Friday, August 2, 2013

Greek Style Spinach-Feta Pie w/ Bacon

This evening I was in the mood for my Greek Style Spinach-Feta Pie.  Without question, it is one of my favorites.  I could eat it every day.  I always add the maximum amount of spinach to my pie when I make it because I really love spinach.  One of my followers recently mentioned that she had added bacon to it when she last made it and it turned out great.  I've thought about adding it in the past, but never seem to have leftover bacon handy when I make the pie. This evening, I just happened to have 6 slices of cooked uncured bacon left in my refrigerator from this past Sunday's brunch...so tonight was the night to finally add it to the pie. After I made the filling, I simply cut the cooked bacon into bite-sized pieces and stirred it into the filling mixture before pouring it into the crust.  I must say...it turned out fabulous!  Thank you, Barbara!!!  This "pie" makes an excellent breakfast, lunch or dinner.  It is one of those dishes that can be served any time of day and portable enough to pack in your lunch and take with you, too. I snapped a few photos for you to see below as well as the recipe.  Enjoy!



Our first tomatoes of the summer...not too many this year with all the rain we've had!

BOOM!

Greek Style Spinach-Feta Pie

Ingredients:


Crust
2 cups almond flour
3 tablespoons cold butter, diced into small cubes
1 egg
1 teaspoon Greek Seasoning (or Italian Seasoning), optional 

Filling

10 oz. fresh spinach (up to 16 oz), cooked and squeezed dry and chopped coarsely
2 tablespoons olive oil or butter
8 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried dill (or 1 to 2 teaspoons, if using fresh)
1 to 2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
5 eggs (or 1-1/4 cups Egg Beaters)
1/2 cup half-n-half, cream or milk

Directions:


Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Place all crust ingredients in a medium bowl.  Cut butter and egg into flour with a pastry cutter until mixture resembles small pebbles and the flour is thoroughly moistened (the same way you prepare a pie crust).  Press crust mixture into pie dish or tart pan (I used a 10" pie dish).  Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until lightly browned; remove from oven and set aside.

Increase oven temp to 350 degrees F.  In a non-stick skillet, saute onions and garlic in olive oil until translucent; remove and set aside.  In the same skillet, saute spinach, just until wilted.  Drain and press as much liquid out of the spinach as possible (I use a mesh strainer and press it with the back of a large spoon).  Place well drained spinach in a medium bowl (coarsely chop first, if desired); add cooked onions and garlic, feta, dill, lemon zest, pepper, eggs and half-n-half.  Mix until well combined.  Pour mixture into the lightly baked crust and bake at 350 F for 20 minutes; lower oven temp to 325 F (so edge of crust doesn't over brown); bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until filling and eggs are set and cooked .  If the center still seems a little jiggly, cook an additional few minutes.


**Optional:  Add crumbled cooked bacon to the filling mixture before baking. Almond meal also works well in this crust recipe (I've been told that almond meal can be purchased at Trader Joe's for $3.99/lb). 

  

13 comments:

Unknown said...

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this! I make it once a week! I never thought of putting bacon in it. Do you think the recipe would work, minus the crust, to make mini quiches in a muffin tin to freeze?

Thanks!

unter der laterne said...

Hi GG, I am glad that you liked the addition of the bacon in the quiche, I sauté the bacon to crisp it, remove it and cook the onion( which I confess I use more of) in the bacon fat, that imparts so much flavor to the onion.
But I will try it your way, which is easier and see if it really makes a difference.
GG, I wish you would give a choice of using almond flour or almond meal, of which I use the latter , because it really is wonderful for this recipe. I am thinking of the high cost of the almond flour ! I am reading the blogs and some people turn away from it because they can not afford it.
I hope that you do not mind my comment regarding this ingredient, I really, really just try to help!
Thank you GG, have a wonderful weekend

The almond meal is available at Trader Joe's for $3.99 a lb.

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Erika! I know it works well without the crust -- I've made it that way before. Definitely could use it to make mini-quiches is muffin tins, too. I have never frozen it before but do know some have told me they slice the pie up and freeze it in individual pieces and reheat it successfully...so I think it should work to freeze as mini quiches, too. If you freeze them, let me know how they turn out in case anyone asks. So glad you enjoy this too! :-)

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Barbara! I bet cooking the onion in the bacon fat does make it delicious! I had cooked my bacon last weekend in the oven...so it was already cooked -- your way sounds very good though. You are correct that for this pie crust, almond meal would work as well as the flour. I do notice a big difference though using the almond "flour" in my other baked goods...like biscuits. But most definitely the almond meal would work well in this recipe, too, I just buy the 5-lb bag of Honeyville and use it for everything instead of having different kinds -- but I have used the meal before successfully when I have been out of the flour. Next time I go to TJ's I will look for it because in my local grocery store, it is almost $11/lb for Bob's -- which is why I would rather use the Honeyville because it actually works out cheaper in the long run. I don't mind your comments or suggestions at all and I will pass your tip along next time! Oh...I took a picture when I was at Costco this afternoon...will post it on the blog later this evening -- I thought of YOU -- guess what they have now??? HAZELNUTS!!! I bought a 2-lb bag for $10.99 -- can you believe it? They are a product of Turkey. I am thinking NUTELLA...LOL! I was excited to tell you and wished I could have picked some up for you! :-)

unter der laterne said...

