OMG SPINACH PIES

Posted in Breakfast & Brunch, Side dishes, Vegetarian-friendly, Veggies by

Staying safe in Corona virus time: read the guest blog post by Phillip Klebba here. A video summarizing important tips can be found here. 

SPINACH PIES… Please, do not run away from me, I cannot take it. Times are stressful, I need your company. Hate spinach? Hate anything green? Fear not, this was quite likely THE tastiest savory recipe I tried this year. I know, it’s just April, but it’s a year that feels like a lifetime passing by. I will ask you to steam a ton of spinach and you might be a bit annoyed by that step. But once that’s done, you are basically there. Ready to enjoy one amazing side dish or fancy brunch item. Locked inside with no guests? Fancy Brunch for Two. Go with the flow…

SPINACH PIES
(slightly modified from The Washington Post)

(5 to 6 tartlet pans, about 4.5 inches in diameter)

20 ounces fresh baby spinach, rinsed
1 medium shallot, chopped
2 large eggs, beaten
10 ounces small-curd, low-fat cottage cheese
10 ounces grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Set a steamer basket above simmering water. Place half of the spinach in the steamer. Cover and steam until just wilted, then drain and coarsely chop. Press with paper towels to remove as much moisture from the spinach as possible, then transfer to a large bowl. Repeat with the remaining spinach.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Use cooking oil spray to grease the tartlet pans, then arrange them on a baking sheet. Add the diced shallot to the spinach, along with the eggs, cottage cheese, Parmigiano-Reggiano, pepper and nutmeg; stir to blend well. Divide evenly among the tartlet pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until browned on the edges and set in the center.

Wait 5 minutes before removing the little pies from the pans. Serve warm or at room temperature.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Credit should go for the husband who noticed the recipe in The Washington Post and sent me the link. It was part of an article on Irish cooking, published right around St Patrick’s Day.  We were so impressed by these pies, not only tasty the day I made them, but two days later, very gently warmed in a low oven. I normally don’t care for low-fat cottage cheese, but it worked perfectly in this preparation. If using low-fat goes against your principles, by all means grab the regular kind.

I used tartlet pans from Wilton that have a loose bottom, so it’s easy to push them out to serve. The original recipe mentioned you could make 6 tartlets, but using these pans I made only 5. The same type of filling could work well as a real tart, over a crust (like the olive oil crust of my recent past), but this version is as light as it is flavorful.

I hope you make these pies. It is possible that it would work well with frozen spinach, but I much prefer the brighter taste that you get once you steam it yourself and use right away.

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22 thoughts on “OMG SPINACH PIES”

  1. Hello from across the Pond ! Hugely busy as everyone else must be . . . I work from there anyway, so no problems except coping with three-four times the usual mail load !!! Absolutely love the look of these so just waiting to be able to open the door and for the supermarkets to deliver . . . meanwhile am kind’of enjoying full meal food delivery ex Sydneyt . . . be well . . .

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  3. I’ve been making these, or something similar, for years. Dammit, I knew I should have published my results first! Oh well, fame is indeed fleeting. (I love the addition and/or substitution of chevre, btw. I’ve always liked how it pairs with spinach.) Oh, and THERE’S NO F-ING WAY I’M USING LOW FAT COTTAGE CHEESE. Or yogurt. Or anything else, for that matter. Gahhhh! Enough said.

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  6. This is a great idea. I am going to try this, substituting muffin top pans for the tart pans, which I don’t have. Likely will have to adjust, carefully, the amount that i put in the pans, but hope think it will work out.

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    • should work fine – as long as you keep an eye on the browning, it’s good indication that everything is properly cooked… I hope you enjoy them as much as we did….

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  7. Love this idea so Pinning it! I today got a perfect size plastic strainer I guess you’d call it from a little shop I buy from and they were not needing it so washed it. It’d be great for making homemade curd cheese in for this! What I love best is using goats milk. The taste is so much better so might go with that if there is any in the shops. Long life shelf stable is fine too.

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  8. “If using low-fat goes against your principles, by no means grab the regular kind.”

    Did you really mean to say that we cannot use regular? Or did you mean ‘by all means’, to imply we can use others.

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  9. Anything with OMG in front of it is worth a try ;o) actually love the sounds of these and looking forward to trying (when spinach returns to a shop near us) — I think I’ll use my silicone muffin molds for these – they are not as wide but easy to pop out and based on other eggy things I’ve made in them, puff up pretty good. A big thanks to Phil for his contribution! Well written and helpful, you two are wonderful. x

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