Ingredients
- 3 tbs olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, sliced
- 1 red onion, sliced
- 500 g Swiss chard cut into 2-cm pieces
- 4 eggs
- 200 g feta cheese, crumbled
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Pastry
- 250 g plain flour
- 150 g unsalted butter cubed
- 2 egg yolks
- 2–3 tbs iced water
Swiss chard, feta cheese and egg pie
In my native Sydney, we are fortunate to have a plethora of excellent Turkish cafés and restaurants serving up fresh baked pide (Turkish bread) alongside colourful and delicious dips.
The pide dough is also the base for the Turkish version of pizza, which is often filled or topped with the freshest of vegetables such as tomatoes, spinach or chard, or tangy feta cheese and sometimes with an egg or two cracked on top before being baked.
It’s very easy to see where the inspiration for this delicious pie came from!
Method
To make the pastry, put flour and butter in food processor bowl and put in freezer for 10 minutes. Pulse ingredients a few times until just combined. With the food processor still running, add egg yolks and just enough iced water so that the mixture is on the verge of coming together.
Do not over beat, as this will make the pastry tough.
Remove from bowl and use lightly floured hands to quickly form dough into a ball. Wrap in cling film and let rest in fridge for 30 minutes.
Put 2 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan set over high heat, add onion and garlic and cook for 2 minutes, until soft and just flavours the oil. Add Swiss chard to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often, until it wilts and softens.
Season well with salt and pepper, leave in the pan and set aside to cool.
Preheat the oven to 220ºC, (Gas 7.) Roll dough out on a sheet of lightly floured baking paper to form a circle about 35 cm in diameter, trimming away any uneven bits. Roll the edge over to form a 1 cm border, then roll over again.
Transfer pastry circle to baking tray. Spoon the Swiss chard mixture over the pastry.
Put eggs in a bowl and prick the yolks with a fork. Pour eggs over Swiss chard so that they are evenly distributed, then scatter feta over the top.
Drizzle remaining oil over pie and cook in oven for about 20 minutes until the pastry is golden and the top of the pie is just starting to turn brown.
Let cool for 10 minutes before cutting into slices to serve.
Submitted byRoss Dobson
Tips and Tricks
Try using leftover chard raw in a smoothie or sauteed with eggs for breakfast.
As a general rule, try and buy only so much cheese as you can eat in two sittings. This will reduce the need for long cheese storage and reduce the chance of wastage.
Store your eggs in their original cartons. Cartons prevent moisture loss in your eggs while protecting them from other flavours that may be absorbed from your fridge.