GG, I am glad that you are not upset!
So now I become brazen, lol
I also do not cook the spinach before I bake it! I buy 1 lb of organic frozen spinach(I buy it frozen because it has more Vitamins and minerals than the fresh one, which one does not know how long it has been lying around)
So I defrost it in the fridge and squeeze it dry in a (microwaved damp kitchen towel). Add all the ingredients and bake .Saves nutrients too!
I always have a few bags of spinach in the freezer because I am addicted!

unter der laterne said...

OMG-hazelnuts at Costco-I can not believe it! Somebody at Costco is reading my mind. My Costco receipt is getting worse , but this is good news.
Now to NUTELLA. I tried it and it was a failure. Lately it has been recommended that the nuts be soaked and every nut has a different soaking time. Then one has to dehydrate the nuts in the oven, low temp). It is a real pain and I will never do it again !
I also added too much cocoa and it did not taste like Nutella.
However the concoction is delicious, but it lacks creaminess.
I will try again without soaking but not for a while, tired just thinking about it! LOL.
Removing the skin from the nuts was not fun either!(baking the nuts and then rubbing them with a towel did not work for me)
You probably will be more successful than I was. I am tempted to just throw the nuts( skin and all) in the Cuisinart
and see what happens. I am also wondering if the skin didn't come off due to the soaking and drying process.
I remember my mother soaking the nuts in hot water for just one minute or two and the skins came off, without the nuts absorbing too much moisture!
Okay problem solved!
This post is long, sorry!
Bis bald! Barbara.

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Barbara! I knew you used frozen organic spinach (you had mentioned once that your husband brought some home)...but didn't know that you didn't cook it. I really love spinach! I snapped a picture of the hazelnuts I brought home so you could see what the bag looks like. I had also taken a picture of them on the shelf with my cell phone, too -- but the one I took with my regular camera was better so I posted that one. Wow, your story about nutella is kind of shocking -- it seems like it would be so easy (but I know that those are the things that surprise you most sometimes). I made my own "mock nutella" by mixing cocoa w/ almond butter before and some stevia. I wonder if you added a little coconut oil to it if that would make it a bit creamier? I had no idea about the soaking either! What other kind of suggestions do you have for using the hazelnuts? These say "natural" so I don't know if that means they are raw or roasted -- I haven't tried them yet. What way do you like eating them best? Hope you are having a great weekend! We had sun all day long today! :-)

unter der laterne said...

GG. I am sending you the link to the most fabulous cake:http://www.tastebook.com/recipes/1461221--Queen-Mother-Flourless-Chocolate-Cake. It can easily be adjusted by replacing the sugar with SWERVE.
It can be made with HAZELNUTS, European's use more hazelnuts than Almonds which have to be imported.I can remember picking them as a child. The tree is bush like and has a pretty bloom in spring.
The creator of this fabulous cake is MAIDA Heatters (book of great desserts ). She is quite famous and a master of her craft. Her recipe are practically fool proof, that how well she explains every step(as you do). She is wonderful. She was inducted into thE JAMES BEARD FOUNDATION COOKBOOK HALL OF FAME ) I have cookbooks from the floor to the ceiling(unfortunately) but her cookbooks are my favorites. It hurts when I look at her book, I so enjoyed her recipes and her cheesecake is my companion when I visit friends, because that is what they ask for.
she has a recipe for Nut cheesecake
(almonds or hazelnut, which I will make shortly sans crust!
The original is by Craig Clairborne.

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Barbara! Yes, I am very familiar with Maida -- the "Queen of Cakes"...although I do not have her book in my collection. I, too, have too many cookbooks. Maybe a couple hundred? But hey, who's counting, right? LOL I have most boxed up because there is just not room to have them all out of shelves. I have given a few away over the years. I doubt my daughter will want them some day since she prefers hers electronically. I still like to hold a physical cookbook in my hand and flip through the pages though, too. Have you tried making any of Maida's recipes yet with any substitutions and if so, how did they turn out? Hope you are having a nice weekend, too. :-)

unter der laterne said...

No , I have not made these cakes yet, as soon as I have more time ,I will try them. I used to bake with Splenda which to this day is my favorite and I never had problems with the outcome.
*Baking in the crockpot*, in this case I use a cheesecake pans, I have them in all sizes.
Regarding cookbooks , what a fortune is invested there. My daughters are also not interested, as they are not in my other *stuff* also(bad English)
But that is a whole other story! Kids!
I was surprised to hear that you also have a daughter, I hope she lives close by!
Enjoy your evening, Barbara

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Barbara! Yes, my daughter is the oldest of my kids. Since she can cook, she doesn't come around as frequently as my sons! LOL My boys are 1 year apart in age. She is 5 & 6 years older than the boys. She lives in the Atlanta area as well, but is busy most of the time! Yes...kids! :-)

Anonymous said...

GGC - I am new to your website and it has quickly become my absolute favorite! I made this tonight for me and my husband and we both loved it!!! You are a blessing because it is truly hard to find recipes that are grain free, gluten free, and sugar free. So many bloggers call their recipes sugar free but they include honey, syrup, agave, etc. Thank you! SC

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi SC,

Thank you. I'm so happy you enjoyed this spinach-feta pie. It's one of my favorites. Thanks so much for the kind comments. I hope you find some more recipes that you enjoy here! :-)