillo tart shells -- and providing her can't-fail recipe for a simplified, yummy version of Spanokopita. Maybe this convenience thing has something to be said for it after all.

Spanokopita Tartlets

1 10-ounce bag fresh baby spinach

3 Tbsp. butter

3 Tbsp. olive oil

1 cup finely chopped onions

1/3 cup finely chopped scallions (mostly the white parts)

1/3 cup finely chopped parsley

8 ounces crumbled feta cheese

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

3 boxes (45 total) frozen fillo shells*

Wash and strain the spinach. Heat a large sauté pan over high heat, then add the spinach and cook it until it just wilts. Put it back into the strainer and rinse it with cold water to stop the cooking. Squeeze out the water, and finely chop the spinach. Set aside.

In the sauté pan, melt the butter with the olive oil. Add the onions and sauté until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, and add back the spinach to the pan, along with the parsley and scallions. Mix thoroughly, then mix in the feta and the pine nuts.

Leaving the frozen shells in their plastic tray, place a generous spoonful of the spinach mixture into each shell. There should be just enough to fill 45 shells.

At this point, you can freeze the tartlets. Karen likes to keep them in the freezer to pull out and bake when someone stops by.

To serve, preheat the oven to 350 F. Place the tartlets onto a cookie sheet and bake until the filling is bubbling and golden. Frozen tartlets will take about 15 minutes; if they aren't frozen they will take a few minutes less. Serve hot.

*I couldn't find these at Safeway or Albertson's yet, but Raley's carries them.