A Spinach Pie out of Necessity

I read very little when it comes to cookbooks. In fact, aside from the cookbook my Bubbie (grandmother) gave me a few years back, I only look at pictures in cookbooks. I think this is mostly because I don't like following written directions. After reading (yes, I do read other things) an article in the the New York Times a few days ago about a cook book called Cookwise (Corriher), I decided to give that book a shot. This book piqued my interest because it was described as attempting to explain the purpose or techniques and ingredients in cooking --- think "Good Eats", but in book form.

The first section I started into was about the role of fat in making pie crust. With my new oven and its controllable temperature, I felt inspired to learn a little about baking and pie making. After reading that the key to pie crust is a 1:3 ratio of flour to fat, I decided that there were more reasons than just a lack of temperature control, not to bake pie! If I were to make a pie with a top and bottom crust, I would probably need a stick of butter, or lard (which I don't use) or Crisco. Oil, a slightly better fat, supposedly yields bad crust. So much for pie.

Well, maybe not. As I read on I had an epiphany. I realized a way to make pie crust with very minimal fat, while maintaining all of the desired properties. Or at least in theory... For the past two days I have been doing some initial experiments into my new crust making method. My first attempt did not employ the exact ingredients I theorized were necessary, and hence yielded an inferior crust. Today, I had some initial success. It will take a few more experiments before I know whether my method is actually worthwhile. As a control I will need to try to make a full fat crust and see if I can even make that successfully (if I can't do that, then my experiment is not too meaningful). In any case, at this point I am keeping my new crust technique under lock and key.





One of the positive side effects of making lots of pie crust is that I needed to make some pies. I've never made a pie before, and I don't have much as far as fruit in the apartment right now, so I decided to make a savory quiche type pie with spinach, onion, egg, feta and a little mozzarella. I baked the bottom crust blind (that is, I shaped it and put foil on it covered with dried beans for weight and cooked for 15 minutes). Meanwhile I sliced a large onion and sauted it with some pepper flakes and sage. When it started to caramelize I added a package of spinach and cooked this until a fair amount of its moisture had boiled off. This mixture when onto the cooked pie bottom. Onto this I sprinkled some small chunks of feta and mozzarella cheese, and then spread out two well beaten eggs. The top crust just sat on this (no precooking). This went into the oven at about 400 for about 20 (or until the top crust started to brown a little). It turned out pretty good and the crust, though not everything a crust should be, work well for this savory pie.