Spinach & Feta “Gratin”
Jun 2nd, 2011 | By Peter Minakis | Category: Cheese, Dairy, Featured, Greek, Herbs, Main, Onions, Side, Spinach, Vegetarian
My visit to Greece this past May consisted of two parts: the first part was spent attending the Sani Gourmet Festival and the second was with family and friends in Thessaloniki. I stayed at my uncle’s house in Elaiones, a suburb that sits overlooking Thessaloniki on one side and nearby Panorama – still lording high over the city with its high elevation.
After for days of gourmet food my soul was craving some home-cooked meals and the very first comforting meal was had at my uncle’s – courtesy of his wife, Elly. Thea Elly is my aunt by marriage, she has pretty good tastes (hey, she chose to marry my favourite uncle) and my affections for her grew even more after trying this Spinach & Feta gratin.
You get the same classic combo of Spinach & Feta here but the beauty in this dish is that it’s light, not over-the-top with ingredients, definitely with the spinach in there and as always – tastes great! Aunt Elly’s recipe was basically spinach, dill, eggs, flour, milk, dill and Feta and I’ve added my own “touches” to the dish. I’ve added onions, some grated Graviera cheese and a pinch of nutmeg to add more depth of flavours.
This is not a quick dish but it’s an easy one: blanche spinach, sweat the onions, toss the ingredients together then bake in the oven. I think this dish is worth the time and what the heck, every family needs another good vegetarian dish to add to their roster no? Make Spinach & Feta “Gratin” today!
Spinach & Feta Gratin
approx. 1 kg. of spinach (about 4 bunches), well rinsed
2 medium onions, sliced
1/4 extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups of milk
4 eggs
1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
1/2 cup grated Graviera cheese
1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg
1/2 cup crumbled Feta cheese
Pre-heated 375F oven
- Place your spinach in a sink and fill with cold water. Drain and replace water until there’s no grit or sand. Place a large pot on the stove-top filled halfway with water. Bring to a boil and add a good amount of salt and add the spinach (add in batches as the spinach wilts to fit in pot). Boil for 6-7 minutes then drain well.
- In the meantime, add your olive oil into a skillet over medium heat and the onions and a pinch of salt. Cover and allow the onions to sweat for about 5 minutes then allow to cool. Pre-heat your oven.
- Empty your well-strained spinach into the skillet (or pot if it doesn’t fit) and add the onions, flour, milk and toss. Now add the eggs, dill, grated Graviera, nutmeg and toss again. Empty into a deep baking dish and top with crumbled Feta.
- Place in your pre-heated oven (middle rack) for 35-40 minutes or until just golden-brown on top.
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© 2011 – 2013, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.
Ummm…. this looks delicious and the dill is such a nice inclusion. Will have to try it. Thanks.
Nice! Almost like spanakopita sans phyllo. I will have to try this one soon. Thanks for bringing this recipe back from the patrida. Ps. My dad used to live in Panorama (went to Anatolia college).
I saw this on Facebook and was hoping for the recipe Peter. It had me searching the internet for a Spanaki and in the process came across many delicious recipes. She is on the prowl, with not enough days in the week to create recipes.
A gorgeous gratin! That is one perfect combination. You always know how to make me drool!
Cheers,
Rosa
Mouthwatering, cheesy, spinach goodness….thank you Thea Elly!
Looks perfect! Anything with a béchamel can be good, especially with a great cheese!
Υπέροχο gratin Peter, με αγαπημένους συνδυασμούς υλικών!
Σπανάκι και φέτα ταιριάζουν πολύ όμορφα!
Φιλιά!
All my favorite ingredients!!
It looks super satisfying Peter. Neat that you got the inspiration from your aunt.
LL
Mmmm! Sort of like a Greek frittata. I’ll try it as half a recipe.
This looks delicious – my family only eat spinach with feta (unless it’s hidden in a curry). Especially for the 15 year old who had all 4 wisdom teeth extracted on Monday. He needs a good feed – you can only have so much ice cream, jelly, custard, soup and poached eggs. He will enjoy this tonight. Thanks Peter :-}
That looks great, Peter. Dill is not in my repertoire…I don’t know why, but spinach and feta sure are!
Your uncle’s wife really came up with a winner. I love the instructive slide show too.
Peter Mou,
Heaven! Love this beautiful variation of our Spanakopita… shall try it over the weekend. Yia Hara! Pen
Oh yeah! I love this Peter. In fact, I plan on making it with something else for this week’s dinner party. Looks great!
Just baked the gratin. Delicious, though it took good 50+ min to golden. Reminds of the cheesy gooey spanakopita filling.
This looks fantastic, Peter! I think this would totally quell my craving for Spanikopita – I have yet to find a gluten free phyllo! :)
This looks awesome, Peter. I definitely need to make this one soon. I just picked up a pound of feta and I think there will be some spinach in my CSA basket!
I would say to get baby spinach and wilt it instead of blanching it and put a bit more feta! :)
[...] dish, that reminds you of spinach pie, without using crust of phyllo. I found this recipe at kalofagas.ca, I tried it, I loved it. The round white spots on top that you see in the photo are spoonfuls of [...]
My grandma from Thessaloniki would make this for brunch when spinach was in season. She called this a “lazy wife” spanakopita, We have always laughed when we make this now as my children ask for lazy wife as one of their favorite veg dishes. Love your website, it has great recipes.