Spinach, Rice and Feta Pie

I tried a new recipe from our church cookbook yesterday. It worked out to be perfect timing to share in LifeasMom's meatless main dish recipe swap this week. It's been ages since I've participated but I'm looking forward to perusing all the other swapped recipes.



I know, the title says "Pie" and I'm showing you a baking dish instead of a pie plate. The recipe is from my best friend so I was confident we'd like it, since we've eaten her cooking numerous times through the years. I doubled the recipe to use up the feta I had in the fridge and used my 10 x 15-inch pan. I considered using my 9 x 13-inch pan but ultimately chose the larger one for faster baking and to assure myself, without doing a bunch of math, that the ingredients would fit without overflowing. Skipping all that math made me feel happy.

Since I was lacking in both imagination and time, I served it only with a tossed salad. We had pineapple upside down cake for dessert, thanks to Mom bringing it on Sunday.

I never seem able to make a recipe quite as written so I am copying the recipe as it should be, then adding my changes below.

Spinach, Rice and Feta Pie

2 teaspoons margarine
3/4 cup onion-chopped
2 teaspoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt (I omitted this)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 cups low fat milk
2 cups cooked rice
3/4 cup feta cheese-crumbled (3 oz.)
1 egg-lightly beaten
2 egg whites
1 (10 oz.) package frozen chopped spinach-thawed, drained, and squeezed dry
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400º.
Melt margarine in large saucepan over medium heat. Add chopped onion and saute 3 minutes. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until well blended. Bring mixture to a simmer and cook 1 minute or until slightly thick, stirring constantly.

Remove saucepan from heat and stir in the cooked rice, crumbled feta, egg, egg whites, and spinach. Pour mixture into a greased 9-inch pie plate. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over pie. Bake at 400º for 35 minutes or until set. Broil 2 minutes or until pie is golden brown. (I didn't broil mine as I thought it brown enough at the end of the baking time.)

My changes: I sauted my onion in a bit of water instead of butter. I buy frozen spinach in 1# bags so I used that instead of two boxes. I left out the salt because the cheese adds enough saltiness, imho. I normally would have separated the eggs and used the two whites called for but in the interest of moving quickly, I used two whole eggs instead of the 1egg & 2 whites. See, I followed it almost exactly as written. ;-)