Morel Mushroom Spanakopita

My daughter is a Spanakopita fiend. While she'll pick through her salads like they're infested with bugs, she'll gladly put away a half pan of Spanakopita, taking in over a pound of greens in one sitting without batting an eyelash. So, needless to say, when I've got lots of greens, this is a great bait-and-switch technique to get the greens in the girl. Along the same lines, we are ALL huge fans of the elusive morel mushroom in our house, and any opportunity to feast on these rare finds is out and out gluttony. Sooo, after picking over two pounds of mushrooms on my way home from spending the day in the city with Alex, and finding that all of the greens in my garden went bonkers over the weekend, the concept was born--marry the two into one meaty, all-in-one-dish-dinner. Don't worry if you don't have access to morel mushrooms, by the way. Just use the mushrooms that you can find. 

Morel Mushroom Spanakopita

Ingredients

2 lbs. fresh greens (I used a combination of spinach and kale, but spinach is traditional)

1 lb. morel mushrooms, cleaned and roughly chopped

1/4 C olive oil

1 large onion, minced

3 garlic scapes, minced (if you don't have scapes, just use 2 cloves of garlic)

3 eggs, beaten

4 oz. cream cheese, softened at room temp.

8 oz. feta cheese, crumbled

1/4 C chopped, fresh dill

1/4 C chopped, fresh parsley

1/4 tsp mace

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 box of phyllo sheets, thawed

1/2 C melted butter

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Thoroughly rinse and drain your greens. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Drop greens into the boiling water and allow to cook for 3 minutes. Remove from heat, and strain into a colander under cold running water to stop the cooking process. 

Greens should be bright green 

"Wring out" your greens to remove as much excess water as possible. Roughly chop them and set aside. Heat olive oil in a large saute pan, over medium heat. Add onions and saute until translucent, add garlic scapes and saute for 3 minutes. Add mushrooms, and saute until all liquid is cooked out--about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

In a large bowl, combine cheeses, eggs, spices and herbs. Add chopped greens and mushroom/onion mixture until combined. Begin to layer phyllo sheets into buttered 9 x 13 baking dish, adding one layer of phyllo, brush with butter, add another sheet, brush with butter , and add another--3 sheets total. Add 1/3 of the filling and spread evenly over phyllo. Add another 3-sheet layer of buttered phyllo. Add second 1/3 of the filling. Add another 3-sheet phyllo layer, followed by remaining filling, and final layer of phyllo on top. 

Butter the top of phyllo and fold the edges inward, adding extra butter as needed. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes, or until golden and flaky. 

Remove from heat and allow to rest 10 minutes before serving.