Recipes
Cantella's Classics
Fresh Spinach & Sausage Pies
Olive Oyl used to make these for Popeye!
Ingredients
- 3/4 pound of fresh spinach leaves (net weight, after removing the stems)
- 1/4 cup of salt
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- 3/4 pound of fresh Italian sausage(removed from the casings)
- 3 fresh basil leaves (torn into pieces)
- 3/4 cup of Parmesan or Romano cheese (grated)
- 1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
- 2 packages of ready-to-use pie crusts for a nine inch pie. (four 11 inch rounds)
- 2 fresh egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon of milk
Directions
- Wash the spinach leaves thoroughly.
- Tear the leaves into pieces and put into a large colander.
- Generously sprinkle the spinach leaves with salt.
- Toss the leaves well, put them into a large bowl and let stand for at least one hour, unrefrigerated.
- Rinse and wring out the water in the spinach leaves by hand. (Don’t be afraid…wring them out like a towel.)
- Spread the leaves out and pat dry on paper towels.
- Dry out the large bowl and pour in the olive oil.
- Crumble in the sausage.
- Add the spinach leaves, basil, cheese, black pepper., then mix thoroughly by hand.
- Cut the pie crusts into fourths and put a portion of the filling on each piece.
- Fold over and crimp the edges of the two sides with a fork.
- Poke small holes or slit the top of each pie to let the heat escape.
- Beat the egg yolks and milk, and brush the top of each pie.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Place the pies on a cookie sheet and bake for thirty to thirty-five minutes.
- Serve hot.