This pie is delicious hot or cold. My Mum serves it with a tomato salad for colour & juiciness (also the tomato vitamin C & acid helps your body to make best use of the iron in the silverbeet.)
Tomato salad
- Roughly chop whatever tomato types you have or are keen to include
- Combine with thinly sliced/diced red onion
- Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil & red wine vinegar
- Season with salt & pepper
- Put your salad in the fridge to soften while you bake the pie :)
Silverbeet Pie
- 3 square sheets of frozen puff pastry sheets partially thawed
- 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- 1 bunch washed silverbeet
- 1 brown onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 375g smooth ricotta
- 2 free range eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 punnet or bunch of dill (roughly chopped sprigs, finely chopped stems)
- 300g Greek style fetta, drained, crumbled
- 2 handfuls grated tasty cheese
- Salt & pepper
Optional but nice to have:
- 1 bunch mint washed, dried, chopped
- Sesame seeds to decorate top
Method
- Preheat oven to 200°C/180°C fan-forced
- Grease a 24cm (3.5cm deep) tin or ceramic dish with extra virgin olive oil
- Line pan with pastry & chill for 15 minutes or until firm
- Wash silverbeet, tear or cut leaves from stems. Set leaves to the side
- In an oiled large saucepan over medium heat, cook the thinly sliced silverbeet stems with the dill and onion for 10 minutes or until softened
- In a seperate saucepan, cook the garlic & silverbeet leaves for about 10 minutes until wilted and most liquid evaporates
- Season with salt & pepper. The salt helps draw out moisture from leaves
- Combine the silverbeet stems and leaves in a bowl by draining through a sieve. Press to assist drainage (liquid can be used for stock in something else if you like)
- Combine ricotta, 90% of the beaten egg mix, feta, mint & grated cheese then add to the silverbeet mixture... It will be looking yummy now :)
- Spoon this new mixture into the pastry case (hold back excess liquid)
- Layer pastry sheet (s) over the top & pinch around edges to seal the top
- Pull the sides away from dish where possible so heat can get in
- If your pie is for someone speacial then make a pastry shape to decorate (heart or initials of their name?) & place on top
- Brush pastry top & exposed sides with the 10% remaining beaten egg or beat another if required
- Sprinkle top with sesame seeds
- Prick the pastry top with fork a few times to allow steam to escape
- Bake for 50 minutes or until pastry is golden
- Cut into squares & serve with your tomato salad
- Enjoy warm or cold. Yum :)