Greek Style Spinach Feta Polenta Pie Food

GREEK-STYLE SPINACH, FETA & POLENTA PIE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F and set an oven rack in the middle position. Grease a 1.5-qt baking dish (mine is an oval that measures about 9 x 7 inches) or 9-inch pie pan with 1 tablespoon of the oil.
• Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the spinach and cook, tossing frequently, until wilted, 4 to 5 minutes. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, combine the eggs, yogurt, polenta, garlic, salt and pepper; whisk until smooth. Add the feta, pecorino Romano, and dill, and whisk until evenly combined. Stir in the wilted spinach.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish or pie pan, and bake until just set and puffed, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature.

SPANAKOPITA: GREEK SPINACH PIE WITH FETA CHEESE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Wash and drain the chopped spinach very well. If using frozen spinach, thaw completely and squeeze out excess water. The spinach should be dry before you begin cooking.
• Heat 1/2 cup of the olive oil in a deep sauté pan or large Dutch oven. Sauté the onions and green onions until tender.
• Add the spinach, parsley, and dill , and cook for 5 to 10 minutes until the spinach is wilted and heated through.
• Add the nutmeg and season with salt and pepper. The spinach mixture should be on the dry side; if using frozen spinach, you will want to cook it until any excess moisture evaporates. Remove from the heat and set the spinach mixture aside to cool.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the feta, eggs, and ricotta cheese.
• Add the cooled spinach mixture and mix until combined.
• Gather the ingredients.
• Combine the melted butter with the olive oil in a bowl. Using a pastry brush, lightly grease 2 (9 x 12-inch) rectangular pans.
• Carefully remove the phyllo roll from the plastic sleeve. Most packages come in 12 x 18-inch sheets when opened fully.
• Using kitchen scissors or a sharp knife, cut the sheets in half to make 2 stacks of 9 x 12-inch sheets. To prevent drying, cover 1 stack with wax paper and a damp paper towel while working with the other.
• Preheat the oven to 350 F. Layer about 10 sheets of phyllo on the bottom of each pan, making sure to brush each sheet with the butter-olive oil mixture before layering the next.
• Add half of the spinach mixture to each pan in an even layer and press with a spatula to flatten.
• Layer another 10 phyllo sheets on top of the spinach mixture in each pan, making sure to brush each sheet well with the butter-olive oil mixture.
• Before baking, score the top layer of the phyllo (making sure not to puncture the filling) to enable easier cutting of pieces later. (You can place the pan in the freezer to harden the top layers and then use a serrated knife to make the cutting easier.)
• Bake until the pie turns a deep golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.
• Let cool for a few minutes and then slice, serve, and enjoy.

CRISPY GREEK-STYLE PIE

Steps:

• Put the spinach into a large pan. Pour over a couple tbsp water, then cook until just wilted. Tip into a sieve, leave to cool a little, then squeeze out any excess water and roughly chop. Roughly chop the tomatoes and put into a bowl along with the spinach, feta and eggs. Mix well.
• Carefully unroll the filo pastry. Cover with some damp sheets of kitchen paper to stop it drying out. Take a sheet of pastry and brush liberally with some of the sundried tomato oil. Drape oil-side down in a 22cm loosebottomed cake tin so that some of the pastry hangs over the side. Brush oil on another piece of pastry and place in the tin, just a little further round. Keep placing the pastry pieces in the tin until you have roughly three layers, then spoon over the filling. Pull the sides into the middle, scrunch up and make sure the filling is covered. Brush with a little more oil.
• Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Cook the pie for 30 mins until the pastry is crisp and golden brown. Remove from the cake tin, slice into wedges and serve with salad.

POLENTA WITH FETA AND SPINACH

Steps:

• Prepare the polenta by boiling the water with the salt and butter or olive oil then adding the polenta in a steady stream while stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Continue cooking and stirring for about 5 minutes (longer if you don't have the quick-cooking variety).
• Spoon into shallow bowls and crumble feta cheese over the top and sprinkle with pepper.
• Bring the spinach to the table in a separate bowl. Take as much spinach as you want/as will fit on top of your polenta and EAT getting a little polenta, cheese and spinach in each bite.
• You can substitute chicken stock or vegetable stock for the water for more flavor but scale back the salt if you do. You can also add onion powder to the polenta or chopped green onion to the spinach. It is pretty versatile.

SPANAKOPITA (GREEK SPINACH AND FETA PIE)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375º F.
• (For fresh spinach) Working in batches, wash and drain the spinach. Discard any large stems and chop the leaves coarsely. Combine the spinach, parsley, dill, green onions and salt. Let stand in a colander for 15 minutes and then press out the liquid. (For frozen spinach) Thaw the spinach and squeeze out most of the water, leaving just a little to prevent it drying out in the oven. Combine with the parsley, dill, green onions and salt.
• Heat the olive oil in a deep skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering, then add the onions and saute until transparent.
• Adjust the heat to medium, add the spinach mixture in batches and saute until the spinach and herbs are wilted.
• Turn off the heat and stir the feta and black pepper into the mixture.
• Butter a 10"x17"x2" baking pan and lay 8 filo sheets in the bottom, brushing each layer with butter or spraying it with oil.
• Spread the spinach mixture into the baking pan.
• Cover with the remaining filo sheets, brushing each layer with butter or spraying it with oil.
• Bake until the top is golden brown, about 30 minutes.