Swiss Chard and Potato Pie

I've had a lot on my mind lately. I've been thinking about grand plans, potential destinies and money... and so no posts. To be honest, I haven't been doing much cooking. I can't seem to concentrate long enough to put together a shopping list, or decide on what to eat for dinner.

I'm going back to school in the fall (Creative Photography Program at Humber), which is great, wonderful, exciting and all that. But I have developed a bit of a life here in St. John's and I'm not so excited about leaving it behind and doing the long distance thing with my husband and cats... I'm still trying to figure out a way to have a decent long distance relationship with my cats.

Anyway, I did manage to muster up some excitement for fresh, locally grown produce.

Lester's Farm is the best. If you live in St. John's and you have a car, go to Lester's. Beginning mid-July the produce starts coming in. Dave and I went last weekend and we picked up some beautiful swiss chard, carrots, cauliflower and red leaf lettuce.

Swiss Chard and Potato Pie

Dough:
1-1/4 cups flour, sifted
pinch of salt
1-1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup cold water

Mix flour and salt together in a large bowl. Drizzle oil into flour, mixing with a fork or pastry cutter. Sprinkle the water in about 1 tbsp at a time, mixing until dough just comes together. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 15 minutes. Shape dough into ball and cover with a damp cloth, and chill for 2 hours.

Filling

1 bunch swiss chard (about 3/4 lb), stems removed
1 med yellow onion
1 med russet potato
1 cup crumbled feta
handful of flat-leaf parsley
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tbsp olive oil

First off, stab your potato with a fork in a couple of place, then boil your potato. It will take a while, and you want it cooked completely through. It's done when you can easily push a butter knife through it.

Pulse the swiss chard leaves in a food processor until roughly chopped. Place in a colander and sprinkle with a few pinches of salt, and toss to mix. Let drain for about 20 minutes.

When cooled, peel and dice the potato. Pulse the onion and parsley in the food processor--don't worry if there are bits of chard left inside, it doesn't matter. Put potato, onion, parsley and feta in a bowl, season with salt and pepper... mostly pepper, you're not going to need much salt.

Squeeze out the excess water from the chard by pressing it against the colander with a wooden spoon. Using a slotted spoon, add the the potato mixture. Mix in eggs and 1 tbsp olive oil (if it's fairly dry, add a bit more olive oil, if quite wet, omit it altogether).

Preheat oven to 375F. Lightly oil a pizza pan, or use a stone. Divide the dough into 2 balls, 2/3 for bottom, 1/3 for top crust. Roll out the dough for the bottom on a floured surface until it's about the size of your pan (13" - 15"). I find that you really have to work at this dough to get the right size.. don't be discouraged if it's small, just keep rolling! Place the dough in the pan, trim if necessary so that it fits. Evenly distribute the filling over the dough, leaving about 1" around the edge.

The top part is pretty much the same, except that you'll find it will be nearly see-through in places, which is totally okay. Place the top crust over the filling. Wet the bottom edge, and fold in the crust and crimp to seal. Sometimes I have to stretch the top dough to meet the bottom. Pierce the dough in a couple of places with a fork, this lets the steam out. Then gently push the surface of the pie to spread it out a bit more. Drizzle with some olive oil and pop it in the oven for about half an hour, or until golden.

This recipe is adapted from Saveur Cooks Italian. A very wonderful cookbook.