Crustless Florentine Tart

Mirj's Note:

You can cut this tart in small wedges and serve as an appetizer or as an additional side dish, or cut larger pieces for a light entree. Since it is served chilled or at room temperature, this makes perfect picnic food.

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 2 (10 ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach (or equivalent fresh)
• 1 clove fresh garlic , peeled & minced
• 2 eggs , slightly beaten
• ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon mace or 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon salt (or your favorite substitute)
• 1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
• ¼ cup pine nuts
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Cook the frozen spinach according to package directions.
3. If using fresh spinach, wash it, remove the stems and cook with just as much water as will cling to the leaves.
4. Cool and drain the spinach well; squeeze dry to remove excess juice.
5. Combine with eggs, grated Parmesan, mace or nutmeg, seasoned salt, and ricotta cheese.
6. Rub a 10-inch pie pan with olive oil and spread the spinach mixture evenly around the pan.
7. Top with pine nuts.
8. Bake for 20 minutes.
9. Cool on a rack and refrigerate until packing your picnic basket.
10. Remove from cooler about one hour before serving, depending on weather conditions.

Reviews

[evelyn/athens]

This was excellent! Most importantly, the kids ate it up.

[GinnyP]

This was just too easy to whip together. LOL I made it exactly per the recipe. My whole family ate it up, but the kids pushed the pine nuts off. Darn kids. Don't they know pine nuts aren't cheap? hehe Well I *do* like pine nuts, but when I make this when the kids are around, I am going to just sprinkle a few in the center because they look nice on the green spinach. Thanks Mirj! :)

[Lowfat Linda]

I really liked the idea of this recipe, but the mace was really overpowering (we couldn't enjoy the flavor of the spinach). I think that if I make this again, I would cut the mace to 1/8 t. I also wasn't sure when to add the garlic as it didn't appear on the instructions.