Spanaki Psimeno

Mrs B's Note:

This recipe is Greek in origin and was originally posted for Zaar World Tour 2005. And inspired by Summerwine's fabulous photograph, I've finally got round to making it! I must admit that when posting I didn't realise just how much spinach this recipe uses; we're talking serious Popeye territory. I found I hadn't bought enough spinach and had to supplement fresh with frozen. But it worked fine. Summerwine's comment below about salt is absolutely spot on. I made this without salt and have updated the recipe to delete this ingredient. The recipe was 'borrowed' from Recipes4us.co.uk.

• Total Time: 55 mins
• Prep Time: 25 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 3 lbs fresh spinach, washed dried and chopped
• 2 ounces butter
• 1 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped
• 14 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
• 5 eggs
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• black pepper
• 7 ounces gruyere cheese, thinly sliced

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C, 350F, gas mark 4 and grease a shallow ovenproof dish.
2. Heat half the butter in a large frying pan and sauté half the spinach for 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly; drain in a colander, and press down with the back of a spoon so that most of the liquid is forced out; set aside and repeat with the remaining butter and spinach.
3. Place the drained spinach in a large mixing bowl together with the chopped dill, and Feta cheese.
4. In another bowl, beat together the eggs, flour and pepper; then add to the spinach mix well.
5. Spread the spinach mixture evenly in the greased dish and cover with the slices of Gruyere cheese; bake for 30 minutes until cheese is melted and the spinach mixture has set; serve hot.

Reviews

[Summerwine]

EDIT: 28 May 2006....Totally 5+ stars!! Since you have revised the recipe it is not nearly as salty. This is certainly a keeper. I still halved the recipe and followed the new directions which resulted in a fantastic spinach dish. At the table I couldn’t resist a little squirt of lemon juice that just gave it a bit of zing! Thank you Mrs B!.... Perfection! :) /April 19 2006...I love spinach and just had to give this a try. I did halve the recipe because I didn’t have that much fresh spinach and used 3 small eggs. It made 4 servings as a side dish or 2 servings as a vegetarian main course and was delicious! The only criticism I have with this recipe is that it was too salty which is why I gave it 4 stars. I love salt, but next time I will leave the salt out due to the saltiness of feta and gruyere it doesn’t need any more. Wonderful dish that is also good cold as well. I will certainly be making again!