Easy as pie 4: Spinach pie (vegetarian)

I promised I would also post some recipes for vegetable pies with a crust made from scratch instead of a store-bought one. Here's the first one:

Spinach pie

Dough:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 75 g butter
• approx. 2 tbsp cold water

Spinach mixture:

• 1/3 cup cream cheese (I use Philadelphia)
• 2 large eggs
• 125 ml milk
• 1 tbsp pesto
• 1 spring onion, chopped
• 1 tsp horseradish sauce (from a jar)
• 1/2 tsp mustard
• 1/2 cup grated cheese (I tend to use parmesan and/or Gouda)
• 2 to 3 handfuls of finely chopped spinach (either fresh or defrosted, the more you use, the greener the pie)
• salt, pepper and nutmeg

- Put flour, salt and butter in the blender and grind it into crumbs. Then start adding water whilst the machine is still running,  until the dough turns into a ball. Use a quiche pan with removable bottom (approx. 20 cms) and make sure the dough covers the bottom and (part of) the sides as evenly as possible (this is the hardest part, I promise ;-)). Then cover the dough with parchment paper, fill it with rice or baking beans and put it in the oven for 12-15 mins at 200°C (or 180° for a fan-assisted oven).

- In the mean time, prepare the filling. Mix the cream cheese, eggs and milk. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend them until you get a smooth, green cream. Pour this into the baked crust and put it back in the oven for approx. 30 mins at 180 °C (or 160°C for a fan-assisted oven), until the top becomes slightly brown (as you can see in the picture above). Serves 4.

You can also make 2 spinach pies and put one in the freezer.