Spinach tart: a favourite dish

Well my mom comes from Epirus county where women are supposed to make the best pies in Greece. My mom doesn’t belong to this category. She makes an effort, but my grandmother’s pies are still farfetched; that is unfortunate for all of us in the family as we are foodies.. This is why I place so much effort to create the best pastry and phyllo! Haha!

So, as I was saying, although my mom doesn’t make great pies (ok..most of the times.. and believe me the expectations are high) she makes other little masterpieces, like this one; at least according to my tastes! So here is Mary's recipe of spinach tart!

The texture of this pie is soft on top with an amazing cheesy – spinach flavour and ‘crumbling’ on the bottom.

Ingredients for the filling: ½ kgr fresh spinach, 2 tbsp of chopped dill, 2 tbsp of chopped parsley, 2 chopped spring onions, 3 tbsp of olive oil, salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients for the béchamel sauce: ½ cup of grated parmesan or gruyere or feta cheese, 3 tbsp of all purpose flour, 3 tbsp of olive oil, 1 cup of milk

Ingredients for the base of the tart: 1 cup of corn oil, 1 low fat cow’s yogurt, 1 cup of grated gruyere, 2-2.5 cups of all purpose flour (the pastry should be as firm as the cookies’ pastry), ½ teaspoon of baking powder

To start with, you mix all the ingredients for the base of the tart and make a pastry. You spread the pastry on a pyrex (on greased proof paper) and put it on the side.

Now, onto the spinach mixture. You clean the spinach very well and chop it. In a pot, you sauté in medium fire: the spring onions, the spinach, the dill and the parsley until there are no liquids (about 10’). You also add salt and pepper (be careful with the salt, if the cheese you are using is too salty). You put this mixture on the side.

In a different pot, you put the olive oil, the flour, the milk and the cheese (save a little to sprinkle on top of the tart) and stir until the mixture thickens and becomes a béchamel. You then combine the béchamel with the spinach mixture and stir for 2-3’.

You toss the mixture of spinach and béchamel on the tart and spread gently to cover the surface. You sprinkle a little gruyere cheese on top to give a pink colour once it is baked. I bake at 180 C for 30-35’ (depending on your oven). You check that it is ready, by looking the pyrex from below and the tart is light brown.

You let the tart cool down a bit before serving.

Enjoy!