SPINACH CHEESE CASSEROLE IN PUFF PASTRY

Spinach and cheeses in a puff pastry crust

Ingredients

• 10 oz chopped spinach (fresh or frozen)
• 1 cup cottage or ricotta cheese
• 1 cup feta cheese (crumbled, and drained of any brine)
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan or romano cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped scallions
• 4 large eggs
• 2 Tbsp butter
• pinch salt
• pinch pepper
• 12 oz puff pastry (frozen pastry thawed to room temperature, or homemade)

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to Cook the spinach in boiling water. Drain, rinse with cool water, and squeeze out as much moisture as you can.
2. Melt the butter in a small skillet. Cook the scallions until slightly soft.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cheeses and the eggs. Mix well. Add the spinach, the butter and scallions, the salt and pepper and mix again.
4. Lightly butter the bottom and sides of an 8-in square baking dish.
5. Roll out a sheet of puff pastry on a floured surface to make a 14-in square. Roll out a second sheet to make a 9-in square.
6. Lay the bigger pastry sheet in the buttered dish, draping the extra pastry over the edges.
7. Spread the spinach and cheese mixture evenly in the dish.
8. Put the remaining pastry sheet on top. Trim excess pastry if necessary and seal the edges closed. Use scraps of pastry dough to decorate the top of the pie. Brush top with additional melted butter if desired.
9. Bake for 45 minutes at or until pastry is golden brown. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Notes

As an alternative to puff pastry, you might try using sheets of filo dough, overlapped to make the bottom and top crusts. I have also baked this dish in a pie pan using filo dough. One way to cut down on the calories in this dish is to omit the bottom crust entirely. This is a very flexible recipe. Other vegetables can be substituted for the spinach, and other ingredients like sautaeed garlic and mushrooms can be added.

Rating

Contributor

 
Robin Harris Foster 
AT&T Information Systems, Lincroft New Jersey, USA 
ihnp4!mtuxo!rfoster 
"The apple never falls far from the tree"  
 

Original header

Path: decwrl!recipes
From: rfoster@mtuxo (Robin Harris Foster)
Newsgroups: mod.recipes
Subject: RECIPE: Spinach-cheese pastry
Message-ID: <7973@decwrl.DEC.COM>
Date: 6 Feb 87 04:50:10 GMT
Sender: recipes@decwrl.DEC.COM
Organization: AT&T Information Systems, Lincroft New Jersey, USA
Lines: 90
Approved: reid@decwrl.UUCP


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