I know that English are really proud of their pies but I have to say Greeks have some famous of their own. Which I have to say, I really miss them… Most of the times when my mother used to make me spinach pie or cheese pies she had to do them on the largest pan she had as we always ate a lot of it. When I started to cook by myself, I have to say making a pie…any kind of, was out of the question for me as I found it really tiring and difficult to make the pastry. I tried when i cooked the galaktompoureko once..and it took me ages…
So..instead, my all-knowing mother gave me the following idea…
The following is a variation of the typical spinach pie recipe that is famous in Greece and it can be altered also to be used for a cheese pie. It’s a pie without pastry, which would elegantly make it, the spinach pie of the lazy one! As long as it tastes right, i have no problem admitting that i am a lazy chef 🙂
LAZY SPINACH PIE
INGREDIENTS
- 1 kilo of Spinach chopped (fresh or frozen)
- 2-3 fresh onions chopped
- 1 red onion..also chopped
- 500gr of trimmed feta cheese
- 1 bunch of fresh dill chopped
- 2 eggs
- 14-16 slices of cheese for toast (the number depends on the size of your baking pan)
- 250ml-300ml of pouring cream(i don’t know if I name it correctly…well..that) Alternatively, full fat milk will do i think
- Olive Oil and Pepper
REMEMBER if Spinach pie is much too complicated…you might want to check out also Spinach Rice!
METHOD
Well firstly you will need the biggest pot you have in order to fit everything. Put some olive and add the chopped spinach. Keep stirring them in high heat and you will notice that the spinach will be slowly decreasing in size and removing a lot of water
Add the onions, the dill and half of the pouring cream and let it for 5 to 10 minutes reducing the heat to medium low. When you have seen that the spinach is now really soft and tender then you add the feta cheese to the mixture and remove it from the heat. Stir so the feta cheese goes everywhere and let it there to cool down.
In a baking pan, you put half of the slices of cheese on the bottom so it covers as much as possible of the pan but also are close to each other. When the spinach has cooled down, then you break two eggs and beat them. When they are mixed you add them to the spinach mixture and stir quickly so they go everywhere. The reason why we don’t add them when the mixture is hot is so they are not cooked. We don’t want to have an omelet!
Using a skimmer to remove as much as possible from the liquids we take the mixture from the spinach and put it in the baking pan spreading it to go all over the slices of cheese we have placed before.
Add the remaining slices of cheese on top covering the spinach mixture and then add on top some of the pouring cream to cover the spots that were not covered by the cheese.Put it in the oven in around 200c and let it for 30-40 minutes. It’s ready! You can eat it while it is hot or when it gets cold also!
Who said you need pastry to make a pie… 🙂
