Tourte de Blettes

From River Cottage Veg Everyday!, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Bloomsbury, 2011.

I couldn’t imagine the use of chard in a sweet pie so naturally I had to make it to see if it really worked. I had just purchased River Cottage Veg Everyday! and looking through it came to this Tourte de Blettes, the very last recipe in the book. The photograph of the pie didn’t encourage me overly either because there was a slice of the pie with the chard, very green looking, tucked in with pieces of apple and raisins. But the taste would be the test.

Pastry was made first. This was a sweet pastry, flour and icing sugar mixed with butter and rubbed until like breadcrumbs. An egg yolk and a little milk and it was soon brought together into a dough and placed in the refrigerator to chill.

The chard (I used silverbeet), less the firm stems, was washed and placed in saucepan over heat until it had wilted. When cool it was squeezed tightly to rid it of any liquid. It was then chopped.

The chopped greens were mixed with beaten eggs, pine nuts, lemon zest, sugar and raisins which had been previously soaked in brandy. The little bit of brandy left was also added.

The apples were grated and squeezed to get rid of any liquid. They were also then added to the mixture.

The pastry was rolled out to make a base and a lid for the pie. When the pastry was rolled out and fitted into the pan, the filling was spread on top. The lid was placed on, some slits made for steam, and it was then baked.

The pie turned out a lot better than I had expected. The silverbeet worked reasonably well with the apples and raisins. It wasn’t my most favourite apple pie but was all right.  

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