Spinach Pie
This month’s recipe comes courtesy of one of my favorites Ian Garten in her book The Barefoot Contessa, but she attributes the recipe to her dear friend Brent Newsom of Brent Newsom Caterer in Bridgehampton, NY. Capricorns like their Spinach, they need the Iron, so this was an easy pick – a delicious Spinach Pie, baked whole and then cut into 6-8 portions, as opposed to the Greek Spanakopita that are made individually.
Ingredients:
3 cups chopped Yellow Onions (approx. 2 Onions)
2 tablespoons good Olive Oil
2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
1½ teaspoons freshly ground Black Pepper
3 x 10-ounce packages frozen chopped Spinach (defrosted)
6 extra-large Eggs (beaten)
2 teaspoons grated Nutmeg
½ cup freshly-grated Parmesan Cheese
3 tablespoons plain dry Breadcrumbs
½lb (or 8oz) good Feta Cheese (cut into ½ inch cubes)
½ cup Pignoli (aka Pine Nuts)
¼lb (or 4oz) Salted Butter (melted)
6 sheets Phyllo Dough (defrosted)
Recipe:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a medium sauté pan over medium heat, sauté the chopped Onions with the Olive Oil for about 10 to 15 minutes until translucent and slightly browned. Add the Salt and Black Pepper, and then allow to cool slightly. Squeeze out and discard as much of the liquid from the defrosted Spinach as possible. Put the squeezed Spinach into a large bowl and then gently mix in the Onions, Eggs, Nutmeg, Parmesan Cheese, Breadcrumbs, Feta and Pignoli. “How hard is that?” as Ina would say… Next, grease an ovenproof, non-stick, 8-inch sauté pan with Butter and line it with 6 stacked sheets of Phyllo Dough, brushing each one with melted Butter as you go and most important, letting the excess dough hang over the edge of the pan! Pour the Spinach Mixture into the middle of the Phyllo Doughand neatly fold the edges up and over the top so as to seal in the filling. Brush the top with melted Butter and then bake for 1 hour, until the top is golden brown and the filling is “set.” Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely – no matter how good it smells – and serve at room temperature.
*If you decide to use fresh Spinach, I suggest you lightly steam it first, and then squeeze out the excess liquid. Spinach reduces down to almost nothing when you cook it and retains a lot of excess water, unless you squeeze it out. So you’ll probably need at least double the number of bags of fresh Spinach to produce the equivalent of 3 x 10-ounce packages of frozen Spinach.