Peruvian Chard Pie

Because I come from a country that has unique vegetables and fruits, I make the mistake of thinking I cant find in europe many of my favorite ones. In Peru, mostly sundays, we have huge breakfast that turns into brunch and then into lunch. And one of my favorite dishes of those days are "Pastel de Acelga" or Chard Pie. 

When I was at my parents hotel last month, a costumer brought me something called "Mangold" in german and OMG! it was Acelga. So when I returned to Berlin, I jumped into the first whole food store and looked for chard. In germany chard is beautiful. It comes in a range of reds, yellow and greens. In Peru it is just dark green. So here is my sunday recipe of Peruvian Chard Pie. I hope you guys enjoy it!

​INGREDIENTS

DOUG:
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup warm water

OR

Get a yeast dough from your supermarket.

THE FILLING:
1/2 kilo of Chard
1 cup ricotta cheese or creme fraiche
4 tablespoons grated cheese
50 gr feta cheese
4 eggs or the amount of pie forms you will make
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 medium red onion
1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt to taste

PREPARATION

Mix the flour with the salt and place it on the table, make a hole in the center, incorporate water, yolk, margarine and vegetable oil. Knead and make eight buns, let rest for 25 minutes.

Wash, cook and squeeze the chard to remove the water. Cut and fry the onion in extra virgin olive oil, add cooked chard, cheese, nutmeg, pepper and salt.

Stretch four small pieces of dough, spread with vegetable oil and place one on top of the other. Put the dough in the base of the pie form, place inside the filling and four eggs. (I used smal forms so I added one egg per form)

With the other four pieces of dough, repeat the process of stretching, spread with extra virgin olive oil between layer and layer; And finally cover the chard mix. Sprinkle some sea salt over it.

Brush with egg . Bake at 180 ° C for 1 hour (20 minutes for small forms), then serve and enjoy!

You can try the same recipe using spinach or Kale, just dont forget to squeeze the vegetables before using. A good tip is to steam the leaves first, let them cool down and then roll them in several kitchen papers until they are dry.