Rec: Frankie's Spinach Pie

You will need 1) puff pastry sheets package or 2 pie shells,
2) fresh bag of spinach (the kind with shredded carrots is
okay), 3) one red onion (tastes better, but any kind of onion
will do), 4) shredded Mozzarella cheese, 5) crumbled Feta
Cheese, 6) olive oil, 7) garlic powder (not garlic salt), 8) a
little basil is optional.

Puff pastry sheets, available in Publix frozen dessert section,
make the best crust. There are two sheets of pastry per box.
Use both.

Defrost and pre-heat pastry sheets per the directions on the
box. Bake the bottom pastry sheet until it puffs up nice and
light brown, watch the pastry carefully because it cooks really
fast. Remove from the oven.

On the baked pastry sheet, lay down an fairly thick layer of
spinach leaves, covering all of the pastry sheet. Sprinkle it
lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle with basil leaves (if desirable).
Put a layer of THINLY sliced onions. Go easy on the onion;
you don’t want to wipe out the spinach flavor. The onion adds
a bit of tang, it shouldn’t obliterate. Now, sprinkle Feta cheese
crumbles over the spinach and onion. Go light; Feta is very
salty. Now sprinkle the shredded Mozzarella.

Lay down another layer of spinach leaves, olive oil sprinkles,
basil, onion, Feta, Mozzarella as described above.

You’re building flavor layers. Spinach is the main flavor, onion,
Feta, olive oil, basil leaves, garlic powder are the enhancers.
Mozzarella is the glue that holds the pie together, so you want
enough that it will make things stick together, but you don’t
want a great clumpy mass. Good spinach pie can be eaten hot
or cold, so you’re trying to avoid making a congealed mass of
Mozzarella later.

Make as many complete layers of these ingredients as you like.
I usually stop at three. Sometimes I add sliced mushrooms or
thinly sliced green tomatoes as well.

Cover the center concoction with the second puff pastry
sheet. You don’t need to pinch the edges together on the
sheets, just push it down around the edges. Put in the oven
at 400 degrees F. Make sure you keep an eye on it as it bakes,
usually less than fifteen minutes. Remove when the pastry
is golden brown. Let it cool. Eat it warm or cold.

This is a popular dish for office parties…you can save yourself
clean up time by using the throwaway baking pans. Good
healthy stuff and a tasty way to get veggies into your diet. Enjoy.