Spinach Ricotta Pie 24/325

Polly Herz Center

The Relation

Polly Herz (Pauline > Martha) is my second cousin, once-removed. She is the grandchild of Pauline (Polly) the third eldest child of Mama & Papa Weber. I hear people refer to her as Pretty Polly fairly often, so I imagine she was quite the looker (this is referring to the original Polly, not that Polly Herz is not also a looker. I think she looks dashing in her Polly green shirt).

The Process

I know this isn’t really a pie pie but, this is the first pie I have ever made. This is very important to know because I made a lot of hearty assumptions about making pies that paid off pretty well.

1/2 pound spinach

I looked up what “cut together” meant as I imagined that I might have to combine ingredients using a knife and a cutting motion. But, it seems like it’s just a fancy way of saying mix. After missing my ingredients I formed a ball. That is the last we hear about the ball until a few sentences later we hear about an “unbaked crust”. Using my powers of deductive reasoning, I fixed the ball eventually becomes the crust. So I tossed it in the fried to chill for a bit.

In case you’re wondering what half a pound of spinach looks like, here ya go. I sautéed up my fresh spinach and onion real good in about four tablespoons of butter. Unable to find regular ricotta cheese in a suitable size, I bought the low-fat version. I also used parmesan cheese, mostly because it’s what I had on hand. I don’t think I added any nutmeg or basil, but that’s what I get for not close reading. At this point, I put everything in the fridge and went to bed because I was tired.

AM I DOING THIS RIGHT?

Cut to 5:00 AM the next morning. I got out the chilled ball aka crust. Again – I have never made a pie, so I was kind of winging it here. I tossed down some flour and rolled the dough out until it would cover my whole baking pan. The crust was thinner than my thinnest rolling pin rim (1/4in). I had a pie dish, but I couldn’t find it, so I used a round cake tin. I sprayed the cake pan with Pam and delicately placed my crust inside. I tried to smooth out any ridges the best I could.

I piled the filling into the crust (who’s edges I didn’t chop off) and then very carefully spread the sour cream on top. She was tossed into the oven for the full 45 minutes. Once taken out, she was allowed to cool for maybe 10 minutes before I had to put her in a cooler and take her to work.

my perfect pie baby

The Feedback

Well, once the pie reached her final destination at 7:00 PM that night, she was allowed to warm up in the over for an hour on the “warm” setting. This didn’t do a whole lot as Old Coworkers still ended up microwaving their pieces. Great feedback though! The crust was really nice and held up perfectly. It didn’t really go with the curry Old Coworker Beth made, but hey, everything was delicious!

The Receipt

YUM

SPINACH RICOTTA PIE - CC80
Polly Herz

CRUST
     1 cup flour
     ⅓ cup butter
     ¼ tsp salt
     3 Tbs water

FILLING
     1 lb ricotta or cottage cheese
     3 beaten eggs
     ½ lb fresh chopped spinach
     1 small chopped onion
     3 Tbs flour
     ½ cup grated cheese
     Dash of nutmeg, salt, pepper and basil

TOPPING
     1 cup sour cream

Cut together flour, butter and salt, and then add water to form a ball. Sauté spinach and onion in butter. Combine with all other filling ingredients. Spread into unbaked crust. Top with sour cream. Bake at 375° for 40-45 minutes.