spinach & ricotta pie

Spinach and ricotta pie is an all time family favourite of ours but I don’t make it often enough because I loath dealing with fiddly pastry.

With a walking one year old toddling around the house I simply do not have time for pastry making, blind baking or layering filo.

So when I stumbled across this super simple spinach and ricotta pie recipe thanks to Teresa Cutter, I couldn’t have been happier.

I love that The Healthy Chef has replaced fussy, hard to handle and stress inducing pastry with simple, gorgeous, healthy ribbons of lovely sweet potato.  Pure genius.

I also adore that the entire pie can be whipped up in less than ten minutes.  Simply pop all of the ingredients into a food processor and blitz until smooth and creamy.

Not only a joy to prepare, this pie is also completely delicious to eat.

The creamy mellow ricotta is studded with handfuls of baby spinach, zesty coins of spring onion, as well as an array of punchy fresh herbs; basil, sage and parsley.  The large pinch of nutmeg adds a beautiful warm depth to the pie and smells divine whilst baking away in the oven.

The texture of the baked pie is wonderful for the little ones, especially for baby led weaning beginners!  The pie is firm enough to be handled by little hands but soft enough to be nibbled on easily.  Miss G. loved it!  This recipe is also fantastic to pop into the lunch box!

With this recipe now in my arsenal I’ll be whipping up our family favourite all. the. time.

To create this gorgeous spinach & ricotta pie simply…

Begin by placing the ricotta, spinach, basil, sage, parsley, spring onions, eggs and nutmeg into the large bowl of a food processor.  Blitz until smooth, creamy and gorgeously combined.

Pour the ricotta mixture into a lined pie dish or cake tin and smooth.

Cut the sweet potato into ribbons using a vegetable peeler.

Arrange the sweet potato on top of the ricotta mixture and pop into a preheated 180 degree (350 F) oven to bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until golden and set.

Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes or so before removing to cool completely on a large plate.  Serve thin slices of the spinach and herb studded ricotta pie alongside a simple salad of fresh tomatoes and basil.  Enjoy x

spinach & ricotta pie

adapted from Teresa Cutter, The Healthy Chef

INGREDIENTS

1 kg of fresh ricotta (its best to buy the ricotta from the deli, as it’s a lot firmer and will set better)

200 grams baby spinach

1/2 cup basil, leaves picked

1/2 cup parsley, leaves picked

2 spring onions, finely chopped

6 sage leaves

1 teaspoon nutmeg

6 eggs

1 medium sweet potato, cut into ribbons using a vegetable peeler

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius (350 F).  In the large bowl of a food processor place the ricotta, spinach, basil, parsley, spring onions, sage, nutmeg and eggs and pulse until smooth, creamy and well combined.  Pour the ricotta mixture into a lined pie or cake tin, top with ribbons of sweet potato and pop into the oven to bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until golden and set.  Allow to cool slightly in the tin before removing to cool completely on a plate.  Serve alongside a simple salad of sliced tomatoes and basil.  Enjoy x.

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