Spinach Pie with Cream Cheese Crust

from Karenpie

Crust:

1 stick butter, softened

1/2 brick (4oz) cream cheese, softened

1/4 c. milk

1-1/2 c. + 2 T. flour

1/2 t. salt

1 T. sugar

Filling:

1 onion finely chopped

olive oil for sauteing

10 oz. box frozen, chopped spinach, thawed

3 eggs

15 oz. carton ricotta cheese

1/2 c. grated Parmesan

1-1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. pepper

Optional: 8 oz. cooked, cubed ham or chopped bacon

Crust:

Using your food processor, mix the butter and cream cheese together. Add the milk and pulse until it's mostly mixed. There will still be some small lumps present. Dump in the salt, sugar and flour and pulse until it comes together in a ball. It will still be a bit sticky. Turn it out onto a pastry cloth or your counter top and divide in half. Put each portion on a piece of plastic wrap and flatten/wrap them up into discs. Stick these in the fridge while you make the filling.

Filling:

Saute the onion in a bit of olive oil or butter and cook til translucent. Let it cool a bit. Dump the spinach into a folded up cheesecloth (or use your hands). Squeeze the heck out of this sucker to get as much moisture as possible out of the spinach. It doesn't have to be dry, some liquid is okay, but get the majority of it out. The spinach will turn into a little green, dense ball. Put the spinach in a large bowl along with the cheeses, salt, pepper and eggs. Don't forget the onion that's been cooling on the stove. Chopped up ham or cooked bacon can be added at this point too. Set this aside while you roll out the crust.

Roll out one disc at a time. Now roll out the top crust. When it's rolled out, fold it in half. Don't trim the edges to the proper size with the top crust. Cut a triangle pattern in the center of the fold. Make a big one with two smaller triangles flanking it. Once this is done, scoop the spinach filling into the bottom crust and even it out. The filling will be very stiff. Then, lift your folded-in-half pie crust and place it on the filling. The fold should be in the center. Fold the top half of the crust over, to completely cover the pie. Now begin folding the edge of the top crust under the bottom crust's edge, to completely enclose the filling. This pie isn't real juicy and doesn't bubble over like a fruit pie would, but doing this makes it easier to make a pretty edge. If right-handed, move counter-clockwise around the crust. Thumb and forefinger of my right hand pushing the dough around the forefinger of my left hand. If left-handed, reverse it and go clockwise. Brush the top of the crust with some milk or beaten egg. I used milk here, but egg will make it look glossy and browned when it's done. Bake at 350 for 1 hour, checking about 5 minutes before end-time to see if it's getting too brown.

+ ~ Recipe shared by Sparky from Sparky Under Wraps ~ +