Nonsoggy spinich pie with frozen spinach
The base recipe for my spinach pie (rough recipe I don't have a book) is
- 500g spinach
- 250g Feta cheese
- 250g Cheddar cheese
- 1 bunch of spring onions
- 1.5 - 3 eggs (for binding)
Baked into 2 large pies, made with filo pastry. Cooked at 180-200C.
Originally I would make this by using cooking fresh spinach in water, then carefully drying it with paper towel, and combining that with fried spring onion.
However the fresh spinach was too expensive, so I refined it.
Changing to frozen, which I would put in the microwave,
then while it was defrosting, I chop up the spring onions and put them into the microwave with it.
I would not drain this or anything just combine with the other ingredients (in the same bowl I microwaved it in even!)
This was great it made delicious pie and was low effort.
You couldn't taste the difference.
However I wanted to make it more filling.
so I tried adding potato, it was good and very filling. However, my family thought it was less full of spinach and feta goodness.
So my next approach was to double the amount of spinach and cheese.
It is delicious and as expected each slice is twice as filling.
I've tried that twice now and both times it has ended up soggy on the bottom.
What can I do about this? Is it a matter of squeezing the water out of the defrosted spinach? Or is there some other trick, like cutting a hole in the top of the pastry to let the steam out while it cooks.
Best Answer
Letting the spinach drain thoroughly will help; you should also increase the amount of egg in proportion to bind the additional ingredients. That will keep the ratio of binder to water in balance.
You could probably also place your filling into the bottom of a casserole dish and layer with filo/phyllo, with a layer of dough to top the whole thing, assuming your goal is minimal effort.
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Can spanakopita be made with frozen spinach?
Do I need to cook the spinach in advance? You need a good amount of spinach in this recipe, so using frozen spinach is the way to go. In this easy spanakopita recipe, frozen spinach--fully thawed, of course--is mixed right in with the remaining filling ingredients, no advanced cooking necessary.How do you keep spanakopita from getting soggy?
Oil the sheet lightly and continue doing the same thing until you have lined the pan with half of the sheets (6 sheets). At this point, you can add some dried breadcrumbs over the last phyllo sheet, so the bottom of the spanakopita doesn't become very soggy, but I never do that.Why is my spanakopita soggy on the bottom?
The main two reason for soggy spanakopita is the spinach or the ricotta cheese. Spinach must be well wilted. Look for little to no remaining moisture in the skillet. If you do this ahead of time, put it in the fridge, uncovered to let it dry out even more.What is Hartwort substitute?
Mediterranean hartwort. Substitute with lovage or just omit in case both are out of season. Chard. Relatively easy to find. Substitute with mint.Greek Spinach Pie Recipe (Spanakopita)
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Answer 2
With more spinach you need to wring the hell out of it, whether you start with fresh or frozen. Cook the spinach a bit so it starts to release its liquid, then squeeze it out with your hands doing small batches at a time. When you're done with that, put it in a clean tea towel, wrap it up and twist and wring. You'll get even more liquid. I'm surprised actually that you say that you didn't wring the spinach originally but didn't have a problem with sogginess. Spinach contains a boatload of water.
{edit upon further reflection}
I would even go further than wringing the spinach. To protect against sogginess, I would briefly sauté the spinach after wringing it. That would be a great opportunity to incorporate other complementary stuff like onions or garlic too.
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