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