Same great filling but it can be put inside either a pie crust for a savory tart or rolled up in filo dough for a savory pastry. It’s very easy to make and really yummy!
Yield: 8 servings
You’ll need a 9 inch pie pan if making a tart using a single pie crust — or a baking pan with deep sides if making a pastry using filo dough.
Lightly spray oil or butter your pan and set aside.
Prepare your filling.
Place the oven rack one notch below the center position and preheat the oven to 425 F degrees. Then, assemble and bake.
Ingredients:
1 pound bacon
1 medium yellow or sweet onion, thin sliced
1 small to medium red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1 to 2 garlic cloves, very finely minced
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 to 1/2 tsp ground black pepper or to taste
Optional: You may use additional seasonings (to taste) such as paprika, cayenne, chili powder, turmeric, ginger, curry, or coriander.
6 to 8 cups fresh spinach leaves
1 egg
1/4 cup grated Parmesan and/or Romano cheese
16 ounces of cream cheese, divided, softened to room temperature
See below for additional items also required if making pastry.
Prepare filling:
In a large skillet, fry up bacon very crispy. Drain on paper towels.
Add onions, garlic, and bell pepper to the remaining bacon grease and saute until onions are well caramelized. The onions should be a very golden brown.
Add salt and spinach (you may have to add a small amount at a time waiting until they have wilted enough to make room for more) and toss to coat in grease and salt.
Once all of the spinach is in the skillet and coated, remove from heat and toss with pepper as well as any optional seasonings.
Set aside, allowing to rest and further wilt in the skillet.
Prepare pan — lightly spray oil or butter.
Beat or whisk eight ounces of room temperature softened cream cheese with one egg until well combined and set aside.
Whisk grated Parmesan or Romano cheese into the other eight ounces of cream cheese and set aside.
Tart:
Line pie pan with crust.
Spread a small amount of cream cheese with egg mixture on bottom of crust and spread about 3/4 of the way up the sides — just enough to very thinly coat the crust. This will prevent the crust from becoming soggy. Reserve the majority of the cream cheese with egg mixture for later.
Add all of the cream cheese with Parmesan or Romano cheese mixture and gently spread to evenly fill.
Place spinach mixture onto multiple layers of paper towels, roll it up like a log, place additional paper towels underneath and on top, and press to remove excess moisture then add to tart and gently spread using rubber spatula or tines of fork.
Spread remaining cream cheese with egg mixture over top of the spinach.
Crumble the bacon up and sprinkle evenly on top.
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes until crust and the cream cheese with egg mixture are golden brown.
Serve hot.
Store leftovers, covered, in the refrigerator.
Note:
Cream cheese will become firm in the refrigerator and the pastry dough may loose its crispiness. It still tastes wonderful (hot or cold) at this point, but it will have a better texture if reheated in the oven first.
Pastry:
You will also need melted butter, un-toasted sesame seeds, and an egg wash as well as parchment paper and a pastry brush.
For the egg wash add 2 tablespoons water to the whites only of 2 to 3 large eggs and whisk just until incorporated so the wash is thin, loose, and slightly frothy. Set aside.
Place a long strip of parchment paper on your work surface in which to create a long filled pastry log which will then be carefully rolled into a snail or cinnamon roll shape.
If using a purchased filo dough, rather than homemade, separate out two sheets of filo dough and place at one end of a long strip of parchment or on work surface. Brush with melted butter using pastry brush.
Separate out two more sheets and overlap 3/4 inch with the end of the other sheets. Brush with melted butter. Repeat once or twice more to get the needed length.
Now that you have the full length begin layering more sheets (2 to 3 sheets thick) across the top from one end to the other. No need to stick the ends together with butter for these so just spread them out. When finished, brush lightly with butter. Repeat several times.
If using homemade filo, you can simply stretch it to the desired length or if using shorter sheets for ease of handling then follow the same steps as for using purchased dough. Layer over top many times same as for purchased filo dough applying melted butter between each layering.
Once you have the desired length and the desired thickness of buttered layers, spread all eight ounces of cream cheese with egg mixture evenly over your dough.
Place spinach mixture onto multiple layers of paper towels, roll it up like a log, place additional paper towels underneath and on top, and press to remove excess moisture then add to tart and gently spread using rubber spatula or tines of fork.
Mix the remaining cream cheese with Parmesan or Romano cheese mixture with the spinach mixture.
Spread over top of the pastry.
Crumble and sprinkle bacon on top of the spinach mixture.
With well oiled or buttered hands, carefully roll the longest side inward forming a long skinny log or snake. Then carefully coil that into a spiral — cinnamon roll, snail shell, or coiled up snake in shape.
Cut away any excess parchment paper only leaving about 3 to 4 inches sticking out around the bottom of the pastry coil.
Grab the edge of the parchment paper and slide the paper — with the coil still on top of the paper — very carefully onto your free hand (if large enough), a paddle, a flat cookie sheet without any sides, or onto a thin acrylic cutting board — in order to safely transfer the delicate pastry into the baking pan.
The reason you don’t just bake it on a cookie or other flat baking sheet is that it can possibly release juices or melted cream cheese during baking which could run off of a flat baking sheet. It needs be placed in a baking pan with actual sides. You coat the pastry with the cream cheese egg mixture and remove excess moisture from the spinach mixture to hopefully avoid this, but it could still potentially occur and even a flat baking sheet with sides might not be able to contain any leakage. Better safe than sorry!
Once the coil is placed safely in its baking pan, brush the outside with some of the egg wash. This will help the sesame seeds stick as well as provide a nice finishing sheen.
Sprinkle with un-toasted sesame seeds. If you try to use already toasted sesame seeds they will come out tasting unpleasantly scorched and bitter.
Bake until the filo pastry is nicely browned. Times vary according to size, thickness of the filling and pastry layers, altitude, etc. It may take anywhere from 18 to 45 minutes. It can easily burn so watch it very carefully.
Serve hot.
Store leftovers, covered, in the refrigerator.
Note:
Cream cheese will become firm in the refrigerator and the pastry dough may loose its crispiness. It still tastes wonderful (hot or cold) at this point, but it will have a better texture if reheated in the oven first.
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