Title: Spinach Cheese Casserole in Puff Pastry
Categories: Casserole Blank
Yield: 4 Servings

10	oz	Spinach, chopped (fresh or frozen)
1	c	Cottage OR ricotta cheese
1	c	Feta cheese (crumbled and drained of any brine)
1/4	c	Parmesan or romano cheese, grated
1/4	c	Scallions, chopped
4	lg	Eggs
2	tb	Butter
1	pn	Salt
1	pn	Pepper
12	oz	Puff pastry (frozen pastry thawed to room temperature, or ho

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cook the spinach in boiling water. Drain, rinse with cool water, and squeeze out as much moisture as you can.

Melt the butter in a small skillet. Cook the scallions until slightly soft.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the cheeses and the eggs. Mix well. Add the spinach, the butter and scallions, the salt and pepper and mix again.

Lightly butter the bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking dish. Roll out a sheet of puff pastry on a floured surface to make a 14-inch square. Roll out a second sheet to make a 9-inch square. Lay the bigger pastry sheet in the buttered dish, draping the extra pastry over the edges.

Spread the spinach and cheese mixture evenly in the dish. Put the remaining pastry sheet on top. Trim excess pastry if necessary and seal the edges closed. Use scraps of pastry dough to decorate the top of the pie. Brush top with additional melted butter if desired. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees F. or until pastry is golden brown. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

NOTES:

* Spinach and cheeses in a puff pastry crust -- A recipe of this type appeared in _Cuisine Magazine_. The dish is hearty enough to be a main course, but can also be a side dish to a meat entree. Yield: Serves 4 to 6.

* The casserole may be prepared, covered and refrigerated for up to 8 hours.

* As an alternative to puff pastry, you might try using sheets of filo dough, overlapped to make the bottom and top crusts. I have also baked this dish in a pie pan using filo dough. One way to cut down on the calories in this dish is to omit the bottom crust entirely. This is a very flexible recipe. Other vegetables can be substituted for the spinach, and other ingredients like sauteed garlic and mushrooms can be added.

: Difficulty: moderate. : Time: 30 minutes preparation, 1 hour baking and cooling. : Precision: approximate measurement OK.

: Robin Harris Foster : AT&T Information Systems, Lincroft New Jersey, USA : ihnp4!mtuxo!rfoster : The apple never falls far from the tree

: Copyright (C) 1986 USENET Community Trust

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