Meatless Monday with Rustic Potato and Greens Pie

Hello and welcome (back) to the Miratel blog and thank you for joining us for another Meatless Monday recipe. The Meatless Monday pledge is to reduce meat consumption 15% by eliminating it just one day per week to preserve personal and planetary health. Miratel supports this great initiative and includes it as part of its CSR business strategies to spread awareness of the impact of food choices on our environment

On the menu tonight is a rustic potato and greens pie recipe that comes by way of Chef Sarah Moulton’s PBS show Sara’s Weeknight Meals. Since greens like Swiss chard are in season that will help to further reduce the ecological footprint of this meal and increase the flavour by eating seasonal produce.

Rustic Potato and Greens Pie Ingredients (makes 4-6 servings)

• ½ recipe Basic Butter Pastry (see recipe below) or store-bought pastry for a single crust pie
• 3/4 pound small boiling potatoes, such as Yukon gold or Red Bliss
• 1 medium onion
• 2 pounds cooking greens, such as chard, spinach, collards, mustard, or a mixture
• 2 T extra virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 oz Gruyére cheese
• 1 oz Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 1 c ricotta
• 1/8 t nutmeg (preferably freshly grated)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 large eggs

Directions

1. Prepare the Basic Butter Pastry. Chill half while you make the filling. (Freeze the remaining half for another use.) Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Scrub the potatoes and cut them into 1 1/2 inch pieces (about 2 cups); place them in a medium saucepan. Add cold salted water to cover by 1 inch. Bring the water to a boil over high heat; reduce the heat to low and simmer the potatoes for 15 to 20 minutes, or until they are tender when pierced with a knife.
3. Meanwhile, finely chop the onion (about 1 cup). Thoroughly rinse and spin dry the greens, remove the tough stems, and coarsely chop the leaves (about 24 cups). (If using chard, the stems will be tender; reserve them to stir-fry for another meal.)
4. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until hot. Reduce the heat to medium-low; add the onion and cook for 5 minutes or until it has softened. Press in the garlic (about 2 teaspoons) and cook for 1 minute. Add half the greens and cook 4 to 5 minutes, or until they have wilted. Remove the greens with tongs to a medium bowl. Repeat with the remaining half of the greens.
5. Return the first batch of greens to the skillet and cook for 2 minutes more, or until any liquid that collected in the skillet has evaporated.
6. When the potatoes are done, drain and mash them with a potato masher. Combine the potatoes and the greens mixture in a large bowl and set aside to cool slightly.
7. Meanwhile, roll out the pastry between lightly floured sheets of wax paper to make a 12-inch round; pat the edges of the pastry to make the round even. Fit the pastry into a 9-inch pie plate; press against the sides of the plate, allowing the excess to hang over the edges. Put the pie plate in the fridge while you prepare the remaining ingredients.
8. Grate the Gruyére (about ½ cup) and Parmigiano-Reggiano (about 2/3 cup Microplane-grated or about 1/3 cup grated on the fine side of a box grater); fold the cheeses into the potato mixture along with the ricotta, nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste.
9. Lightly beat the eggs, reserve 1 tablespoon. Stir the rest of the eggs into the potato mixture and spoon the filling into the pastry-lined pie plate. Gently lift the overhanging pastry over the filling, pleating as necessary to make it fit. (It will make a 1- to 1 ½ inch border covering the edges of the filling, which will be uncovered in the center.) Brush the pastry with the reserved 1 tablespoon egg.
10. Bake the pie for about 40 minutes or until the filling is heated through and the pastry is golden. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

Basic Butter Pastry Ingredients (makes 2 x 9-Inch Pie Shells or 1 Double)

• 2 c unbleached all-purpose flour (you can try whole wheat or spelt for added fibre)
• 1/2 t table salt
• 12 T (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
• 2 large eggs yolks

Directions

1. Combine the flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with chopping blade. Cut the butter into 1/8-inch-thick slices and add to the flour mixture. Pulse 10 to 12 times, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
2. Beat the yolks with 2 tablespoons ice water and add to the mixture; pulse 4 to 5 times, until a crumbly mixture forms. Press the mixture together to form a ball, adding more water, if necessary, to make it manageable.
3. You can immediately roll out the dough between lightly floured sheets of plastic wrap or, if you have the time, chill the dough for 1 hour before rolling it out. That allows the gluten in the flour to relax, ensuring a tender crust.
4. Use the pastry as directed in a recipe or divide it in half, shape it into balls and flatten slightly. Wrap the flattened rounds tightly in freezer wrap and freeze until firm for later use. Use within 3 months.

Serve this delicious pie with a healthy dose of a raw green seasonal salad.

If you haven’t already, we encourage you to visit the Meatless Monday website and join us in taking the Meatless Monday pledge today. Spread the word at home and at work to promote CSR business initiatives and make your green call centre, office, factory, shop, restaurant or salon even greener.

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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all contact centre services and mail house operations and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.