Spinach and feta slice

Spinach and feta is such a classic combination but when we saw a recipe for spinach and feta brownies on Hungry Happens, it sounded so good.  I made this slice a couple of weeks ago.  It was really nice but it reminded me more of my mum's zucchini slice  than a brownie.  Don't get me wrong!  I love the zucchini slice but it was not what I expected.

The chopping board looks wonderful with all the greens.  I finally made the slice because I had lots of spinach left that week and this seemed the perfect opportunity.  Then when I was making it I found there was not enough spinach.  I added some from the freezer.  It seemed to work fine, though I wasn't sure if it altered the "brownie" texture.  We tried to find dill in the supermarket but as it wasn't available, we used some parsley from the garden.

I took the easy path in cooking the spinach.  Hungry Happens does it in 2 batches.  I understand because it starts as a huge pile which was much high than the sides of my frypan.  It cooked down into about a half to quarter of the size.  At first I had to be very careful when stirring the raw spinach to keep it in the pan.

Then Hungry Happens said to drain the cooked greens and pat them dry with paper towel.  This seemed too much fuss and likely to leave too many greens on the paper towel.  I piled the green on one side and pressed down with my eggflip to squeeze out the liquid.  It wasn't the easiest thing to do with a cast iron pan.  There was some tilting and then tipping it into a sink with a saucepan lid over it.  Cast iron frypans are fantastic but heavy to life when it comes to straining out liquid.  For me, that is easier than draining in a colander and patting with a paper towel.

Vegetables can be amazing that you can start with a huge pile that cooks down to far less presence than they had when raw.  This is what I found with this batter.  It has lots of greens but they look so much less than on the chopping board.

I think my baking dish was probably a bit bigger than 27 x 19cm dish than Hungry Happens uses.  I also seemed to sprinkle more parmesan cheese than she did.  I just grated it straight onto the pan rather than measuring it.  Once baked, mine was quite crispy on top.  I didn't bother greasing the dish and found as long as I ran a knife around the side and used an eggflip to get under the slice when taking it out, it was fine.

As I said before, the end result was absolutely delightful.  I wondered why it was different to the one made by Hungry Happens.  Was it that the spinach was too wet or too finely chopped?  Did I stir it too much?  Was it that my dish was too big so my slice was flatter than intended?  No matter.  It was great hot out of the oven and the next day too.  It would be great in a lunchbox.  We are talking about making this again.  And there is one thing I agree on with Hungry Happens: this is such an easier alternative to spanikopita.

More spinach and cheese bakes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:

• Cheesy spinach tart (with a carrot and oat crust) 
• Eccles cakes with leeks, spinach and blue cheese (v) 
• Sephardic spinach filo cigars
• Spinach and feta scones
• Spinach rice gratin (gf)
• Spinach and ricotta pie with filo roses
• Stuffed cheese and spinach jumbo pasta shells
• Vegan lasagne with spinach, "ricotta" and cashew cream (v)
  
  

Spinach and Feta Slice
Slightly adapted from Hungry Happens

2 tsp olive oil
4 spring onions, sliced
280g baby spinach, rough chop
2 tbsp parsley or dill, chopped
1 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup butter, melted (or olive oil)
115g grated mozzarella
115g feta cheese, crumbled
Finely grated parmesan cheese 

Preheat oven to 190 C.

Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a large frypan (I used my cast iron frypan).  Fry spring onions for 1 minute and then add spinach and herbs.  Stir for 1-2 minutes or until the greens are just wilted.  It will be a huge pile at first and reduce to a third to a quarter of the bulk once the spinach has wilted.  Squeeze the liquid out of the spinach.  You can do this in a colander.  I did it by pushing the spinach to one side on frypan and pressing out the water with my eggflip and draining the liquid out with a lid over the frypan to keep the spinach from falling out.  set aside

Mix a batter out of flour, baking powder, milk, eggs and melted butter.  Mix with greens, mozzarella and feta.  Scrape out mixture into a rectangle baking dish. Cover with grated parmesan cheese.

Bake for 40 minutes or until top is crisp and golden brown.  Sit 10-15 minutes before slicing into squares and serving.  Leftovers can be eaten the next day.  The slice can be baked ahead of time and eaten warm or room temperature.  

On the Stereo:
Poses: Rufus Wainwright