Spinach Pie

I don't know if the rest of you have ever tried this meditereanean savoury, but it's pretty popular over here in one form or another. On the weekend I made some individual spinach pies and I have to say, they're the tastiest and best I've ever made, so I decided to share the recipe I used just in case you decide you'd like to try making them for yourself.

Ingredients:

1 large bunch of spinach (silverbeet)
2 onions
350 grams of ricotta cheese
350 grams of crumbled greek fetta cheese
1 lime
6 sheets of pre-rolled puff pastry (or you could make your own if you're keen)

Method:

Making the filling

Remove the stems from the spinach and chop finely. You should end up with a large salad bowls worth.

Chop onions finely.

Add in ricotta and fetta cheese.

Add the juice of the lime.

You can add salt and pepper at this stage if you like a bit more seasoning. I did, but you don't have to.

Mix well. I find it's best to use your hands in order to meld the ingredients together well.

Making the pies (you'll need a muffin tray for this)

If your pastry sheets are square like ours, cut each sheet into four equal quarters.

place pastry squares into the muffin holes. There should be plenty hanging over the edges of each hole.

Add spinach filling to each pastry square.

Bring the four corners of the squares together and pinch closed around all four edges.

Pies should be quite plump and tightly filled as the mixture will drop somewhat during the cooking process.

When all the holes in your muffin tray are filled, spray pies lightly with oil or brush with a little melted butter or even milk if you prefer.

Put them into an oven which has been preheated to about 200 degrees celcius. Cook for approximately 30 to 40 minutes depending on your oven. Just leave them in till they're browning on top.

Remove from oven and allow to stand for a few minutes then remove from tray and place on a wire rack to cool.

This recipe made 2 dozen muffin sized pies.

Variations

A traditional ingredient for this recipe is dill. I didn't use it this time and I think the pies were nicer without it, but you could try it if you like that particular herb.

If you're not so keen on fetta cheese, you could replace it with grated cheddar. Sometimes this works better if you have a younger audience to feed.

If you really like all the greek type flavours, you could add in finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes or olives.

I've provided you with the basic recipe, but your only limitation with this one is your imagination.

Enjoy!

I have bad memories of spinach pie from my childhood.

Really? What happened?

Sounds heavenly Ali

glatt;470662 wrote:

I have bad memories of spinach pie from my childhood.

Aliantha;470666 wrote:

Really? What happened?

It was served to me half a dozen times a year, and I was expected to clean my plate every time.

my bad memories are of creamed spinach. (shudder)

glatt;470751 wrote:

It was served to me half a dozen times a year, and I was expected to clean my plate every time.

I guess it must have tasted a lot like spinach and not so much of the other flavours?

My kids love my spinach pies, but they don't like it if I try and give them boiled spinach on a plate for example. Sometimes I serve fish on raw baby spinach leaves which of course wilt when they hot fish hits them. The kids like that too. Probably the juices from the fish and any dressing I might put on it I guess.

I think spinach is one of those veges that can be a horror, but it can also be very good and it's an excellent source of iron which kids need.

Anyway, I'm sorry for your terrible experiences glatt. I hope things are better for you now. ;) Parents can be big meanies can't they?

Growing up, we had regular spinach frequently, too. Usually boiled to within an inch of its life, served with vinegar, chopped egg, and onion for toppings. I still like it that way.

DON'T like raw spinach! Do like it sauteed with garlic and olive oil, yum!

Like it with eggs, too.

Aliantha;470837 wrote:

I guess it must have tasted a lot like spinach and not so much of the other flavours?

That, and brussel sprouts.:sick:

But I understand that some people like spinach, so please don't let me stop the conversation on this one.

Quiche is delicious, and if spinach pie tasted like quiche, I can see how some might like it.

haha...quiche tastes like quiche. I don't think spinach pie tastes like quiche, but the recipe above tastes better than quiche if you ask me. You wouldn't even know it was spinach except for the colour. ;)

What about spinach dip? Does anyone make that? If you're interested I have a good recipe for that too.

I like spinach dip...I would be interested in that recipe, Ali.

sounds like spanakopita. Is it the same?

Cloud;470838 wrote:

Growing up, we had regular spinach frequently, too. Usually boiled to within an inch of its life, served with vinegar, chopped egg, and onion for toppings. I still like it that way.

DON'T like raw spinach! Do like it sauteed with garlic and olive oil, yum!

Like it with eggs, too.

I like the sound of all of the above! Wow - a vegetable thread is making me hungry, there's hope for me yet.

glatt;470841 wrote:

That, and brussel sprouts

I still hate brussels sprouts and cauliflower. At least I think I hate cauliflower. I eat as much as I can with strong tasting food if it is served to me. Maybe I should try it on it's own again.

