Better name coming soon…
Friends, who will remain nameless, were supposed to come for the weekend and I had lots of cooking planned…but they cancelled at the last minute due to a weird brain/diary malfunction…so i’ve got all this stuff to make. The Viking and I will just have to endure…
Well… this was supposed to be a spinach and feta filo pie but because our ‘local’ supermarkets don’t believe anyone would want to bake with filo pastry unless its Christmas, I had to improvise slightly…plus, i’m not that keen on feta, so I’ve adapted my mum’s fabulous quiche recipe which uses cottage cheese and eggs and have come up with this…
I made my shortcrust pastry and after 30 mins in the fridge I rolled it out and grated cheese onto it, folded it and grated more cheese and carried on this way until it became light and airy.
Here’s the ingredients for the pie:
1 medium onion – finely chopped
1 medium leek – finely chopped
handful of mushrooms – sliced
bag of spinach
1 tub of cottage cheese (I know this ingredient may sound bizarre but believe me it works…it has a sourness that is welcome and the lumps melt away once it’s cooked…)
2 eggs – beaten
s&p and rosemary
So, make your pastry and place it in the fridge. (refer to someone you love for the recipe)
Next, in a deep pan (one you have a lid for) saute the onions and leeks in butter, then when soft add the mushrooms and saute till tender. Add salt and plenty of pepper. Then add the whole bag of spinach and place the lid on the pan with the heat down, so the spinach can wilt.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, add the cottage cheese to the beaten the eggs and mix together. Once the veg have cooled slightly, add them to the eggs and cheese and stir it all up.
Roll out your pastry (do the grated cheese thing if you fancy – I used strong cheddar but you could use gruyere which would be marvelous…or just keep it plain) and place it into a well greased flan or pie dish. Make sure the pastry is about twice the size of the dish because once you add the mixture, you want to fold the excess pastry back onto the pie, to create a folded lid.
Brush with beaten egg and bake in the oven for 20 – 30 mins.
Let it cool and set slightly before you eat….I’m serving it with an oven roasted tomato salad…
…then send pics of you eating it to those poor fools with the brain/diary thingy… ha!
