Mina de Espinaca
Matzah and Spinach Pie

A sta­ple of Sephar­di Passover tables, mina de matza (some­times sim­ply called mina) is a type of savory pie stacked with sheets of matzah and fill­ings like sea­soned meat, egg­plant, or spinach and cheese. With lay­ers of mashed pota­toes and spinach both laced with Parme­san, this one from Alexandra’s fam­i­ly makes a won­der­ful main for a veg­e­tar­i­an seder or Passover lunch.

Makes 6 to 8 servings 

2 rus­set or 3 Yukon Gold pota­toes (about 1½ pounds/​675 g), scrubbed, halved if large

Kosher salt

1½ cups (about 6 ounces/​170 g) shred­ded Parme­san cheese 

8 ounces (225 g) cream cheese, at room temperature

2 large eggs, light­ly beaten

1 pound (450 g) baby spinach, fine­ly chopped

2 table­spoons extra-vir­gin olive oil

4 or 5 sheets matzah (7‑inch/17.5 cm squares)

Make the Potatoes

Put the pota­toes in a medi­um saucepan, cov­er with water, add 1 table­spoon salt, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medi­um-low and cook until the pota­toes can be eas­i­ly pierced with a knife, 20 to 25 min­utes. Drain and let cool until the pota­toes are cool enough to han­dle but still warm. 

Peel the pota­toes and put them in a large bowl. Mash them with a pota­to ricer or fork until smooth, with no chunks. Add 1½ tea­spoons salt, ¾ cup (85 g) of the Parme­san cheese, the cream cheese, and the eggs and mix well with a rub­ber spat­u­la or wood­en spoon until the mix­ture is smooth and uni­form. Taste and adjust the sea­son­ing with more salt, if you like. Set aside.

Make the Spinach Mixture

Put the chopped spinach in a medi­um bowl and add ½ cup (55 g) of the Parme­san and 1 tea­spoon salt. Mix until the cheese and salt are even­ly dis­trib­uted. Set aside. 

Pre­heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease a 10-inch (25 cm) spring­form pan with 1 tea­spoon of the olive oil. 

Fill a con­tain­er that’s large enough to hold a matzah sheet with about an inch (2.5 cm) of water and stir in ¼ tea­spoon salt. Line a plate or tray with paper towels. 

Soak the matzahs one at a time in the water until the sheets are flex­i­ble yet still firm enough to hold their shape; this could take any­where from 30 sec­onds to a minute or two. Gen­tly place each soaked matzah on the paper tow­els to absorb excess moisture. 

Assem­ble the Mina

Line the bot­tom of the spring­form pan with a matzah, then fill in the gaps around the edges with pieces of matzah that you tear to fit. Spread half of the spinach-Parme­san mix­ture over the matzah in an even lay­er. Add anoth­er lay­er of moist­ened matzah on top, gen­tly press­ing the matzah into the spinach lay­er to make space for the remain­ing layers. 

Spread the rest of the spinach mix­ture over the matzah lay­er. Place anoth­er lay­er of matzah over the spinach, gen­tly press­ing the matzah into the spinach to make room for the remain­ing layer. 

Spread the pota­to mix­ture even­ly over the matzah lay­er. Use the back of a spoon or an off­set spat­u­la to make swirls in the sur­face of the pota­toes so they brown attrac­tive­ly in the oven. Sprin­kle the remain­ing ¼ cup (25 g) Parme­san on top of the pota­to lay­er and driz­zle the remain­ing olive oil on top.

Bake the mina until deep gold­en brown, 40 to 50 min­utes. Remove from the oven and allow the mina to cool for about 5 min­utes, then run the tip of a sharp knife around the edges of the mina to release it from the pan.

Remove the sides of the spring­form, trans­fer the mina to a serv­ing plat­ter, and cut into wedges. Serve hot.

Excerpt­ed from The Jew­ish Hol­i­day Table by Naa­ma She­fi and the Jew­ish Food Soci­ety (Arti­san Books). Copy­right © 2024. Pho­tographs by Pen­ny De Los Santos.