spinach pie

My friend Teresa is pregnant and we have been mailing about spinach pie. Specifically about her mom in law's spinakopita. The sad thing is she is in Athens so it is almost impossible to make Teresa her favourite pie. Everytime Y talk about his mom's spinakopita, we end up drooling. Because it is a labourous process and she makes her own pastry, the pie is only made for special occassions and usually takes her hours to prepare.

Teresa is intrigued by the fact that my spinach pie sounds so easy and quick. But hey, mine is no spinakopita and most of the time, I buy the pastry from an artisan baker friend or the frozen section of my neighbourhood supermarket. Everything from preparing the filling and baking usually take under an hour.

Today I made some with baby spinach and oyster mushroom. I didn't bother to cook the baby spinach because I usually eat them as is - they are gorgeous just eaten as salad with a bit of lemon juice, olive oil, freshly ground black pepper and salt. I didn't saute the mushroom either because at this time of the year, they are very sweet eaten raw. Besides I thought baking them in the oven will somehow cook them a little.

I used 3 different cheeses - ricotta, parmigiano and local honey goat cheese which lend sweetness to the dish and bring all the taste together. And the pastry? I got it from my supermarket.

All done under an hour and we had a kick ass lunch.

The recipe
ingredients:
1 packet of puff pastry
150g baby spinach - rinsed and dry
100g oyster mushroom
250g ricotta cheese
100g parmesan
1 goat cheese with honey
fleur de sel
black pepper
2 eggs
provence basil - you can use regular basil if you don't have this.

Method
1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 4, 190C or 350F.
2. Line the baking tin with the pastry
3. Spread the baby spinach on the pastry. Add some provence basil. Shred the oyster mushroom and add on top of the greens.
4. Beat the ricotta cheese with some salt and pepper.
5. Add eggs to the cheese and whisk.
6. Add in parmesan cheese.
7. Season.
8. Spread the cheese mixture over the spinach and mushroom.
9. Shred the goat cheese and ground a black pepper over the mixture.
10. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
11. Let it rest. Serve.