The Slapdash Cook

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I do not get along with doughs and pie crusts. Let me rephrase that. I like eating them very much, but I am bad at yeast-raised breads, impatient with frozen phyllo dough and not at all fond of doing pie crusts by hand. Until I got my greedy hands on J.’s food processor, I would spend a lot of time on holidays scanning the backs of premade pie crust products for lard. (Ick!) Now I can do them myself, but of course there’s a lot of fat in them, a problem that also haunts phyllo dough.

So when I want to make a pie or pastry, I have to compromise somewhere. This weekend’s compromise was brought to you by Trader Joe’s: Premade pizza dough! Yeast-raised dough without the drama (though probably with preservatives). When I decided it was a day for spanakopita, I popped into Trader Joe’s for a $2 solution to my pastry woes.

This is not remotely authentic and kinda lazy, but on a hot July evening, I’m happy to be lazy. For the filling, I more or less followed this recipe, although I subbed oregano for parsley and have a more important modification I’ll tell you about in a minute.

The result was something more like a calzone, by the way. Maybe I should call it a spanakopizone.

Lazy Spanakopizone
One package Trader Joe’s premade pizza dough, flavor of your choice. You could also use Crescent rolls or puff pastry, but the pizza dough has less fat. YMMV.
One small onion, chopped (say 1/3 cup chopped). I also threw in some green onions because I had them to use up.
1 tsp olive oil
1 1/4-ish cups frozen spinach (Another lazy choice — but to be honest, I can’t taste the difference and enjoy not having to triple-wash fresh spinach to get the grit off, then chop and cook it.)
1/4 cup cottage cheese or ricotta if you got it
1/2ish cup feta (Trader Joe’s has a fat-free version, and while you can taste the difference, I can live with that.)
salt and pepper to taste
(This recipe also calls for a beaten egg. I am suggesting that you leave it out because you don’t need the binding action when you’re enclosing the filling like this, and because if the egg ends up undercooked, you risk salmonella.)
1/2 tsp or so dried oregano, and you could probably use more
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley — I didn’t do this, but there’s no reason not to if you have it around.

1. As with many of my recipes, this started by cooking onions and olive oil in the slow cooker. Cook on low for 2-3 hours or until they start getting brownish.

2. Dump in the frozen spinach and remove lid so that the water from the defrosting doesn’t get trapped. Cook until fully defrosted.

3. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 and let dough rest on counter for 20 minutes, per the package instructions. (Or follow the directions on whatever you’re using.) Remove pot from slow cooker. Stir in everything else but the dough until well mixed.

4. Once dough is rested, roll out on a floured countertop or board as thinly as you can. Add filling and fold over dough. Watch out that the filling doesn’t keep the lip from sealing all the way, which happened to me. Poke some holes in the top to vent.

4.5 I had some dough left over and I used it, per the package directions, to make breadsticks. YUM. Just pull out thin little bits of dough, spray or brush with olive oil and add garlic, salt, Parmesan and/or herbs.

5. Spray a cookie sheet with olive oil or other lubricant and arrange everything on it.

6. Bake 10 minutes or per package directions. I have a slow oven, so I needed ~15 minutes for the breadsticks and closer to 30 for the spanakopizone itself.

7. Serve with salad or something else not too carb-y.