Greek Greens Pie and Roasted Beets

Monday we tried a new recipe for Greek Greens Pie alongside roasted Chiggogia beets (both were delicious!!). Here's the play-by-play. First, in batches, blanch about 2 pounds of greens. We used beet greens, baby beet greens, kale and spinach.

I blanched so many beet greens the water turned red!

After blanching the greens and cooling in ice water, drain and squeeze out all the excess water. Then chop them up, medium-fine.

In a pan, cook a finely diced medium onion in a Tablespoon of olive oil until softened. After five minutes add one bunch of scallions, finely diced, then the greens and a 1/4 cup each of chopped dill, mint and parsley. Stir together, remove from heat and mix in 5 ounces of feta cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

In a small saucepan, bring 2 cups milk and 1/2 cup water to a simmer, then slowly stream in one cup of corn flour, whisking constantly. Keep simmering and stirring until the mixture is the consistency of polenta. Put half the mixture in an oiled 10-inch round cake pan (or the nearest equivalent - this pan is 10x5) and spread into an even thin layer (wetting your fingers helps). Then spread the greens mixture on the bottom crust, then add 3 Tablespoons olive oil to the remaining crust dough (and enough water to make it resemble wet sand (I missed this step)) and spoon it over the greens to make the top crust.

Bake in a preheated 375-degree oven for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the top is browned. Let stand for 20-30 minutes to allow the crust to set up. Then enjoy.

While we were baking the pie, we roasted the beets by wrapping them all (together) in an aluminum foil packet with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. When they were soft all the way through, I took them out of the oven, peeled and sliced them. Aren't they interesting? Not solid red all the way through! They were sweet and delicious.

Chiggogia beets