Wow, I’ve had a lot of awesome successes in the kitchen lately but I am a bit behind on blogging them. Hopefully I will be caught up in the next couple of days. I actually made this tart last week, and it was so wonderful that I just had to make sure I blogged about it. It was fairly simple to throw together. The phyllo is a little bit of extra work but I think it was definitely worth it in the end. I had smaller phyllo sheets than the recipe calls for so I had some filling I didn’t use, but it worked out fine. While typing up the recipe I realized I made several minor errors while cooking, probably due to lack of sleep, but it still turned out fantastic so I think this is a very forgiving recipe. I served it with baked garlic rice pilaf and it was a wonderful meal!
Spinach, Feta and Pine Nut Tart
Ingredients:
½ cup pine nuts
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 10-oz. packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed
2 large eggs
½ tsp. salt
½ cup crumbled feta cheese (I probably used closer to 2/3 cup)
7 sheets phyllo dough (12”x17”)
5 tbsp. unsalted butter
6 tbsp. plus ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375°.
Toast pine nuts in a small skillet over medium heat.
Meanwhile, wet spinach leaves and place in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Cover and cook until spinach wilts, 2-3 minutes. Wring dry and roughly chop.
In the same skillet used for the spinach, heat 1 tbsp. olive oil over medium-low heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally until softened.
In a large bowl, whisk eggs. Stir in spinach, onions, pine nuts, salt and feta until well-combined. (Filling can be made 1 day ahead, covered and chilled. Bring to room temperature before proceeding.)
On a clean, dry work surface, stack phyllo sheets and cover with a damp towel. In a small saucepan melt butter. Allow to cool slightly. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray.
Place one sheet phyllo dough on the baking sheet and brush lightly with melted butter. Sprinkle 1 tbsp. Parmesan evenly over buttered phyllo and repeat, layering 5 more phyllo sheets, butter and 5 tbsp. Parmesan. Arrange last phyllo sheet on top and brush lightly with butter. Spoon filling onto phyllo, spreading evenly and leaving outer 1 ½ inches free of filling. Fold edges of pastry over filling, leaving center uncovered, and lightly brush top of phyllo with butter. Sprinkle remaining ¼ cup Parmesan over exposed filling. Bake tart in middle of oven until golden, 25-30 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Source: The Way the Cookie Crumbles
