As a child (and even still as an adult) I was never very fond of pumpkin. After my daughter started eating solids at 6 months, I started 'teaching' myself to eat chunks of steamed pumpkin whenever I gave them to her. Now I wonder why I used to replace the pumpkin with zucchini in all of my recipes for years and years ;-). I still don't really like 'sweet' pumpkin recipes, but prefer the ones that have strong contrasting tastes. This recipe is a perfect example of that. I found it in my favourite vegetarian cookbook, Handboek Ecologische Voeding - Velt, and didn't change anything because I thought it was perfect ;-).
Pumpkin Pie with spinach, pecorino & goat's cheese
- 1 puff pastry pie base (supermarket)
- 500 g of (orange) pumpkin
- 40 g spinach (fresh or frozen, if frozen, defrost first)
- 1 onion
- a bunch of spring onions
- 100 g cottage cheese
- 100 g goat's cheese (buche)
- 2 eggs
- 4 tbsp. or 20 g grated pecorino cheese
- 1 tbsp.olive oil
- a pinch of rosemary
- pepper
- salt
- Clean the vegetables. Chop the onion and the spring onions and cut the pumpkin into small pieces (approx. 1/2 cms).
- Heat 1 tbsp. of olive oil and glaze the onion. Add the pumpkin, a bit of water and a pinch of rosemary and simmer until the pumpkin is soft enough to eat (but not too soft, since you still have to put it in the oven.)
- Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a bowl and mix them with the cottage cheese and 2 tbsp. of the pecorino cheese (so half of the total amount of pecorino). Add small pieces of the goat's cheese and stir well.
- Allow the pumpkin to cool down and add it to the egg mixture once cool enough. Add the defrosted or fresh spinach (chop if necessary). Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Put the pie base in a baking tin and and pour in the vegetable mixture. Sprinkle the remaining pecorino on top and immediately put the pie in the oven. Bake approx. 30 mins at 200°C (180° C for a fan-assisted oven).
Let's start with something nice and easy. When I posted this picture on Facebook, I received a lot of messages asking me for the recipe:
Little Elf's 'Special Request
Pie': My daughter (3 years old) wanted a pie with broccoli and champignons in it, so I made one for lunch
during a weekend and added some bacon. I bought the dough for this one at the supermarket, though it's probably healthier to make it from scratch, but I don't have the patience to make my own puff pastry ;-). I will be posting some recipes for other vegetable pies with home-made crusts at some point, I promise!
Broccoli, Champignon & Bacon Pie:
- 1 puff pastry pie base (from the supermarket)
- 450 g broccoli florets
- 250 g champignons (quartered)
- 150 g bacon lardons
- 100 g grated gruyere cheese
- 150 g cottage cheese
- 1,5 dl condensed milk (unsweetened)
- 1 tbsp wheat flour
- 2 eggs
- olive oil
- (1 clove of garlic)
- (salt) & pepper
- Briefly steam or boil the broccoli (4 or 5 mins). It should still be crunchy, as you still have to cook it in the oven.
- Fry the bacon lardons in a pan. I prefer them quite well done, but that's a matter of taste (and it's actually not that healthy, I know ;-)).
- Add some olive oil (and some garlic if you like it) and the champignons. Again, don't fry them too long as they still have to spend 20 mins in the oven. Season to taste.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (or 180°C for a fan assisted oven). Beat the 2 eggs and mix them with the cottage cheese, the flour and the condensed milk, then add the champignons and lardons and stir well.
- Put the pie base in a quiche or pie pan (I tend to use a regular pie pan, which means I have to 'fold' the dough a bit at the sides.)
- Now put the broccoli on top of the pie base. You can just throw it in and spread it out a bit, or you can create nice circles with it, that's what I do ;-).
- Pour the champignon 'mixture' on top of the broccoli, sprinkle it with gruyere cheese and put it in the oven for 15 - 20 mins.
Enjoy!
(If anyone wants the Dutch translation of this recipe, send me a message and I will make sure you get it.)
