Recipe: Potato & Spinach Braid

I was originally thinking of making knish for dinner, but didn't have any puff pastry, so I grabbed some pizza dough out of the freezer, and improvised.  I thoroughly expected the children to turn their noses up at the spinach, but they both gobbled their pieces up and asked for the leftovers in their lunches!

That's a win to me!

A slice, served along with Caesar salad!  What a green dinner!

The filling was quite like the knish I had in New York City, and that was really yummy.  I threw in some feta I had leftover, but you couldn't really taste it, so you could leave that in or take it out, whichever your preference.

Potato & Spinach Braid

1 10-oz package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
5 potatoes, cooked (I cooked them by poking holes in them and microwaving them... my microwave has a "potato" auto-cook function...)
1/4 c feta cheese (optional)
2 tsp garlic powder
pizza dough (store bought or homemade)

Scoop out the baked potato and either run through a ricer or through a food processor grating disc. Add spinach, feta, and garlic powder and mix lightly until blended - I pulsed in the food processor.

Roll the pizza dough out into a large rectangle (about 16" long and 8" wide).  Spread the potato and spinach mixture in the center, leaving 2-3" on each side free.  Braid (for tutorial, see my chicken taco braid), then brush the top with a little olive oil.  Cover with a kitchen towel and allow to rise for about 10-15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 F.  Remove kitchen towel from the braid and bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until nicely browned.  Cool slightly, then cut into slices and serve.