After a morning at The Children’s Farm in Collingwood (one of my favourite places in Melbourne!) I decided to come up with a pie recipe for the freshly picked silverbeet and zucchini. Silverbeet is an amazing source of folate, and when paired with a fat, helps you to absorb vitamins A, D, E and K. On it’s own, it is so so delicious with some garlic and butter in a pan. If you don’t have silverbeet, you can substitute spinach or kale, and the grated zucchini could be substituted with grated potato or sweet potato - this recipe is quite forgiving. It is a great whole family meal and ideal as leftovers in the kiddies lunchboxes.
Prep: 20 mins
Cook: 30 mins
Makes: 1 family sized pie
Freeze? Yes
Suitable for bub? 12 months+
Vegetarian
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons of butter
1 big bunch of silverbeet, chopped finely
6 eggs (mine were quite small so 5 normal eggs may do)
1 zucchini, grated
A few shakes of salt and pepper
A few shakes of nutmeg
2 tablespoons parmesan
200g feta
Shortcrust pastry (puff pastry could work well too)
Warm up the butter and garlic in a large frypan, then add the silverbeet. Cook until wilted. Drain if there is too much liquid, you don’t want it too soggy but you want to keep some of the garlic/butter for flavour! In a bowl, mix the eggs, salt, pepper, nutmeg and parmesan. Squeeze out the excess liquid from the grated zucchini, and add it to the egg mixture. Then add the wilted silverbeet and crumble in the feta. Line a pastry pie dish with baking paper or oil, and press in your shortcrust pastry (I love the brand Careme as they use quality ingredients). To allow for shrinkage, some of the pastry can fold over the edges. Blind bake (using baking paper on top of the pastry loaded with rice or beans) in the oven for 8-10mins - this prevents a soggy pie bottom. Trim the edges for any excess pastry and pour the egg mixture in. Leave as is or cover with thick pastry columns for a criss cross effect - just brush them with some of the egg mixture if you are doing this. Cook the pie for approx 30mins or until the top and edges of the pastry are golden. Delicious with a side salad with lemon dressing! Hope you enjoy it :)