Fritada de Espinaca
January 8, 2018
The first time I met my friend R., we got to talking about our shared love of Passover cooking. When I asked him what his favorite dishes were, he said I probably wouldn’t know then because they were Turkish. “Oh yeah?” I said. “Try me.”
While I had not just heard of but also cooked classics like mina and huevos haminados, there was one dish that stumped me: a spinach, egg, and cheese casserole his family calls prasafucci. Essentially a crustless quiche, this dish bears a strong resemblance to Sephardic egg-based dishes called, variously, fritada de espinaca, sfoungato (from sfoggos, the Greek word for sponge), quajado (which means “coagulated” in Ladino), cuajada, esponga, or, in Syria, sabanigh b’jiben.
Googling prasafuci, however, got me exactly nowhere. But I did uncover a dish called prasifouchi or prasafuchie. This yielded recipes for, variously, leek croquettes (also known as keftes de prasa, which I made to great acclaim a couple Rosh Hashanahs ago) or leek egg casseroles—the pertinent word being leek, with no spinach in sight. This shouldn’t be surprising, given that prasa means “leek” in Ladino. But why, then, does R’.s prasafuci call for spinach, with no leeks in sight?
A quick consultation with R.’s father revealed that, though he didn’t recall eating prasafuci with leeks specifically, growing up it was a dish his mother would make with whatever leftover vegetables were available—zucchini, for instance. I’m guessing that the dish started out with leeks, per tradition, eventually coming to incorporate all sorts of vegetables until spinach won out as the favorite—and, in time, only—version. Mystery solved!
This family of dishes dates back to pre-expulsion Spain, where a casserole of this sort would have been known as a fritada, prepared in a skillet atop a fire. The combination of a vegetable, egg, and—often but not always—cheese in a casserole is in fact so characteristic of Sephardic cookery that the Spanish Inquisition considered preparation of these dishes a sign of secretly practicing Judaism.
As home ovens became more common in the nineteenth century, a baked version of the dish, known as quajado or cuajado, gained popularity. Today the baked version is the more widely prepared, though the two terms (not to mention the others listed above) tend to be used interchangeably without drawing a distinction between baking and frying.
Though fritadas can be made with all kinds of vegetables—zucchini and leeks are common—spinach is the most popular choice. When preparing fritada de espinaca, traditional cook would spread freshly washed spinach outside in the sun to ensure it dried sufficiently, since too much moisture can lead to a soggy casserole.
Fritada is an especially popular choice at Passover, being naturally free of hametz (leavened foods forbidden during the holiday), though the dish is also commonly found at Shabbat desayuno (brunch) and Yom Kippur break-fast. Sometimes leek or spinach renditions are served at Rosh Hashanah as one of the yehi ratzones (a series of symbolic foods served at the start of the celebratory meal on the first night of the holiday).
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Fritada de Espinaca
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for greasing
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
20 oz. chopped frozen spinach, thawed and drained, or approximately 1 ½ pounds fresh spinach, chopped
1 cup whipped cottage cheese
1 cup grated Romano, plus ¼ cup for sprinkling on top of fritada
½ teaspoon salt
6 large eggs, beaten
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Lightly oil a 9 x 13 baking dish.
In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium. Add diced onion, sprinkle with a pinch of salt, and sauté until soft and translucent, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Reduce heat to low and add minced garlic, cooking for another 30 seconds. Remove from heat.
In a large bowl, mix spinach, cottage cheese, and 1 cup Romano. Add beaten eggs, stirring to combine, followed by sautéed onion and garlic.
Transfer spinach mixture to greased baking dish, smoothing the top with a spatula or the back of a wooden spoon. Sprinkle with remaining ¼ cup Romano.
Bake 40–50 minutes, until top is browned and a fork inserted into the middle of the fritada comes out dry. The top and edges should be slightly crunchy. Let cool for 10–15 minutes. Serve warm, or refrigerate and serve at room temperature later.
Sources: Encyclopedia of Jewish Food (Gil Marks, 2010); Olive Trees and Honey: A Treasury of Vegetarian Recipes from Jewish Communities around the World (Gil Marks, 2004)