An extra-creamy spinach pie, minus the fuss and filo crust.
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Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a medium saucepan over medium high heat, saute the shallot in the olive oil until just translucent. Add the defrosted (or frozen, what the hell) spinach. Once the spinach is cooked and a bit dried out, add the fresh basil and cook another minute or two.
Add the flour and give it one more minute, stirring, to cook off the raw flavor. Remove from heat and let cool.
As the spinach cools, slice up the red onion and start sauteing it in a fry pan over medium heat, using 1 T of the olive oil. Beat together the ricotta, eggs, salt and pepper, then crumble in the 4 ounces feta. By the time the cheese is mixed and the red onions are limp and have taken on a bit of color, the spinach should be cool enough to accept the eggs and ricotta - warm, but not really hot. Mix up well.
Butter or lightly oil a roughly 10" au gratin dish, or equivalent. You can butter heavily and then coat the butter with fine bread crumbs, as I did on a whim, but that's overkill. Smooth out the spinach. Top with the tomatoes, then the sauteed red onions and the 2 ounces of crumbled feta. Sprinkle the panko on top and drizzle with the final tablespoon of olive oil. Bake for 30 minutes, until the spinach is well set and the topping is brown. You can bake up to an extra 10 minutes for the sake of the topping, but if it's still not as brown as you like, just keep it warm and then broil it a bit, carefully, just before serving.
Do you want to use fresh spinach instead? It will take approximately one crap ton, involve lots of cleaning and stripping, and you'll have to squeeze it out after cooking, which I usually do in double handfuls. But you have my respect. Frozen chopped bagged spinach, though, is a pretty good product, and I almost always have some in the freezer.
This will feed at least 2 as a main course, 4 as a side dish.
What else, let's see - this is really about the ricotta, but good sheep's milk feta is important, IMHO, as is a nicely browned topping. I do like the sweetness of the red onions. You might double up on those, and the breadcrumbs, but don't cover up all the nice, green spinach.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a medium saucepan over medium high heat, saute the shallot in the olive oil until just translucent. Add the defrosted (or frozen, what the hell) spinach. Once the spinach is cooked and a bit dried out, add the fresh basil and cook another minute or two.
Add the flour and give it one more minute, stirring, to cook off the raw flavor. Remove from heat and let cool.
As the spinach cools, slice up the red onion and start sauteing it in a fry pan over medium heat, using 1 T of the olive oil. Beat together the ricotta, eggs, salt and pepper, then crumble in the 4 ounces feta. By the time the cheese is mixed and the red onions are limp and have taken on a bit of color, the spinach should be cool enough to accept the eggs and ricotta - warm, but not really hot. Mix up well.
Butter or lightly oil a roughly 10" au gratin dish, or equivalent. You can butter heavily and then coat the butter with fine bread crumbs, as I did on a whim, but that's overkill. Smooth out the spinach. Top with the tomatoes, then the sauteed red onions and the 2 ounces of crumbled feta. Sprinkle the panko on top and drizzle with the final tablespoon of olive oil. Bake for 30 minutes, until the spinach is well set and the topping is brown. You can bake up to an extra 10 minutes for the sake of the topping, but if it's still not as brown as you like, just keep it warm and then broil it a bit, carefully, just before serving.
Do you want to use fresh spinach instead? It will take approximately one crap ton, involve lots of cleaning and stripping, and you'll have to squeeze it out after cooking, which I usually do in double handfuls. But you have my respect. Frozen chopped bagged spinach, though, is a pretty good product, and I almost always have some in the freezer.
This will feed at least 2 as a main course, 4 as a side dish.
What else, let's see - this is really about the ricotta, but good sheep's milk feta is important, IMHO, as is a nicely browned topping. I do like the sweetness of the red onions. You might double up on those, and the breadcrumbs, but don't cover up all the nice, green spinach.
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