Cheese and Spinach Pie

I was rummaging around in my mother’s old recipe box, as I occasionally find myself doing, and came across one of her handwritten recipes. It was written on the front and back of two 3" x 5” index cards. The fact that my mother had written this out by hand in such length indicated to me that she really liked it. The recipe was for Cheese and Spinach Pie. The recipe called for a homemade double crust piecrust. Nope. Not having it. I don’t make piecrust unless I absolutely have to (a gun is being held to my head, for example), and it seemed to me that using it in this recipe would be way too carb-laden. So I kept the filling as is, and decided to use puff pastry instead. The result was wonderful.

 This is like nothing I have ever experienced before. My friend Alycia (of the Tablescapes at Table/Twenty One blog) asked me if it was more like quiche, or more like spanakopita. Truth be told, it’s not like either one of those things. This is something unique. I enjoyed it as a main dish for dinner one night, and the next day I had it for breakfast. Naturally, it would work well for lunch. It keeps in the refrigerator, for a couple of days, but when you reheat it, make sure you do so in the oven so as not to make the crust soggy.

Cheese and Spinach Pie

3 T. butter
1 medium onion, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 10-oz. pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 8-oz. pkg. shredded mozzarella cheese
1 15-oz. container ricotta cheese
¾ c. dried breadcrumbs
1 t. chopped fresh dill (or ½ t. dill weed)
5 large eggs, separated
1 t. salt
Pepper, to taste
One sheet frozen puff pastry

In 4-quartsaucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Cook onion and garlic in melted butter until tender, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in spinach, mozzarella, ricotta, breadcrumbs, dill, four egg yolks, and salt.

Beat five egg whites until stiff peaks form. With wire whisk, gently fold egg whites into cheese mixture until well blended; set aside

Preheat oven to 400° F. Roll one sheet of puff pastry into a 12” x 12” square. Place it into a 9-inch deep-dish pie pan. Spoon spinach mixture into the center of the puff pastry, and smooth out. Lift each corner of the puff pastry over the filling to the center until all corners meet. Combine remaining egg yolk with 1 teaspoon of water and brush over pastry.

Bake for one hour or until knife inserted into center comes out clean.

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