Author Notes
This comes from my mother's collection of Pennsylvania Dutch recipes. From its pristine condition, I doubt she ever made this pie. Like so many home cooks, myself included, she had a large file of must-try-this-sometime recipes. I played with the preparation, added lemon zest and nutmeg, and opted for Gruyere instead of the "sharp cheese" listed in the original ingredients. I baked it in my Mom's pie plate that she had in her kitchen before I was born, many moons ago. - Lizthechef —Lizthechef
Test Kitchen Notes
Lizthechef’s Spinach Ricotta Pie is oozing with homespun charm. With just a few wonderful tweaks, she’s churned out some really great flavors. Without overpowering it, the Gruyere lends a nice assertive contrast to the more mellow ricotta and the subtle warmth from the nutmeg is balanced nicely by her clever addition of Meyer lemon zest. I did blind bake the crust for about 10 minutes before pouring the filling in and it turned out nice and flaky. Make sure to use a superior whole-milk ricotta, as an average one might be easily lost here. - TiggyBee —TiggyBee
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Ingredients
- Crust
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1 cup
unbleached all-purpose flour
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1/4 cup
whole wheat flour
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1/3 cup
cold unsalted butter
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3 tablespoons
cold, low-fat buttermilk
- Filling
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1
6-ounce package baby spinach, roughly chopped
-
1
small yellow onion, finely chopped
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3 tablespoons
unsalted butter
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3 tablespoons
unbleached all-purpose flour
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kosher salt
-
ground white pepper
-
3
large eggs
-
1 pound
ricotta
-
1/2 cup
Gruyere, grated
-
1/2 cup
low-fat sour cream
-
Dash
freshly grated nutmeg
-
1 teaspoon
Meyer lemon zest
-
Sweet paprika
Directions
- Crust
-
Combine the white and wholewheat flour. Using 2 knives, cut in the butter. Add the buttermilk.
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Pull the dough into a ball. Chill in fridge for 1 hour.
- Filling
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
-
In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until limp, about 5 minutes.
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Add the flour and stir to coat the onions. Cook 2 minutes. Add the spinach and cook, stirring, until the spinach is wilted and bright green.
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Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper.
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In a large bowl, beat the eggs. Add ricotta, cheese, sour cream, nutmeg and lemon zest. Mix well and set aside.
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Roll out chilled dough and place in a 9-inch pie plate.
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Add the spinach-onion mixture to the ricotta filling. Pour the pie filling into the crust. Smooth with spatula or the back of a large spoon. Sprinkle with paprika.
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Bake 45 minutes. Allow pie to rest for 15 minutes before cutting and serving.
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