See this picture? Notice how the pie is not on a plate? This may sound a bit weird, but the plate just didn’t look good in the picture. It was just not photogenic enough. But being a poor student, I don’t really have a whole lot of plates to choose from and, again as a result of being a student, as I was in a rush to go to school, instead of fiddling around with other not-so-photogenic plates, I just slabbed my pie (and the salad!) on to our pristinely white dinner table.
And it worked! Just look at how beautiful my gorgeous pie looked on it! The white really made the colors pop!
Besides, it wasn’t too inconvenient to eat the pie off the table. The salad was something else though… I mean, I could hardly try to fork it right off the wooden table, right…
But anyway, enough about my bad table manners. Let’s talk pie!
It’s fluffy… which is good…
It’s leeky… which is better…
It’s cheesy… which is best!
Not only is it great for dinner, the pie also makes for a perfect on-the-go lunch! And it’s just too easy to whip up.
Just start by slicing and washing two or three leeks and throwing them in a large frying pan.
Just look at that! Doesn’t that color remind you of spring?
Cook and stir the leeks for about ten minutes until they’re beautifully soft and squishy. Then sprinkle in a tablespoon of flour.
Stir and cook for another two minutes to cook off the flour flavor, then toss in some crumbled goat cheese and chopped sun-dried tomatoes.
Take the pan off the heat and allow the goat cheese to melt.
In the meantime, press some pie dough into a pie dish (yes, I used the store-bought stuff) and scrape the leek mixture into the pie shell, spreading it out with a spatula. Whisk together some eggs, milk and seasoning and pour the egg mixture evenly over the filling.
Bake until the leek and goat cheese pie is beautifully golden and delicious.
Serve either hot or cold with a great side salad.
Enjoy!
- 225g (or 8 ounces) homemade or store-bought pie dough
- 1 tablespoon of butter
- 750g (or 1½ pounds) untrimmed leek
- 1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour
- 125g (or 4 ounces) soft goat cheese, crumbled
- 60g (or 2 ounces) sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
- 3 large eggs
- 150ml (or ½ cup + 2 tablespoons) milk
- salt and pepper to taste
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/390°F (standard oven setting). If you are using frozen pie dough, defrost. Roll the pie dough to a thickness of about 3mm (or ⅛ of an inch) and press it into a 23-cm or 9-inch tart pan.
- Chop off and discard the roots and the dark green ends of the leaks (don't worry about the beautiful spring green part, but the dark green bit is tough and bitter). Cut the leeks into thin rings and wash thoroughly in a colander. Drain well. You should now have about 350g (or a little less than 12 ounces) of leek rings. Leeks usually have a bit of dirt between their layers, especially in the green parts. I usually get rid of this by pushing the sliced leek rings apart and rinsing the separated rings thoroughly in a colander.
- Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Once the butter is bubbling, throw in the leek rings and stir and cook for about 10 minutes on low to medium heat until they're nice and soft.
- Sprinkle in the flour and cook and stir for another two minutes to cook off the flour. The flour needs to be 'cooked off' to get rid of the unpleasant raw flour taste.
- Take the pan off the heat and stir in the crumbled goat cheese and chopped sun-dried tomatoes, melting the cheese. Spread the mixture evenly into the prepared pie shell.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the milk and the eggs. Season heavily with the salt and pepper, bearing in mind that you are not only seasoning the egg and milk mixture, but that you are actually seasoning the entire pie.
- Pour the egg mixture evenly over the pie filling and give the pan a shake/gentle tap to get rid of any air bubbles. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Serve hot or cold.
New favorite food quote:
[…] Recipe and photo credit to thetoughcookie.com […]