Greek greens and sweet onion pie

Greek pie crust

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup water

Equipment: 9- or 10-inch tart, pie or springform pan.
In a bowl, mix together flour, salt and baking powder. Make a well in the center and add olive oil and water. Mix together with a fork. The dough should come together in a ball. Do not overmix.
Pour dough out of bowl onto a lightly floured surface and knead just until smooth, about 1 minute. Divide dough into halves. Press each half into a circle, about 4 inches in diameter. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 15 minutes.
When ready to bake, roll out one piece of dough onto a lightly floured surface, into a thin 12-inch round. Spray or brush pan with olive oil. Line pan with dough.

Filling

2 to 2 1/2 pounds chard or other mild greens like spinach, amaranth, stems removed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large sweet onion, chopped
2 to 3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 pound feta cheese, crumbled
Salt and pepper to taste

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Add greens and 1 tablespoon salt. Cook for 2 minutes, or just until tender. Using tongs or a slotted spoon, transfer greens to a bowl of cold water, then drain. Thoroughly squeeze excess water from greens, then chop.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, add onions and garlic, and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in greens and herbs, long enough to coat with oil. Remove from heat.
Beat eggs in a large bowl. Remove 2 tablespoons of beaten eggs for brushing the crust. Add feta and greens, mix well and season with salt and pepper.
Pour filling into pan, covering surface of the bottom dough layer. Roll out second piece of dough and place over filling. Pinch top and bottom dough edges together, crimping edges around rim of pie.
Brush top with reserved egg, and with a paring knife, make a few incisions on top to release steam. Bake 40-50 minutes, until crust is golden. Cool slightly. Slice into wedges, warm or at room temperature.
Makes six servings.

WHAT TO DO WITH SWISS CHARD

We used to grow a lot of Swiss Chard and I was always being asked by people how to prepare it. Frankly, it is not my favorite veggie and so I was always experimenting with recipes. For those of you who are vegetarian, so cheese worked pretty well in the Cheesy Spinach Bake, but I would not recommend using it in the Quiche Recipe, since the quiche needs to set and the cheeses assist in the process. I especially like the recipes that follow:

EGGLESS CHARD AND SPINACH QUICHE

You can make this one using just chard if you don't have spinach. This is also a good recipe for using leftover chicken. Just cut it into small cubes and toss in with the spinach and/or chard when sauteeing. Ham would work, too. 

What You Need:
1 (9 inch) unbaked 9 inch pie crust
1/2 pound spinach, well rinsed, drained and chopped
1/2 pound red Swiss chard, well rinsed, drained and chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
8 small oyster mushrooms, chopped
2 teaspoons capers (optional)
1 (12 ounce) package firm tofu, cubed (I leave out the tofu and add extra cheese, as I don't eat tofu. About 1/2 cup of extra cheddar will suffice. Or, as I mentioned above,  you could *substitute chicken or ham.)

1/4 cup skim or soy milk 
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pinch ground cinnamon
1 pinch ground cardamom
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2- Bake pie crust until lightly browned. Meanwhile, place spinach and Swiss chard in a steamer** over 1 inch of boiling water, and cover. Lightly cook, about 5 minutes.
3- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat and saute onions and garlic. When onions become transparent add spinach and chard. Stir in curry powder, parsley, salt and pepper. Saute until spinach and chard reduce, then add mushrooms and capers. (If you are adding chicken, throw that in now.) Stir and remove from heat.
4- In a blender or food processor, combine tofu*, milk, nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom and Parmesan cheese. Process until smooth and creamy. Pour over vegetables and mix well. Transfer mixture to the pie crust.
5- Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle top with Cheddar cheese. Bake for 10 more minutes, or until cheese is lightly browned.
Makes 4 generous servings

**If you don't have a steamer, just use a large bowl and the microwave. Put chard and/or spinach in a bowl, put in about 2 tablespoons of water and cover with a dinner plate, so that there is a sealed lid on the container. DO NOT USE A PLASTIC CONTAINER OR ONE WITH AN AIRTIGHT LID!!! Nuke it full power for about 60 to 90 seconds, depending on the power of your microwave. Let it sit for 5 minutes and it will be pretty well steamed. Remove the lid carefully, as there will be steam escaping. You can quickly steam broccoli and other veggies this way, but I would recommend getting an inexpensive steamer to use on top of the stove. You can control the steaming better. There are some very inexpensive ones on the market. The simplest ones just sit down in your pot and fold up for storage. I purchased one of these recently for about $3.00.

BAKED CHEESY CHARD AND SPINACH

What You Need:
1 1/4 pounds spinach AND/OR chard (this is another recipe where you can easily
use only chard, in place of spinach or vice versa.)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 eggs, beaten (you can also use an equal measure of
an egg substitute, like Egg Beaters)
3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup dried bread crumbs
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (optional)
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 2 quart baking dish.
2 Clean greens thoroughly. Remove all excess water. Chop. Arrange greens and flour in layers, nestle beaten eggs about midway between the layers.
3 Combine cheese and bread crumbs. Mix in optional parsley, if desired. Sprinkle over top of greens. Mix butter or margarine, milk, salt and pepper. Pour over all ingredients. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven for 50 minutes to one hour.