Friday 20 April 2012

April's Seasonal Recipe: Spinach and Ricotta Pie

This month's seasonal ingredient has the added bonus of also being a superfood (even though I think 'superfood' may just be a made up term for marketing purposes, but hey, it makes me feel good!)

Spinach and Ricotta Pie

Ingredients
Ready-rolled shortcrust pastry (or home made if you're more virtuous than me!)
Spinach- either a large bag of fresh (250g) or 8-10 balls of frozen
1 tub of ricotta (usually 90g)
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
Salt, pepper and nutmeg to season

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180℃/360℉/Gas Mark 4.

2. Grease the base and sides of an oven-proof dish

3. Roll out your pastry- I need to roll out a sheet like this a little thinner in order to cover the base of my dish and get a lid out of it- line the pie dish with the pastry


4. Chop the onion into small chunks and the garlic finely, fry gently until translucent, set aside

5. Then boil the spinach for 3-4 minutes and drain thoroughly. Return the spinach to the pan and mix with the onions, garlic and ricotta, then season to taste.

6. Fill your pie dish with the tasty filling


7. Cover with the pastry lid on and fold the sides over and press down with a fork

8. Brush the lid with beaten egg (and use the leftover egg to make scrambled eggs!)


9. Cook in the centre of the pre-heated oven for 25 minutes


We had our pie with roasted baby new potatoes (also seasonal) and roasted carrots- delicious!

Other seasonal food for April includes: cabbage, cauliflower, celeriac, crab, cucumber, kale, new potatoes, pepper, purple sprouting broccoli, salmon, sorrel, spinach, spring greens and watercress. There's a handy guide on the BBC Good Food website for more ideas.

Happy seasonal cooking!

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