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Pretty much anywhere you go from Greece to Azerbaijan, spinach pies are there to ensure that your dose of leafy greens comes cheesed up and encased in pastry. Spanakopita may get a lot of the credit for bringing spinach pie to American shores, but if I had to hazard a guess, the empanadas brought by Spaniards to Mesoamerica actually came from the Muslim Moors, and that it didn’t take long for the locals to start stuffing them with chaya (Mexican tree spinach).

Balkan börek (or zeljanica, depending on where you are), fatayer of Lebanon and even South Asian samosas all have something in common with spanakopita (besides the fact that they all originated in the Ottoman Empire): They were made with whatever crumbly cheese and leafy greens were on hand, and were probably delicious. Although spinach originated in Ancient Persia, the savory spinach pastries of the Arab world were probably made with horta in Greece — the wild herbs and edible weeds that grow across the Mediterranean countryside and have been part of the southern European diet for millennia. Amaranth greens, chicory, dandelions and nettles would have all been familiar to cooks and an obvious choice for a late-spring pie.

Spring greens are on their way out of season, but that doesn’t mean this pastry is off the menu — luckily, your cool-season leafy greens, tender herbs and crispy root vegetables are probably all getting ready to bolt (if they haven’t already). Pull them now while they’re still nice, and make room for all your summer crops at the same time. Those greens are perfect in a savory tart (which happens to taste even better when eaten al fresco) and the tart will make tons of the greens disappear all at once, saving you the trouble of coming up with more ways to use them up. Serves 4-6.

Note: To keep it simple, this recipe calls for spinach, but use any greens (or mix of greens) you have — kale, turnip greens, lamb’s quarters and chard are all great here. And remember, basil needs assertive pruning to stay bushy and productive all summer long, so don’t be afraid to include it in the mix should you have, like me, planted a few too many Genovese starts.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 pounds fresh spinach, chopped (or a 1 pound bag frozen spinach, thawed)

A few scratches of fresh nutmeg

Salt and pepper

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed

3 eggs, beaten

½ cup crumbled feta

½ cup chopped herbs

¼ cup chopped sundried tomatoes (optional)

⅓ cup chopped hazelnuts or pine nuts (optional)

Instructions

1. Place a rack on the lowest level of the oven, then preheat to 375 degrees. Grease a 9x9 inch tart pan.
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat, then add the garlic and stir to coat. Cook for a minute, then add the spinach, nutmeg and a few pinches of salt and pepper. Saute the spinach until its liquid has released and cooked off. (If you’re using thawed frozen spinach, squeeze the liquid out before you add the spinach to the pan; you can either toss the liquid or use it for something else.) Set aside to cool.
3. While the cooked spinach is cooling, dust your work surface with flour and unroll the thawed sheet of puff pastry. Roll the pastry out enough that it’ll fit into the prepared tart pan up to the rim (high enough that the filling won’t spill out — a little overhang is fine). Brush some of the beaten egg along the edges of the pastry and if you like, sprinkle on some sesame seeds.
4. Mix the rest of the beaten egg with the feta, herbs and sundried tomatoes (if using), then stir it into the cooked spinach until combined. Scrape the mixture into the prepared pastry and sprinkle on the hazelnuts (if using). Bake until the filling is no longer jiggly and the pastry has puffed and turned golden brown, about 20-30 minutes.
5. Carefully dislodge the tart from the pan onto a cutting board and allow to cool for five minutes before serving.

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News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/06/06/recipe-superabundant-spinach-feta-puff-pastry/