Monday, October 20, 2008

Spinach Ricotta Pie! Recipe From Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook!


I originally posted this two years ago in LiveJournal. This was the first dish I made for Kaydee upon her moving to Victoria this September. I actually improvised and used a cake pan for the baking dish, but I cannot insist enough that if you do not like ridiculously thick crust, please use a real pie pan.

Also, it lasted forever. I was eating slices of the pie-made-in-cake-pan for over a week and it still tasted amazing.

To make the crust, mix together six tablespoons butter or margarine with one and a half cups flour and four tablespoons milk, water, or buttermilk. Roll into circle. Press into pie pan. Set aside.

Alternatively, you could use pastry, which is what my momma does. It makes for a flakier, more decadent crust.

Preheat your oven to 375. Melt about a tablespoon of butter/margarine in a frying pan, and saute one cup of chopped onion for five minutes. Add one pound spinach [stemmed and chopped], half a teaspoon salt, a dash of pepper, one teaspoon basil, and garlic to taste [I use two cloves]. Cook over medium heat until spinach is wilted.

In a bowl, mix together one pound ricotta cheese, three eggs, three tablespoons flour, and half a cup grated sharp cheese. Add the mixture from the frying pan, and spread evenly into pie pan.

Katzen recommends covering the pie with a topping of sour cream, then dusting with paprika. I have never done this, nor has anyone I know, but you could always try it.

Bake for 40-45 minutes. Please, let it set for a few minutes after you take it out of the oven; otherwise you will be serving glorified scrambled eggs with a delicious crust. This tastes delicious hot, cold, or at room temperature.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Moosewood love! My roommate and I discovered that we both own copies. I pointed out that Pretend Soup (also by Mollie Katzen) was my first cookbook ever.

Anonymous said...

I dusted with paprika. It's just for color

jac9413 said...

love love love this cookbook!