Saturday, July 3, 2010

Spinach and Halloumi Galette

Halloumi is a cheese Toughest Critic and I fell in love with while honeymooning in New Zealand. If it's not readily available, you can substitute with mozzarella.

SpinachAndHalloumiGalette

Ingredients:

1 pkg frozen spinach
1 pkg puff pastry dough
1 cup grated halloumi
1/2 cup feta cheese
2 tbps fresh oregano, minced
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk or cream
garlic*
salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 415F.
2. Thaw spinach and press in sieve to remove excess liquid.
3. Roll out puff pastry to 1/4 inch thickness, remembering to dust lightly with flour to keep from sticking. Place on baking sheet.
4. Sprinkle spinach, feta and halloumi onto pastry leaving a 1.5 inch border on all sides.
5. Cut a slit into each corner of the puff pastry and fold the sides up around the filling. Use a bit of water to get the corners to stick.
6. In a bowl, mix eggs, oregano, milk and garlic together until well blended. Using a basting brush, brush a small bit of the mixture around the edges of the puff pastry, then pour the remaining mixture over top of the cheese filling.
7. Bake in oven for 30-40 minutes. Keep an eye on it. When pastry and cheese filling starts to brown, the galette is done.

Toughest critic rating: 9/10

* I put in 3 cloves of garlic into this recipe, but I've been told I like my food garlicky enough to banish vampires from the planet with my very breath, so we'll just leave it as 'to taste'.

The awesome thing about puff pastry dinners is that they look so gourmet and require minimal effort. If rolling the pastry is too much, you can buy the pre-rolled pie crusts and use that without even touching a rolling pin. You can also make individual ones if you're going for that super fancy 'I watch lots of foodtv' look. Don't forget to garnish the plate with a sprig of oregano and a line of balsamic glaze...or at least that's what Martha would say.

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