Recipe and Images by Nadia Tamby

The name of this pie isn’t entirely accurate but it is loosely based on the idea of the popular Greek pie – a spinach and feta filling enveloped in layers of flakey filo dough. When I am faced with a daunting amount of greens, I often wash, dry and trim all of them at once so they are ready for salads or side dishes (I’m more likely to eat a kale salad when it’s already halfway prepared). This time my CSA basket came with collard greens, kale, malabar spinach, and a bunch each of radishes and turnips (with perfect-looking greens attached). I saved the collards and Malabar spinach for another use as they tend to keep for longer, and cooked down the kale, turnip and radish greens with garlic and herbs and subbed the feta for some fresh goat cheese for a twist on the classic pie. You can use any mix of greens, herbs and cheese to your liking for this forgiving recipe!

I tend to use more robust herbs in dishes before cooking them (sage, thyme, rosemary, oregano, marjoram…) and fine herbs after cooking, for garnish, or in sauces (cilantro, parsley, mint, dill…).

The green sauce I made to swirl into the yogurt served alongside this pie is similar to a French “sauce verte” which literally means “green sauce.” It is a great way to use up all your leftover fine herbs. Simply blend herbs with a couple raw garlic cloves, salt and extra virgin olive oil and a splash of lemon juice or vinegar. This sauce is delicious as a marinade, used to top grilled fish or meat, can be diluted with more olive oil and lemon juice to make a salad dressing, or swirled into hummus or yogurt to make dips.



Pie Ingredients:

Filling:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 3 tablespoons herbs, finely chopped (I used oregano, marjoram and thyme)
• 1 bunch turnip* greens (cut stems off)
• 1 bunch radish* greens (cut stems off)
• 1 bunch kale (ribs removed)
• 10.5 oz goat cheese, room temperature (1 full log)
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Crust:

• 1 stick butter, melted
• 8 oz filo dough (1 roll of ~20 sheets)

Herbed Yogurt Ingredients:

• 1 cup of good quality whole milk yogurt and a few tablespoons of prepared “Sauce Verte”

Sauce Verte:

• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 bunch of cilantro (just tear off the bottom part of the stems, you can actually use cilantro stems in addition to the leaves)
• 1 bunch of mint (discard stems)
• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil (or more, if needed)
• ½ lemon (juice and zest)
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Extras/Tools to have on hand:

• Brush for butter, springform pan, clean damp kitchen towel to cover filo, blender or food processor for sauce verte

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350F.

Sautee the garlic and onions over medium heat until cooked and started to slightly color. Add the herbs of your choosing and cook for another minute and then add all your greens (you can add them in batches if you can’t fit them all in your pan at the same time – as they cook down you will have room for more). Remove the mixture from the heat and let it cool about 10 minutes. At this point you may need to squeeze out any excess moisture from the greens to prevent your dough from getting soggy. I didn’t have to, but it depends on the type of greens you decide to use.

In a mixing bowl, whisk your eggs and goat cheese together until smooth and fold in the mixture of cooked greens.

Unroll your filo dough and cover with a damp kitchen towel to prevent it from becoming brittle while working with it. Using your pastry brush, brush the inside of the springform pan with butter. Lay a piece of filo dough inside with about a 2-inch overhang (precision not necessary) and brush a layer of butter over the filo dough. Then rotate the pan and continue this process of overlapping filo sheets and brushing butter until you’re out of sheets and the whole pan is lined with filo.

Spoon the filling into the filo and flatten the top. Flip the edges of the filo pastry onto the filling creating folds and waves in the sheets. Don’t worry if it breaks – it’s going to look rustic anyway. Brush butter on the top and then bake for 45-50 minutes until the filo looks browned.



Combine the Sauce Verte ingredients into a food processor and blend until you have a smooth, bright green sauce. I spoon this into a jar and top it with an extra bit of olive oil to prevent it from oxidizing and turning brown. This should keep for about a week. Spoon some of this into a bowl of yogurt and give it a swirl.

Serve the pie warm with a dollop of the herbed yogurt for dipping!

*Slice up the turnips and radishes into a jar with spices, vinegar, water, salt, and a little sugar to make some crunchy quick-pickles