Lets talk food: Spinach Pie w/ pine seeds

 For me the holidays are the place and time to try out new recipies. Now don't get me wrong,  it's not that we eat the same easy dishes every week. It's just that some dishes take that little bit more effort and time than we have during a working week. 

The past week we have tried out a number of dishes that were absolutely delish! And which of course deserve to be shared! Also as I love veggie and my boyfriend loves meat, all of the dishes can be done with or without meat! Including this delicious pie.  

                                                                                                                                                                            

Spinach Pie w/pine seeds

Ingredients:

100 grams of soft butter

300 grams flour plus extra to dust 

5 tablespoons of olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 bag of fresh spinach (600 grams)

200 grams ham (optional)

20 grams of chopped parsley

2 cloves of garlic crushed

2 eggs, beaten

100 grams Parmezan cheese, grated

80 grams of pine seeds, lightly roasted in a pan

You will also need:

A round cake tin, buttered

bakingpaper, rolling pin

Start by melting 75 grams of butter. Put the butter in a mixing bowl together with the flower, 1 tablespoon of oil and the salt. Add 100 ml of luke warm water and knead  into dough. Let the dough rest while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.  Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. 

In a pan put 1 tablespoon of  the oil and add the spinach bit by bit until all the spinach has shrunk. Let it drain in a colander and using a spoon push the water out of the spinach. 

Take the spinach out of the colander, cut it up into small pieces and drain a second time to make sure there is no water left in the spinach. 

Using the same pan, heat 4 tablespoons of olive oil and fry the ham for approx. 1 minute. Add the crushed garlic and let it cook together for approx. 1 minute.

In a mixing bowl combine the spinach, chopped parsley, eggs, cheese, pine seeds and pepper. 

Sprinkle flower on a flat surface and roll out 2/3 of the dough. Place the dough into the baking tin making sure to cover the bottom and the sides of the tin. 

Add the filling and fold the edges of the dough inwards over the filling.

Roll out the rest of the dough and lay on top of the pie. Make sure there are no holes in the pie, you don't want the filling to come spilling out and ruin the pie!

With a fork make holes in the top of the pie and streak melted butter over the top to stop the pie from burning.

Bake the pie in the preheated oven for approx. 50 minutes, 

When finished, let it rest for a few minutes before serving. 

Bon appetit!

                                                                                                                                                                                           

Now if you haven't got the time to make your own dough you can always use puff pastry. Just make sure the pastry, once in the tin, doesn't have holes it it. 

We found this pie to be just as delish served fresh&warm straight out of the oven as well as cold. 

This pie is great for serving a group of people for dinner with some some lovely garlic potatoes on the side. You could also serve it cold and sliced into small pieces for even more people to enjoy!

Happy baking!

xox Elena