Spanakopizza

There are only a few days remaining in NaBloPoMo food month, and since my neighbors have a whole bunch of spinach in their garden, this will be "spinach week" with two (and maybe three) recipes over the next four days that have fresh spinach as a central ingredient.

For anyone who's ever tried to make spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie) at home, and thought that the last four letters "pita" must an acronym for the pain-in-the-ass it is to work with fillo dough, here's a simple recipe for a spanikopita made with pizza dough instead of fillo dough.   

I call it "spanikopizza", which is a term that's also used by Rachael Ray, but her terrorist-appeasing spanakopizza has elitist ingredients like arugula. This recipe is a lot simpler: it has spinach, feta, green onions, eggs -- it's essentially spanakopita on pizza crust with pizza cheese on top!  

Spanakopizza
1 package Trader Joe's garlic-herb pizza dough (or sub)
1/2 lb fresh spinach
1/2 cup chopped green onions
2 oz feta cheese
2 cloves garlic- minced
1 dash ground black pepper
1 egg (beaten)
grated mozzarella (optional, but needed)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Wash and clean the spinach. Discard the stems. Drain & cut the leaves into shreds. Combine the spinach, green onions and salt in a bowl. Let stand for 10 minutes, then squeeze out all of the liquid, and add the egg, feta cheese and black pepper.

Spread the pizza crust on a pre-heated pizza stone and bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes. Spread the spinach mixture on the crust, then top with a small amount of mozzerella (if desired). Put in the oven for 10 minutes and then cool for 5 more.