As with many things, I had never tried to make a spinach pie before! But I am endeavoring. After all, how hard could it be?
I checked out a plethora of recipes and got a basic idea of what I wanted to do. Took a few tips from Martha Stewart's Spinach Pie recipe. Her recipe doesn't have the highest ratings (at this time there are 17 reviews and it has a 3 out of 5 stars). I can see why people wouldn't like this, though. I strayed pretty far from the recommended FOUR WHOLE ONIONS, almost FOUR POUNDS of spinach, and EIGHT EGGS in what is the exact same serving size as the pie that I made.
Then, I just decided to do what I always do, and kind of wing it from there! Which turned out fantastically. I can't wait to make this recipe again. It's going to be one of my new favorite go-tos for holidays.
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I ate this just about every day after Thanksgiving until it ran out! And then I was so disappointed, I made another one... On the second version, I decided to see if I could skip the tedious chopping a pound of spinach stage. I tried putting it in a food processor and pulsing until coarsely chopped.
This did work. It made spinach pie! But it was very wet. Pulverizing the spinach too much released more water out of the leaves. It ends up being a lot like frozen spinach where you have to wrap it in paper towels to soak out the excess moisture.
If you're in a pinch and you don't mind a soggier pie, go for it. This does save quite a few minutes of chopping spinach. But no, I would not recommend it.
What to Make Along with Spinach Pie?
For the rest of the recipes that I made during Thanksgiving this year, along with a breakdown of how to get them all in and out of the oven in time for dinner! Check out my blog on the pandemic holiday season. I also have a couple other Thanksgiving burritos to make with all of the leftovers!
This Greek-inspired spinach pie utilizes fresh spinach with eggs, onion, garlic, feta, parmesan, and phyllo dough. I specifically made it as a holiday dish, but this recipe translates perfectly to any occasion. It only takes about 20 minutes to toss together and an hour in the oven. That translates to a delicious homemade meal in less than an hour and a half!
Heat butter or oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Add diced onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent. This should take about 3-5 minutes.
Add minced garlic and cook under garlic is tender. This should take another 2-3 minutes.
Remove from heat and transfer onion and garlic mixture to a large bowl.
Spinach Mixture
Add chopped spinach, feta, parmesan, salt, and pepper to the garlic mixture. Stir well to combine.
Add eggs and mix until incorporated.This involves quite a bite of fresh spinach and requires a very large bowl! Even with this, I had a hard time containing the sheer amount of fluffy spinach and ended up mixing in the eggs by hand. This isn't necessary, but I found that it helped!
Phyllo Dough
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Meanwhile, grease a large baking dish with either butter or oil.
Pour spinach mixture into the backing dish and top with phyllo dough.Phyllo dough is best greased between sheets with butter or oil. I use a little glass spray bottle filled with olive oil and spray each of the sheets on both sides before stacking. Alternatively, you can melt butter and brush on. You can technically cook phyllo dough without greasing it, but it will retain a chalkiness that isn't always pleasant. Adding some kind of butter or oil is highly recommended!
Bake
Bake for 45 minutes, or until the phyllo dough on top has started to brown and flake.
Let cool slightly and cut into 2-inch squares. Serve immediately.
Tips, Tricks, & Notes
I used fresh spinach for this recipe. You can substitute frozen spinach, but you'll end up with a lot more moisture than with fresh spinach. Some people prefer this denser consistency. If you're like me and looking for something a little bit fluffier, use fresh spinach. You can chop it either coarsely or finely. Just don't pulverize in a food processor or, like with frozen spinach, you'll end up with too much moisture. To combat the pulverized or frozen spinach dilemma, wrap in paper towel and wring out. This will slightly wilt the leaves, but you are about to cook it!
This recipe works great for leftovers. Just reheat in the oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit and cook for another 15 minutes, or until heated throughout. If the phyllo dough browns too quickly, you can either oil or butter the top of the phyllo dough before cooking or simply remove the top layer after cooking. I don't have a microwave and haven't tried to reheat it in one, but I don't suspect that it would work all that well. There is a large amount of egg in this recipe that might not do well in the microwave and I suspect that the rapid heating might make it gummy.
You also don't have to use all of the phyllo dough. It will still retain some chalkiness and some don't find that very appealing. If you stack too many layers, they become dense and gummy or the top layers may separate and become too flaky and burn. The general rule of thumb is at least 5 layers.
Make sure to also get phyllo dough. It can be easy to confuse phyllo dough and puff pastry in the grocery store. Mine are sold side-by-side by the same company and have virtually identical packaging! They're both a layered pastry and might appear quite similar. But phyllo dough should be about the consistency of tissue paper and puff pastry is a dough, more like a fluffy pie crust. You could technically use puff pastry in a pinch, but it would be more of an upside-down pie with the crust on the top than what you typically think of in a spinach pie, which is crisper and flakier. More like a savory baklava than an American or European pie.
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