RAINBOW CHARD, FETA AND FILO PIE
I am relatively new at the whole vegetable garden thing, well I have dabbling in it for a couple of years on and off. We brought a new house exactly one year ago and I was recently lucky enough to have a fantastic vegi garden build by my husband, bless him. This is my first crop of rainbow chard and yes I know it is one of the easiest things to grow but I was pretty happy with myself. So after I harvested my chard in all of its rainbow glory, I had to use it up in a productive way. I love a good pie, so that's exactly what it ended up as. The great thing about a chard or silver beet pie is that it is a hearty vegetarian option , it feeds a crowd and is pretty good for you. So if your chard or silver beet is ready to be eaten, turn it into a pie!
A QUICK RAINBOW CHARD PIE RECIPE
6 sheets filo pastry
1 bundle of rainbow chard, about 800 g
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, crushed (or to taste)
3 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp pine nuts
2 tbsp currents (optional)
100 g Parmesan
2 lightly beaten eggs
100 g feta, crumbled
Zest of a lemon
1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp icing sugar, for dusting (optional)
70 g melted butter
METHOD
Pre-heat the oven to 180 C. Brown the pine nuts in the oven until golden brown. If you are going to use currents in your pie, it helps to give them a little soak in boiling water for a few minutes then drain. Roughly chop your chard, stems and all.
In a pan heat the oil and soften the onion and garlic, seasoning with salt and pepper. Add your chard and cook it down until it is just softened and wilted a little.
Drain the currants if using them and add to the chard along with the pine nuts. Remove from the heat and add the Parmesan, feta, eggs and lemon zest and allow to cool.
Grease a rectangle ceramic baking dish . Lay five sheets of filo pastry in the pan at angles, brushing them with butter as you go, making sure that some of sheets hang over the sides. Now fill the pastry with the chard mixture.
Place the last piece of filo on top of the filling and fold the overhanging pieces of pastry over the filling. Brush again with the melted butter and bake for 20-30 mins or until the pastry is golden.
Serve straight from the baking dish dusted with a small amount of cinnamon and icing sugar if desired.