Chard Pie

Hello chefs! 😋

How's your cooking? Do you cook more for fun, for the kids or just for yourself?
I have to admit that I don't feel like cooking just for myself. Too small quantities, but you still spend the same amount of time.

Usually, when I try to cook something I haven't cooked before, I take a picture of it. That's how it is today.
Most of the time dishes succeed, but not always :)

Are you familiar with the chard?
Chard or Swiss chard is a popular vegetable in our country, growing on the coast, in the Adriatic, and on the mainland, from early summer until late autumn.

It is similar to spinach or bok choy and is used in the same way. We have a lot of it in the field this year. It needs to be harvested regularly because if not, it will grow too large. It's best when it's young.

It needs to be washed well before use, if not it can be crunchy, due to the soil of course :)

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We usually eat chard as a side dish, cooked and mashed, with garlic only, or with potatoes. Mashed potatoes with chard are almost a must with any fish dish in the Adriatic area.

But today I am going to present a recipe for chard pie. I don't know if anyone has cooked something like this before, it's my first time, too, and I was inspired by spinach pie.

It is quite a calorie-dense dish, it can be eaten warm and used as a side dish, but it can also be eaten cold, instead of a sandwich or something similar.

What do you need for 4-6 people?
This is my improvised and upgraded recipe where we use chard instead of spinach, and I added some of my "original" ideas :)

half a kilo of chard, which I've quickly boiled or blanched
two eggs
two young onions
10 decagrams of plain cheese (I used Gauda), but you can use other cheese, and 5-10 decagrams of aged cheese, I use Parmesan cheese
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
crumbly dough, which you can make yourself or buy, I usually buy it because if I knead it it takes me a while
salt and pepper to taste
spices, but here I used a couple of tablespoons of soy sauce and two teaspoons of Ras el Hanout Moroccan spice mix (I've been using it quite a lot lately, almost everywhere)

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First, prepare the filling for the pie.
I squeezed the water out of the cooked chard and cut it into small pieces.

Cut two young onions into small rings.

The Gauda cheese will go into the filling, along with the chard and young onions, so I coarsely grated it.

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Then I whisked two eggs and grated 5 dekagrams of Parmesan cheese finely

I added the Parmesan cheese to the eggs and mixed it again, you can add pepper if you like (no salt needed as Parmesan is very salty), and this will be used as a topping after the stuffing of chard and baby onions.

We have now prepared everything needed for roasting and baking. I have also prepared butter for roasting, but you can, of course, use oil.

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First, prepare the filling.
Heat a knob of butter or oil in a frying pan and fry the young onions first, for a minute or two. When it starts to turn yellow, add the spices and stir.
After a minute or so, add the chopped chard and mix well.
Finally, add the coarsely sliced Gauda cheese, stir, cover with a lid, and turn off the heat.

The cheese will melt. The filling needs to cool a little before putting it in the pie.

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Now prepare the dough. This crumbly dough I bought is round (you can also buy it rectangular) and it's intended for savory as well as sweet pies.

Carefully spread the dough on a baking tray with the baking paper.
Otherwise, don't panic if it breaks or if there is a hole, you have to pierce it with a fork at the end anyway so that it doesn't puff up when it's ready to bake.

The dough is in the baking tray and now add the filling, which has cooled on top of the dough.

Pour the egg mixture and grated Parmesan cheese on top of the filling.

Add the pie to the oven preheated to 200-220 degrees Celsius and bake for 25-30 minutes.

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After 30 minutes, or when you see that the pie has set and the dough and the cheese are light brown, take the pie out of the oven.

Look, mine looks great!

Let it cool down for a while and then let's go into action!

The pie was delicious!

That's the only piece that's left for me. Luckily I took it out in time to take a photo :) 😋
The chard will grow back and I think I'll make it again soon.

Thank you for your attention and keep enjoying the good food!

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If anyone is still hungry take a look at my older recipes!
Breaded Zucchini, Night pizza on the grill, Wild Asparagus Fritaja, Potato And Sausage, Rice with meat and vegetables

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