Rustic Potato and Greens Pie
(from grateful4grace’s recipe box)
Prep time: 40 minutes
Serves 4 people
Ingredients
- 1/2 recipe Basic Butter Pastry (see recipe below)
- or store-bought pastry for a single crust pie
- 3/4 pound small boiling potatoes, such as Yukon gold or Red Bliss
- 1 medium onion
- 2 pounds cooking greens, such as chard, spinach, collards, mustard, or a mixture
- 2 T extra virgin olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 oz Gruyére cheese
- 1 oz Parmigiano-Reggiano
- 1 c ricotta
- 1/8 t nutmeg (preferably freshly grated)
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 large eggs
Directions
-
Prepare the Basic Butter Pastry. Chill half while you make the filling. (Freeze the remaining half for another use.) Preheat the oven to 375°F.
-
Scrub the potatoes and cut them into 1 1/2 inch pieces (about 2 cups); place them in a medium saucepan. Add cold salted water to cover by 1 inch. Bring the water to a boil over high heat; reduce the heat to low and simmer the potatoes for 15 to 20 minutes, or until they are tender when pierced with a knife.
-
Meanwhile, finely chop the onion (about 1 cup). Thoroughly rinse and spin dry the greens, remove the tough stems, and coarsely chop the leaves (about 24 cups). (If using chard, the stems will be tender; reserve them to stir-fry for another meal.)
-
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until hot. Reduce the heat to medium-low; add the onion and cook for 5 minutes or until it has softened. Press in the garlic (about 2 teaspoons) and cook for 1 minute. Add half the greens and cook 4 to 5 minutes, or until they have wilted. Remove the greens with tongs to a medium bowl. Repeat with the remaining half of the greens.
-
Return the first batch of greens to the skillet and cook for 2 minutes more, or until any liquid that collected in the skillet has evaporated.
-
When the potatoes are done, drain and mash them with a potato masher. Combine the potatoes and the greens mixture in a large bowl and set aside to cool slightly.
-
Meanwhile, roll out the pastry between lightly floured sheets of wax paper to make a 12-inch round; pat the edges of the pastry to make the round even. Fit the pastry into a 9-inch pie plate; press against the sides of the plate, allowing the excess to hang over the edges. Put the pie plate in the fridge while you prepare the remaining ingredients.
-
Grate the Gruyére (about ½ cup) and Parmigiano-Reggiano (about 2/3 cup Microplane-grated or about 1/3 cup grated on the fine side of a box grater); fold the cheeses into the potato mixture along with the ricotta, nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste.
-
Lightly beat the eggs, reserve 1 tablespoon. Stir the rest of the eggs into the potato mixture and spoon the filling into the pastry-lined pie plate. Gently lift the overhanging pastry over the filling, pleating as necessary to make it fit. (It will make a 1- to 1 ½ inch border covering the edges of the filling, which will be uncovered in the center.) Brush the pastry with the reserved 1 tablespoon egg.
-
Bake the pie for about 40 minutes or until the filling is heated through and the pastry is golden. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.