Spinach & Parmesan

Spinach & Parmesan Pie 
Serves 4-6

This is a recipe from my cookbook “My Taste of Sicily” and although it is here in the pages of Tuscan cooking you can find variations of this all over Italy and even in Spain for that matter. I love the béchamel through the pie as it helps give it more body and substance. If you don’t want to make your own dough you can always just use store-bought shortcrust.

For the dough:
2 ¾ cups plain flour
½ tsp salt
¼ cup plus 1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
Zest of 1 lemon
¼ – ½ cup of warm water

For the mixture:
70 g of butter
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tbsp chopped parsley
500 g of fresh whole milk
100 g of white flour
1 kg of well washed and blanched fresh spinach (I use silverbeet)
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tbsp parsley, chopped
6 eggs
2 tbsp pine nuts
150 g of grated Parmesan cheese
A good pinch of salt to taste
1 pinch of nutmeg

Preheat the oven 200c.

Sift the flour and place it into a food processor with the salt , butter and oil and lemon zest and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Drizzle in enough warm water until the dough just comes together. Take the dough out and knead for a few minutes to achieve a smooth dough. Allow resting while preparing the filling.

Blanch the spinach and when cool enough, squeeze out the excess liquid. Cut the spinach horizontally and vertically, in order to prevent the stems from remaining whole and fraying. Melt the butter into a saucepan, add in the garlic and parsley and fry for a few minutes, add in the flour and whisk in the cold milk to prevent lumps from forming. Cook on low heat and continue stirring the mixture. When the mixture is sufficiently creamy and thick, take it off the heat. Make sure it does not boil.

Mix and blend well the spinach, eggs, cheese, nutmeg, salt, and sauce. Roll out 2/3 of the dough into a thin sheet and brush with melted butter a baking dish or tray about 23cm. Lay the pastry down and pour in the filling, brush the edges of the pie with water and top with the rolled out pastry. Press the edges of the pie together and prick the center of the dough with a fork, brush the top with melted butter and bake in a hot oven for 40 – 50 minutes. Serve hot or cold.