Cooking: Pie with leafy greens (Χορτόπιτα)

In general, I avoid eating fast food – but there are certain occasions when, well, you have other things to do/are on the go/are too tired and you just need fuel – now!

On one such instance, I was in sunny Greece, having just got off the plane and heading to a vacation spot by the sea.  Together with my sister we sat in a "snack bar" where I had an amazing souvlaki with pita and "everything" (meaning tzatziki, fries, and an idea of salad…).  Feeling slightly guilty, I tried to redeem myself by ordering a "chortopita", a pie with leafy greens (not just spinach) - that way, I could still say that I had vegetables ;-)

An epiphany – this pie was so delicious, I wanted more… and I actually wanted to make it home so that I could taste it again.  I find a spinach pie tends to be on the heavy side and most of the time there is plenty of feta cheese and/or cream.  This pie was light and aromatic and not fat at all – and I could actually eat the dough as well.

I set on to look for recipes on the web (thank you pinterest) and having found one, I proceeded to adapt it (as I always do…) – the end result more than pleased me and I'm happy to say I have since made it twice more to the delight of all those who taste it

Pie with leafy greens

500g spinach leaves, fresh

40g each parsley, aneth, fresh

3 leeks, white parts

1 tbsp dry sage

1 tbsp dry thyme

3 tbsp dry celery leaves

1/2 cup olive oil

salt/pepper

100g feta cheese, crumbled

2*125g pie dough

  

A major change for me regarding the ingredients was their nature: I used fresh greens, and not frozen or dried.  While I would not do so for the rest of my cooking, I found that fresh really made a difference in this recipe.

Get the oven starting at 180 degrees C fan.

Wash the spinach (4 times is necessary IMHO) to get it squeaky clean. Wash the herbs and chop off any discoloured bits.  In both cases, you can choose whether you keep the stalks or not – I do, as they provide extra flavour and in any case everything will be chopped to bits… Make sure you get as much water out of all greens as possible, otherwise the pie could get soggy (I used my salad spinner for this job)

Chop everything in tiny bits – it took about 3 full loads of my kitchen robot to go through all the ingredients. Mix everything well with the oil, season and add the crumbled feta cheese if you are using it (I've made the pie both with and without the cheese, and I can't say I have a preference…)

As to the dough, I used store-bought here, but I'm finalising a recipe for home-made "peasant" pie dough – story developing…

Line a 30-cm deep baking dish with parchment paper or oil it well.  Lay one sheet of pie dough, dump the whole mix of greens and cover with the second sheet of dough.  Make tiny little holes on the top layer and bake for about 40'. Leave to cool and then simply enjoy!

I know why the caged bird sings, by Maya Angelou

This is probably one of the more difficult posts in this blog, and I did play with the idea of not writing about this book at all.  But, the use of this blog is primarily for putting down my personal thoughts and feelings about the books I read - and while I always express my own view on issues, I try to play the devil's advocate as well and try to see the other side of the matter.

With this in mind, I also would like to say how far I am from the state of things described in this book:  I'm caucasian, European, middle-class, pretty well educated, never having been excluded from anything because of any restriction, never having witnessed slavery, segregation, racism (although one might argue that nowadays we witness a new kind of racism all over the planet...).  In any case, I know why the caged bird sings had been on my list for quite some time and I looked forward to reading it:

Stories to think about (Cuentos para pensar), by Jorge Bucay

I received this book as a birthday present, after having been astonished to see a whole display of this author's books inside a major bookstore.  I'm (almost) ashamed to say I had not heard his name before - as a result, I was curious to see what I could discover; the fact that he's a Gestalt psychotherapist only added fuel to my expectations!

In the back cover of Stories to think about, Bucay declares that his books "provide material for the brain, they help the reader to think about the world and himself". 

Cooking: Alternative pizza recipes

What is pizza for me?  tomato sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni and a lovely carb "vessel" to carry off these delicacies...

But I don't want to have classic pizza all the time --  that's why I try to find recipes that still include my favourite ingredients and also bring the pleasure of eating pizza to a whole new level!

The Classics Club: The Invisible Man, by H.G. Wells

I'm back in blogosphere after almost two years of an incredible slump in my reading habits (or any habits in fact, but that's another story...).  

I've started again - baby steps -  to read at a regular pace (at least half an hour in the mornings, when all is still quiet) and I am easing my way into the world of book challenges as well. It is for this reason that I wanted to commence my participation with something easy, with a taste of light reading.  

A classic novella fits this bill perfectly, I believe.  The Invisible Man, by H.G. Wells, is a well-known specimen and it will serve nicely as my first attempt in the 2015 challenges!

To rise again at a decent hour, by J. Ferris

Much as I like reading the classics, I also enjoy leaving my comfort zone and experiment with modern literature:  in most cases, I'm surprised either by how good or how bad it can be.  With this book, the jury is still out.  It's so different, I was grasped onto it, and read it voraciously...

In Joshua Ferris' To Rise again at a Decent Hour, we are introduced to the mind of Paul O'Rourke, a middle-aged grumpy dentist.  He's just fed up with everything, disappointed with everyone around him, dissatisfied with his own existence.  We are then invited to listen to his most intimate thoughts...