Chard & Spinach Pie

A seasonal variation on a classic

Spinach and leafy greens coming together in pastry is a well established classic for most culinary cultures around the world. From well known classics such as Spanikopita, to the less familiar Pasqualina or Byrek, making the most of seasonal greens is a staple.

Bringing the leaves together with a salty cheese enhances the iron rich flavours and brings a delicious textural contrast. For this recipe a soft goat cheese is a more subtle approach but perfect for the young spinach, but also softens the slightly bitter edge of chard stems. 

While filo pastry is the most common choice, a puff or rough puff pastry has a luxurious feel and buttery elegance that matches the feel of Spring. 


Serves 4 - 6
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
1 SLF bag of spinach (250g aprox)
A thumb of butter
1 onion
1 SLF bag of rainbow chard
12 +/- spears of asparagus
Sea salt flakes
200g soft goat cheese such as Sinodun Hill
1 fresh garlic stem
1 egg
Freshly shaved nutmeg
Freshly ground black pepper
A pack of puff pastry or 600g homemade rough puff
1 beaten egg for glazing

Preheat the oven to 190°C


1. If you are making and using your own pastry make sure to rest it after rolling and before baking. For shop brought pastry, simply take two thirds and line a 20cm diameter pie dish leaving the overhanging pastry to ‘glue’ the lid on. The final third is for the lid.

2. To make the filling, shred the spinach, remove the stalks of the chard and finely slice, then shred the chard leaves before slicing the asparagus. 

3. Slice the onion and gently cook over a moderate heat with a generous thumb of butter. Once the onion is translucent add the chard stalks and continue to cook for a couple of minutes. 

4. Now add the asparagus followed by the chard leaves and spinach, then season with salt and turn up the heat. Keep stirring until the leaves have wilted the remove from the heat and add to a bowl. 

5. Shred the fresh garlic and add to the bowl, followed by the egg. Mix well and season with plenty of pepper and nutmeg. 

6. The filling should have cooled slightly, so add the goat cheese and mix well.

7. Fill the pastry case, taking care to not leave any air gaps, brush the lip and edges with egg wash then place the reserved third of pastry on top. Trim the excess and crimp before glazing with the egg wash. 

8. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, then allow the pie to cool for a few minutes before slicing. Alternatively, cool and refrigerate to enjoy cold. 

Serve hot or cold with a salad and fresh garlic mayonnaise.


Chef Notes:
1. True spinach does not have a huge water content when compared to baby leaf varieties, so there is no need to squeeze it out. The added egg will bind any excess liquid.
2. For more tender leaves, simply wilt then chop and squeeze out any liquid before using. 

Robin Popham
Chef at ‘Create Terroir’ and Sandy Lane Farm veg box customer