FOODZOR - Spinach Pie

Today is Saturday, and therefore recipegeddon, a.k.a. my self-assigned day for posting a recipe. This evening, I made spinach pie.

You will need:
2 sheets of frozen puff pastry (or, if you're hardcore, sufficient home-made puff pastry for a pie. I am not yet this hardcore)
1 onion
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 small pot of ricotta (usually about 250g - a bit more or less is fine)
Spinach or silverbeet - tonight I used 150g of baby spinach leaves, but err on the side of too much
Cheddar
Parmesan (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste


I didn't photograph the pastry. Short of putting jewellery on it, how can you make it look attractive?

So! Preheat your oven to 220 degrees Celsius (fan-forced). You can convert that here at this random thing I found.

Chop the onion quite finely. If you squash the garlic cloves with the flat of your knife, they'll be easier to peel. Crush them; or, if you don't have a garlic crusher, chop them very finely indeed. Saute the onion and garlic together in a bit of oil (preferably olive) until they're just becoming tender and clear. This should only take a couple of minutes. Stir in your spinach or silverbeet. If you're using silverbeet, tear it up. Add it gradually unless you're cooking in a bloody cauldron or you'll have no space to stir in. As soon as the leaves are wilted, remove the pot from the heat. Or the cauldron from the roaring fire.

Grate about about a cup of cheddar, and, if you're using it, two or three tablespoons of parmesan. In a bowl, mix it together with the ricotta. Add salt and pepper, and stir through the cooked spinach mix.


Food is gross! Also, if you get close enough, it all looks the same.

Grease a pie tin lightly with oil. If your tin has an apple inexplicably embossed on the base, as mine does, don't listen to its pleas for justice. It's getting spinach. Ignore its confused indignation. Muffle its cries of 'but I'm for apples' with a sheet of the defrosted pastry.


Fill the pie and cover it with the rest of the pastry. Fold the edges up, or if you're fancy like my mum, trim it and shape the excess into little decorative leaves for the top. Seriously. I ask you. Faced with the choice, she goes for pastry leaves over a pastry skull and crossbones.

Prick the pie with a fork, or the teeth of your vampire friend, if you happen to have one.


You can glaze it with milk or egg. I don't bother. Bake it in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, then decrease the temperature to 160 and cook it for another ten minutes, or until it's golden brown.

At this point, you may suddenly remember you haven't fed the cat. Do so guiltily.


Ahh! Pie! Your guilty conscience will be soothed by its pleasant aroma.


Serve it immediately. This pie goes really nicely with salad.

To make a basic salad dressing, combine 2 parts olive oil to 1 part balsamic vinegar in a clean jar. Add a couple of cloves of crushed garlic, and sugar. Shake well. Taste. You will probably need to add more sugar. Adjust it until it's delicious.