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Recipe for "spinach-pastry"

NAME

     SPINACH-PASTRY - Spinach and cheeses in a puff pastry crust
     A recipe of this type appeared  in  Cuisine  Magazine.   The
     dish is hearty enough to be a main course, but can also be a
     side dish to a meat entre.

INGREDIENTS (Serves 4 to 6)

     300 g     chopped spinach (fresh or frozen)
     250 g     cottage or ricotta cheese
     350 g     feta cheese (crumbled, and drained of any brine)
     50 g      grated parmesan or romano cheese
     15 g      chopped scallions
     4         large eggs
     25 g      butter
     pinch     salt
     pinch     pepper
     400 g     puff pastry (frozen pastry thawed to room tempera-
               ture, or homemade)

PROCEDURE

          (1)  Preheat oven to 175 deg. C.  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  a  20-cm
               square baking dish.
          (5)  Roll out a sheet of puff pastry on a floured  sur-
               face  to  make  a 35-cm square.  Roll out a second
               sheet to make a 22-cm 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 175 deg. C or until  pastry
               is  golden  brown.  Let rest for 10 minutes before
               serving.

NOTES

     The casserole may be prepared through step 3,  then  covered
     and refrigerated for up to 8 hours.
     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 sauteed garlic and mushrooms  can  be
     added.

RATING

     Difficulty: moderate.  Time: 30 minutes preparation, 1  hour
     baking and cooling.  Precision: approximate measurement OK.

CONTRIBUTOR

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