Crustless Spinach And Feta Pies With Tomato Salad - cooking recipe

Ingredients

Spinach Pies
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
10 ounces frozen spinach, thawed
4 scallions, thinly sliced
3 large eggs
3/4 cup half-and-half
1 tablespoon plain breadcrumbs
2 teaspoons crumbled dried mint
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper, to taste
1 pinch cayenne pepper
freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
Tomato Salad
12 ounces mixed small tomatoes, cut in halves (yellow and red)
2 -3 pepperoncini peppers, stemmed and chopped
2 tablespoons pitted kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
kosher salt, to taste
fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Preparation

Tomato Salad:
Toss the tomatoes together with the pepperoncini and olives in a salad bowl. Add the olive oil, lemon juice, oregano salt and black pepper to taste. Toss again.
Spinach Pies:
Put a rack in the center of your oven and preheat to 400 degrees F.
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.
Squeeze excess liquid out of spinach.
Add the spinach and scallions to the skillet and cook, stirring, until dry - about 4 to 5 minutes.
Transfer to a colander and press with the back of a spoon to get rid of the last bits of moisture.
Brush 4 6-oz. ramekins with some olive oil and put them on a baking sheet.
Put spinach mixture, eggs, half-and-half, bread crumbs, mint, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper and nutmeg into a food processor and pulse until the spinach is finely chopped. Remove blade and stir in the feta cheese.
Divide the mixture evenly between the 4 ramekins.
Bake until set around the edges but still a little bit soft in the center - about 20 minutes. Turn oven off, leaving the spinach pies inside to set. Keep them in the oven for another 5 minutes.
Run a knife around the edge of each pie and invert onto plates. Spoon some tomato salad around each and serve.