Tuesdays with Dorie BWD: Spinach-Mozzarella Pie with Parm Crumble

January 23, 2024 at 5:31 pm | Posted in BWD, groups, other savory, pies & tarts, savory things, tuesdays with dorie | 8 Comments
Tags: baking, savory, tarts

If you’re wondering how to get cheese and custard and green stuff and pastry all in one dish, the answer is a Spinach-Mozzarella Pie with Parm Crumble! What we have here is basically a spinach quiche dotted with cubes of mozzarella and topped off with a Parmesan-loaded crumble. It’s salty and cheesy and textured and great warm or room temp for any meal of the day.

Last year, I tested the recipes for an upcoming savory baking cookbook and I’ve had an empty par-baked pie shell sitting in the freezer ever since. I almost never bake a full-sized pie for the two of us, but I’ve been itching to reclaim that freezer space (and that pie plate), so when this recipe was nominated, I decided to use the crust here. It’s different than Dorie’s flaky crust, in that it’s a press-in situation with a shortcrust texture, and it’s also in a standard-sized plate instead of a deep dish, but it worked out well in this pie by slightly scaling back the custard amount. Another thing I had in the freezer from those testing days was an almost-full bag of frozen spinach, so I pulled that out, too. Rather than wilting down and squeezing fresh spinach, I thawed the frozen stuff and squeezed the heck out of it before adding it to my sautéed aromatics. Technically, my spinach-to-custard ratio was a bit higher than Dorie’s because I wanted to use up all the spinach that was in the bag. My filling was more like creamy greens and lacked a separate quiche-like layer, but more green stuff is always fine with me. Also, I like a bit of heat, so I added some pepper flake to the filling.

After the spinach mixture and the creamy custard are inside the par-baked shell, on went cubes of mozzarella and lots of parm crumble, and then it was into the oven. I only made 3/4 of the crumble and it still seemed plenty to cover the pie. We’ve had this with a salad the last couple of nights for dinner, and since I made a full-sizer, we can have it for a couple of lunches, too.

If you don’t have the book Baking with Dorie: Sweet, Salty & Simple by Dorie Greenspan, get it and join us as we bake through it twice a month. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!

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Looks amazing!

Comment by Dorothy's New Vintage Kitchen— January 23, 2024 #

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I like how you adapt to what you have on hand and make them work with the various components of the pie. What a show of your cooking skills in action!

Comment by Shirley @ EverOpenSauce— January 23, 2024 #

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- thank you!!
  
  Comment by steph (whisk/spoon)— January 23, 2024 #
  
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Beautiful. Next time, I’m going to put that crumble over my entire pie…I just sort of dotted it but yours looks spectacular and I see most everyone went with the full coverage. It was so good, I can see why. Still giggling over your freezer…I would love to see that freezer, all the magic you are always pulling out of it.:-)

Comment by Kayte Gerth— January 23, 2024 #

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THE MOST BEAUTIFUL!!!

Comment by Mardi (eat. live. travel. write.)— January 23, 2024 #

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- xoxo!!
  
  Comment by steph (whisk/spoon)— January 23, 2024 #
  
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We also had this as an entree with a salad which worked well. I think anything between the topping and crust would be good. Glad you have reclaimed your freezer space.

Comment by Diane Zwang— January 23, 2024 #

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I love how you always have odds and ends and bits about in your kitchen and fridge/freezer 🥰. This was tasty and with the extra spinach to filling ratio…worthy of a full-size pie for a few days. I felt like if I was to make it again, I would add more spinach so you beat me to it haha.

Comment by isthisakeeper— January 23, 2024 #

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