A couple of weeks ago, my sister sent me a photo of her dinner that night: this lovely spicy spinach and potato pie, which happens to come from Yottam Ottolenghi's latest cookbook: Shelf Love (which she gave me for Christmas 😋). This pie is delish and very easy. If you haven't noticed by now I love all things Ottolenghi and even more so if it's tucked inside puff pastry.
Chermoula is a zingy paste made fresh with garlic, cilantro, cumin seeds, sweet paprika, chili peppers (I use jalapeño as that's all I can lay my hands on besides habañeros!!), olive oil, salt and pepper, and I add the juice of half a lime for extra zing.
It may seem like more of a winter dish and it uses frozen spinach, which is hardly fresh, local or seasonal 😱. But that didn't put me off trying it out in the middle of a July heat wave!
I have adapted the recipe as follows:
Ingredients
For the chermoula paste: 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped 1oz/30g roughly chopped fresh cilantro ½ fresh mild red chilli or jalapeño, chopped 2 tsp cumin seeds, toasted and roughly crushed using a mortar and pestle 1 tsp sweet paprika Salt and freshly ground black pepper 4 tbsp/60ml olive oil
For the pie: 4 tbsp/60ml olive oil 1 large yellow onion (about 12oz/360g, halved and thinly sliced). You can substitute leeks and/or shallots 12oz/350g frozen spinach, thawed, then squeezed to remove excess water (I use a salad spinner) Salt and freshly ground black pepper ½oz/15g roughly chopped fresh dill 1½ tbsp fresh lemon zest, plus 1½ tbsp lemon juice Plain flour, for dusting 1 sheet frozen all-butter puff pastry, at least 24cm wide, thawed 5oz/140g roughly crumbled Greek feta 1 potato (baking or waxy), skin-on, scrubbed clean and thinly sliced
Method
Add the garlic, cilantro, chili pepper, cumin, paprika, ½ tsp salt, a good grind of pepper and 3 tbsp oil to a food processor. Pulse into a coarse paste and set aside.
Add 3 tbsp oil to a large skillet on medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until softened and browned, about 12 minutes. Add half the chermoula paste, the spinach, 1 tsp salt and a good grind of pepper, and stir to combine. Remove from the heat, then add the dill and lemon zest. Set aside to cool for about 20 minutes.
Line a 9½" (24cm) pie or tart pan with a removable base with a piece of parchment paper large enough to cover the base and a little bit over the sides. I use a springform cake pan.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the pastry to a 12"/30cm square. Lay the puff pastry on the parchment, pressing in the pastry to fit the base and sides of the pan. Don't worry about excess pastry, we'll just fold it back on the filling when we're done.
Heat the oven to 400°F/200°C.
Poke the base all over with a fork, then spread the cooled spinach mixture over the base evenly. Sprinkle the feta on top, and then place the potato slices on top in a spiral, overlapping pattern.
Fold all excess puff pastry back over the filling.
Place the pie in the oven and bake until cooked through and nicely colored, about 50 minutes. Set aside to cool, about 15 minutes, before gently transferring to a wooden board or serving plate.
When ready to serve, stir the lemon juice and remaining 1 tbsp of oil into the reserved Chermoula Paste. Spoon half of the chermoula all over the pie and serve the remaining in a bowl alongside.
Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.
