Spinach feta clafoutis, on the run

April 25, 2011

tags: cheese, clafouti, easy, egg, feta, pea, savoury, spinach

Special hot breakfasts rock. They get me up in the morning, and set a lovely relaxed tone to the rest of the day. However it’s not something I like to do too often, because if I have a sleep in, then have a big long breakfast, I’ve lost half the day. So as much as I luurrrve things like spanish frittatas for breakfast, the idea of spending an hour cooking breakfast makes me feel faint.

After drooling at Kevin’s spinach & feta clafoutis, I realised I could make my delicious eggy breakfast and eat it too, with a bit of streamlining. I simplified the ingredients, and used veges that I knew would cook fine just in the oven (that means no onion, but plenty of spring/green onion, or scallions). This savoury clafouti is so versatile though that you can use a huge variety of vegetables, cheeses or meats.

Mine included a classic combination: spinach and feta, with some peas for sweetness (since I took out the onion), some spring onion for that mmm onion-y flavour, and a little tiny bit of cheese on top for that crispy golden cheese and extra richness. The end result was a lovely harmony of simple clean flavours, and the eggy clafouti batter was just right – nice and moist without being too juicy, and marvellously eggy. Feel free to experiment, and let me know of your other favourite combos! My only complaint is that there wasn’t enough. Feel free to multiply the amounts below or just add a nice salad to the side while the clafoutis are in the oven.

Spinach and feta clafoutis

serves 2

Thanks to Kevin at Closet Cooking for the basic recipe!

7-8 spring/green onions (scallions), sliced thinly
3 rolls of frozen spinach, or a handful of fresh spinach, roughly chopped*
small handful of frozen or fresh peas
salt and pepper to taste
2/3c c milk
2 eggs
1 1/2 Tbs plain flour
about 100g feta, finely cubed
a small handful grated cheese of your choice

* I just microwaved the frozen spinach on medium heat to defrost in the baking dish I was using, to save on washing. If using fresh spinach, place in a sieve, and pour just boiled water over, letting drain.

Preheat oven to 180C, arranging a rack on the topmost position. In one of your baking dishes, beat the eggs, then beat in the milk, salt and pepper, and lastly the flour. Pour half the batter into your other baking dish (unless you’re just using one baking dish), then sprinkle in all the rest of the ingredients, saving the cheese for the very top.

Pop in the oven for at least 20 minutes, until the cheese on top is golden brown in splotches. Mine was still pale 20 minutes in since I put mine in the middle of the oven, so I moved it to the top and grilled (or “broiled” if you’re in the States) it for five minutes. Serve hot/warm.