Word of warning, I never measure anything when I cook.

The phrase “this is an old Norwegian family recipe stored somewhere in my head” is what my dad’s mom (100% Norwegian) would say to my mom (0% Norwegian) when she would ask for a recipe.

She said it often to my mom, every recipe request, but I really remember her saying that about a very Norwegian lefse recipe (google it, yummy stuff). Grandma never wrote anything down and she didn’t measure many ingredients, just cooking by feel. I’m the same way.

My poor mom would be so frustrated that nothing ever turned out the way it did when grandma would make it, especially lefse. I’ve looked at a few recipes over the years so I know the basics of a spinach pie, but don’t use anything now and it goes from there, nothing written, not much measured, just put together and served.

Spinach pie is one of those meals Ellie loves, I do too – especially ours. When spinach is in season we have spinach pie as often as we can. We plan accordingly by stockpiling certain ingredients in our freezer, like cheese. Local, fresh, seasonal ingredients are key to so many meals we make and eat. Getting to know the producers and knowing where and how our food is grown and produced is so important to us.

Turning our friend’s eggs, cheese, yogurt, beef, chicken, etc. into something delicious is fun.

Ingredients:
2 bags of spinach
Half of a medium onion
1 clove garlic
2 eggs (Sequatchie Cove Farm)
Pinch or two of Salt
Black pepper
1 tsp+/- dried dill
1 block of cheese (Rosemary and Thyme Creamery)
1 frozen puff pastry (or make your own!)

Note: We used our own spinach, onion, and garlic! Visit our booth on Wednesdays to get your ingredients!

For the crust:

Thaw one frozen puff pastry sheet according to the instructions.

For the filling:

Dice or thinly slice the onion and saute in a little olive oil and/or butter for a couple of minutes on medium heat.

Chop and add the spinach, saute until wilted and soft.

Mix in the herbs and seasoning

Turn off the heat and mix in 1 1/2 whisked eggs, let cool for a couple of minutes and add chop ca ped up block of cheese

Open your thawed puff pastry on a parchment lined baking sheet, spread your filling in the middle part of the pastry, and fold the pastry to encase the filling, make a few cuts on top to release steam, use the remaining egg as an egg wash. Bake at 400 degrees until the pastry is done, 25-40 minutes.

A few notes:

We have replaced 1/3 to 1/2 of the spinach with Italian dandelion greens.

For the cheese we used Chamberlains Choice from Rosemary and Thyme Creamery (stored in our freezer). When in season or from our freezer their feta, Tomme de LaFayette, or Don Quixote Queso are also amazing.

We use a store bought puff pastry from the freezer section. The gluten free versions also work great. We have made our own puff pastry, too. If you’re feeling ambitious, go for it. However, the store bought is just as good and you’ll have more time to play in the dirt.
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I hope you enjoy this recipe. Stop by the Hissing Possum Booth on Wednesdays and let me know if you tried it!

-Eric