individual thanksgiving skillet spanakopita

Do you still surprise yourself?

I like to think I do.

The other weekend, I was working in the garage (read: standing around, mentally organizing our garage thinking about the effing 26 boxes of Christmas decorations I need to find, while checking Instagram and Pinterest every five seconds). I was also trying to help Mr.B work on the Adirondack chairs. Yes, it’s November, but hey, I feel as though we are getting a head start on the summer of 2015. #goteamgrier

Anyways, we were measuring lengths to make correct board cuts. Mr.B stood on one end of the board and I the other. I dragged the measuring tape to the edge, 48 inches, as we discussed earlier. Easy enough.

Then, “Babe, can you measure out 48 inches and 3/4”, asked Mr.B. I immediately froze. That wasn’t part of the plan. What the eff is 3/4? I fell asleep that day in math class!! I started to hyperventilate because I knew in the next 2.56798 seconds I would reveal to my engineer husband that I couldn’t measure. Gulp.

But! Somewhere between almost peeing my pants and falling over into a table saw, I dug deep into my long term memory and remembered building a bookcase with my dad as a kid. I remember my dad measuring out inches, quarters, centimeters and thinking this will be of no use to me in the future! Well, thank goodness for a photographic memory because I breathed deep, held my pee, and marked 48 inches and 3/4 on the effing board. It was the one of the more memorable moments of my math life.

Anywho, what does this have to do with spanakopita, not a darn tooting thing. Other than, I did surprise myself with the fact that phyllo is that crazy hard to work with. In this dish, I wrangled up all the Thanksgiving suspects, tossed them into a skillet, topped with buttery crumpled phyllo sheets and baked it into a golden bliss.

So, how have you surprised yourself lately?

Print Recipe

Individual Thanksgiving Skillet Spanakopita

Yield: Serves 2

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil (plus more for brushing)
2 medium carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup turkey, cooked, diced
1 cup stuffing, cooked, diced
5 frozen phyllo sheets, thawed
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray two six-inch cast iron skillets with non-stick cooking spray.

In a skillet preheated to medium heat, add the olive oil, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, and s&p. Cook until softened, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat and place in a bowl with turkey and stuffing. Toss to combine. Divide the mixture between the two skillets....you may have extra which is great for leftover brunch! Next, brush one of the phyllo sheets with olive oil. Cut the sheet in half and place each half over one of the six-inch skillets. You might need to cut around the edges to make sure the turkey mixture is covered. Take another phyllo sheet, brush with more olive oil, split the sheet in half, then loosley crumple and place each sheet atop of the existing phyllo cover. This will form a ruffled pattern. You will need about three to four half phyllo sheets to crumple to cover the entire skillet. Repeat process until both skillets are properly covered. Place skillets into the oven for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and serve.

adapted from Rachel Ray Magazine

All images and text ©Lauren Grier for The Curious Plate