I didn’t mean to do it, I swear. I just happened to have some leftover phyllo dough from a Rachael Ray recipe I made the night before (Buffalo Chicken Rollups, anyone?) and I thought that something should be done with it.

I also happened to have some frozen creamed spinach in the freezer, and I thought, eh? Why not give spinach pie a shot. Except that I looked up spinach pie recipes online and I was missing several key ingredients such as, oh, fresh spinach and ricotta. So? I winged it with whatever I could find in the fridge… fully expecting it to be runny or blech or something disastrous.

Instead, it was actually pretty damn awesome, as evidenced by the fact that I ate half a pan of it shortly after the above photo was taken.

What I Used:

• Phyllo Dough (8-12 sheets that were thawed)
• 1 package of frozen creamed spinach
• a handful of chopped onion
• a minced garlic clove
• a cup or so of shredded cheese (Colby and cheddar I think is what I had in the fridge)
• 1 egg
• half a packet of cream cheese
• about a stick of butter
• half a brick of feta cheese
• salt, pepper, and a little nutmeg

What I did:

(Preheat oven to 375) 

Step 1: Filling

Basically I just nuked the creamed spinach for a couple of minutes like the package suggested (maybe a little less). Meanwhile, back at the bat cave, I chopped up the onions and garlic and sauteed them until softish. Then I turned the heat down and mixed the creamed spinach in to let it soak up all the onion/garlic goodness. I also added a little salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg while it was cooking, basically because I was bored just standing there watching spinach cook.

After a couple of minutes I poured the spinach mixture into a medium-sized mixing bowl, and, while it was still warm, added half a package of cream cheese then mixed well. Since it still looked a little runny on the consistency scale, I added an egg to firm it up when it cooked and then tossed in the shredded cheese and maybe half a cup of crumbled feta. It was about the consistancy of ravioli filling at this point, so I figured it would do.

(Unfortunatly I don’t have pictures because I expected it to be an absolute disaster.)

Step 2: Phyll it.

Phyllo dough may be one of my new favorite things to cook with. I pretty much just followed the on-the-box directions for use, layering one thin sheet at a time and then brushing each with butter.

I used five (or six) sheets on the bottom of a smaller 9×12 pan, then spread the filling, then put another five (or six) sheets on top. The last one I tore into strips just so I’d have a super flaky layer on top.

Step 3: Bake it.

35 minutes at 375… and then maybe 10 to cool. That’s it. It was pretty easy when all was said and done.  

The filling ended up at a perfect consistency, and it tasted absolutely delicious… which I can’t take credit for, since it was a total fluke!

Tags: cooking, greek food, spinach pie