Plastos Pie

Filled with greens and Greek Feta

Ready for Oven

                                                     

This is what I grew up on and all the grand-kids in my family.  My mother made this and it originates from Greece.  My mother was born in Epirus, Greece.  It basically is a pie made from wild field greens, eggs, cornmeal and feta.  Well, in America I don't have any wild field greens growing in my yard, but if you do, I highly recommend you use them.  I love this pie when zucchini blossoms are in season, chop them up and add them to the mix.  Wow, those blossoms take it to another level.  We call it in my family, ba-sty-hra or something like that.  The easy version is Plastos.

My mother traditionally serves it with a bowl of buttermilk.  You would crumble a piece of room temperature Plastos and add it to the butter milk, touch of salt and pepper, a drizzle of Greek olive oil.  Yummy and healthy!

Now, this recipe is kind of one that you throw in what you have available more or less, but I do recommend green onions, dill, leeks and zucchini blossoms, but hey, if you have chard, arugula, etc.  go ahead and toss it in.  Here is a base recipe to work with below.

Plastos:
All Your Greens:
4 packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed
Can use fresh spinach but just add a lot more it shrinks to nothing
5 to 6 green onions sliced thin
1 sweet onion chopped
3/4 cup chopped dill
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 stalk of leek (white part only) sliced fine
2 cloves garlic grated
5 Zucchini blossoms if available, chopped
* Any kind of greens you have in fridge (Chop them up and toss in)

Cheese Mixture:
1 medium container cottage cheese, more or less
2 cups, more or less crumbled feta
1/2 cup grated cheese (sharp) like romano
* Can add some ricotta or shredded cheeses
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
4 whole eggs (beaten set aside)
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 stick butter (melted set aside)

1 box corn bread mix (such as Jiffy)

Directions:
In a very large skillet, saute onion with olive oil until translucent.  Add all other Green ingredients and saute until everything is soft, but not thoroughly cooked. It should look fresh.

Remove from heat, cool down.  In a large bowl add saute greens and the Cheese Mixture, plus box of corn bread mix.  Mix all ingredients well with a big spoon.

Use a very well oiled round deep dish pizza pan.  I use a 16 inch round.  Drizzle a little extra oil on bottom of pan.   Add entire green/cheese mixture and spread out evenly in pan.  Bake in 375 degree oven for about 1 hour until very golden brown.  Remove from oven and let cool several hours before cutting into squares.  Refrigerate left overs.