Photo is bad, pie was good!

I've been baking a lot of bread lately and really enjoying that. I'm looking forward to making more, but in the meantime I'd like to keep baking other things. I'm a bit burnt out on sweets at this point, so I've been thinking more along the lines of savoury baked goods. We ended up watching pie week on the Great British Bake Off and that was enough to get me set on doing pies.

Initially I was thinking that I'd do some sort of of... I guess pub-style meat pie. I briefly contemplated doing a basic mince pie, but... I just wasn't feeling it this week. And I've been trying to avoid buying meat lately. (I have a bunch of beef stashed in the freezer, so I've still been cooking with that from time to time.) Eventually, it came down to a choice between a potato, spinach, and bell pepper pithivier or a kale, lemon, and cheese phyllo pie. TF cast his vote for phyllo, so phyllo it was! (I'll probably still make the pithivier at some point.

Kale, Lemon, and Cheese Phyllo Pie

Slightly adapted from BBC Good Food

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 leek, sliced (white parts only)
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-2 green Thai chiles, minced
• 1 small preserved lemon, flesh and pith removed
• 1/4 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1/8 tsp. fennel seeds
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 500g frozen kale (or kale-spinach blend), thawed
• 100g fresh green herb of choice¹
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 3 eggs
• 300g ricotta
• 300g feta, crumbled
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 227g phyllo pastry
• canola (or other neutral oil) for brushing

Directions

1. Head olive oil over medium heat.
2. Add leek, onion, garlic, chile, preserved lemon, cumin, fennel seeds, and salt and cook until soft and fragrant (~10 minutes).
3. Add kale, herbs, and lemon juice and cook until heated through. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
4. Beat the eggs until smooth and slightly frothy.
5. Mix in ricotta and feta.
6. Press as much liquid as possible out of the kale mixture and stir it into the cheese blend.
7. Stir in nutmeg and set filling aside.
8. Oil an 8 or 9" (20-23cm) springform pan.
9. Lay a sheet of phyllo over the pan, gently pressing it into the corners and up the sides, letting the extra hang over the edge.
10. Brush the pastry with oil and lay another sheet on top at a slight angle to the first. (I tried to place mine so that the corners were offset by ~1cm from the previous layer.)
11. Continue adding more layers, brushing each one with oil, until the tin is well-lined.
12. Spoon the filling into the pastry and fold the excess pastry over the top, brushing each bit with oil as it's folded in.
13. Once all the overhanging bits have been brought into the center and the pie is completely enclosed, brush the top with more oil.
14. Bake at 375°F (190°C) for 50 minutes.
15. Cool for at least 20 minutes before removing from tin.
16. Release the sides and carefully transfer the pie off of the tin base and onto a serving platter.
17. In theory the pie should now be chilled before serving, but I cut it while it was still warm and quite enjoyed it that way.

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¹ I used a mix of cilantro and flat-leaf parsley. ^Back