Erbazzoni!

One of my favorite foods from Italy is something I have worked hard to make myself.  Erbazzoni, roughly translated as "big grass" is basically a dark leafy veggie quiche/pizza.  In our part of Italy it is made with Swiss Chard, but really any dark leafy thing will do.  All summer I found it in nearly every shop we entered- at the pool, in bars, at the grocery store, at rest areas along the road.  Basically, it is their answer to fast food.  I never tired of it all summer and, to our utter joy, Gio actually likes it.  And this is a boy who avoids vegetables like the plague.  So....back in Kyiv, no erbazzoni in sight...what to do??
I have improvised my own version using what is available here and making do with my own limited cooking skills.  The major changes I made to the Italian versions: (1) Not much leafy green veggies around here other than frozen spinach.  (2) I cheated and used frozen puff pastry for the crust rather than a homemade version.  So sue me.

Ingredients:
frozen puff pastry (or your own crust- any non-sweet crust works)
1500 g frozen spinach (once thawed about 4 cups)
olive oil
garlic
onion
3 eggs
bread crumbs
grated Parmesan cheese (do not tell Paolo's family that I did not use freshly grated!!) 

Step one: remove pastry from freezer and let thaw in fridge overnight.

Here is the very fancy frozen spinach available here. I use two big bags for this recipe.  

Step two: dump frozen spinach into colander and let thaw overnight in sink.
Once thawed, squeeze out as much moisture as possible. 

  Always my favorite part of MTV Cribs when the celebs show what is inside their giant fridges. So here is a shot of ours.  Rather dull, no? Well, except for that proscuitto we brought from Italy!  There is the pastry quietly thawing away....

And another random shot of two of my boys eagerly awaiting erbezzoni.
Yes, Enzo loves it , too!

Back to the recipe.  You will need one smallish onion and two garlic cloves. 

Dice 'em up.  I did not do a close up so you would not be able to see how badly I chop. 

Heat up your biggest skillet (medium flame) and add 1/4 c. olive oil.  No, this is not ITALIAN olive oil. Keep that quiet.  

Preheat oven to 375F/177C.

Add onions and garlic to skillet and cook until onions are softened. Be careful not to burn the garlic, though I always do. 

Add the spinach, 1 & 1/4 tsp salt and mix to coat.   

Cook for a few minutes and then transfer mixture to a large bowl.

Now you need a small bowl, three eggs and another tsp salt.  

Add eggs and beat them for a minute or so.  Add the salt and then dump into the spinach mixture. 

Measure out 1/3 cup bread crumbs and 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese.

Dump the crumbs and cheese into the egg-spinach mixture and combine.  

Now for the dough. Stretch it out on a cookie sheet (grease it if you remember- I never do and it always turns out fine). 

Spread spinach mixture around, leaving a big border.  

rip off excess dough (especially at corners) and then fold up like this. Do not worry about elegance. It will look more homemade this way!

Bake for 45 minutes.   

Voila!!!