Ali I love raw spinach with fish. Glorious.
I have some fish in the freezer, might go buy some spinach tomorrow!

case;470850 wrote:

I like spinach dip...I would be interested in that recipe, Ali.

The spinach dip recipe I make requires the following ingredients:

250 grams of sour cream
200 grams of mayonaise (not whole egg. You want something tangy. You could use ranch dressing I guess too but it might make it too runny)
1 packet of french onion soup mix
1 packet of spring vegetable soup mix
about 300 grams of cooked finely chopped spinach or silverbeet
1 cob loaf

Add all the ingredients together (except the cob loaf) and mix well. This dip will need to stand for a couple of hours before serving in order for the packet soup mixes to absorb the moisture from the wet ingredients to become soft.

While you're waiting for the dip to meld together, cut the top off the cob loaf and pull out the innards and break into bite sized pieces. Put the whole lot on a tray and place it in a hot oven for about 10 or 15 minutes to slightly toast.

When the dip is all nice and mushy, simply pour it into the cob loaf and serve with the bread pieces to eat.

Very yummy and so quick to prepare.

Sundae Girl;470861 wrote:

Ali I love raw spinach with fish. Glorious.
I have some fish in the freezer, might go buy some spinach tomorrow!

I like to do a mash of some sort (usually just a nice rich potato mash with lots of black pepper) then put the spinach on top of that while it's still piping hot, then put the fish fillet straight on top of that, then put a blob of pesto on top of that, then a squeaze of lime. This is great with grilled salmon that's still nice and rare inside. So simple to prepare and very basic, but bursting with flavour. Delish!

I now know what a cob loaf is, but have no idea what silverbeet is.

(off to Google)

ah. 'tis Swiss Chard.

Cloud;470852 wrote:

sounds like spanakopita. Is it the same?

Spanakopita is traditionally made with [phyllo | filo | fillo] dough, the sheets of very, very, very thin dough that you often brush with melted butter and then layer.

Good recipe Ali. I think the citrus helps knock down the spinach flavor, but I like spinach. :)

Interesting. I've always added some egg to my spanakopita variants, to hold it together. Perhaps I should try this eggless variant...

I sometimes use filo, but the butter content required for building the pastry usually puts me off when I can get low fat puff pastry. I don't find I need to put egg in if there's enough other moisture to hold it all together. I guess glatt might like it better if there was more egg though. lol

Just a side note, as I'm typing this, there's a short segment on things you can make with spinach!

It is spanakopita. Certainly one of the more ornate and decorated ways to eat spinach.

I like spinach pretty much in any form, including baked creamed spinach and soufflé -- because it's buttery. It has to be buttery. Get the creamed element right and it helps any vegetable go down.

But probably not with a graham cracker crust. Go with a quiche crust and a quiche recipe -- not quite spanakopita, unless you want to fill that with a quiche filling!

I was an odd kid, I actually liked canned spinach, for reasons other than why I like fresh spinach or spinach salads. But canned particularly needs a generous dollop of butter, along with salt, pepper, and vinegar. Butter again -- spinach needs things on, with, around, and otherwise prepositional.

Mom used to make us fresh spinach with the butter, salt, pepper, vinegar, and we all liked it. We were really tasting more of the seasonings than the vegetable.

One really shouldn't actually cook fresh spinach. You just wilt it a couple minutes with steaming, then season. Really, that's about all a spinach (w/ or w/o cheese) omelet does, after all. Even a Joe's Special Breakfast does no more, as the spinach goes on last.

glatt;470841 wrote:

That, and brussel sprouts.:sick:

Brussels Sprouts, or :gray: Aliens' Heads :gray:, must not be overcooked. Overcooking them gives that awful sulfur-compounds reek. Pith those alien heads if you have to, to get 'em to cook quick.

Season with olive oil (and salt), just like cooked cabbage.

Really convincing plates of Alien Heads -- :alien:Abductees' Revenge:alien: -- can be made up by carving almond slanty eyes in each sprout and inserting black olives cut to fit. Can't say as I've ever made time to do this... :alien:

Sundae Girl, re cauliflower:

Any mac-n-cheese recipe you like, or any cheese sauce you especially like. And, like broccoli and brocciflower, don't overcook or sulfur compounds start messing up the flavor. Know any good beer and Stilton cheese sauces?

A meatless version of this one, perhaps, over the cauliflower.

This one uses white wine, but it looks like beer would go too.

But this one looks to be a lot heavier, too heavy for veggies, but could dress up any old piece of beef.

Going Subcontinental, cauliflower'n'tofu, curried. You could try the Madras curry powder I posted on the Latest Recipe Thread. Since it's been a while and is down in the queue, I'll have to bump it up again.

Ali, care to crosspost your pie there, or could I save you the trouble? Advise.

sure thing UG. If you like you can do that. I'm pretty sure anyone who's interested has read this thread already though.