Pie for Dinner? Oh yes. Broccoli Leek Savory Pie

Are you hungry and ready for dinner?

This is the simplest of recipes.  2 vegetables.  Salt & Pepper.  Milk, eggs, cheese.  A simple crust of oatmeal, flour, flax, baking soda, butter, yogurt.  45 minutes start to finish.  And you’ll be smiling for several days.  Yes, you can have pie for dinner and feel good about it.

Ah, pie.  Sometimes I dream of a nice fruity pie, loaded with berries and topped with a reasonable-sized scoop of good quality vanilla ice cream.  Maybe it’s a pie that you, together with two good friends, devour with the help of three forks and then wonder how it happened so fast (Karen, Becky, I’m talking to you!)  Or a lemon meringue pie – with enough tartness to balance out the sweetness of the meringue piled high on top of the bright yellow filling, perfect on its own or with a cup of strong coffee or tea.  Only at Thanksgiving – pumpkin pie, with lightly sweetened, softly whipped cream.  Never pecan.  Rarely chocolate.  Nope, if I’m having a sweet pie, I’m a fruit-pie fan.

But then.  Then there is the savory pie.  What is it about a savory pie?  Sometimes called “quiche” when eggs are involved – does the French term make it feel more exotic?  Or is that the French invented this idea (not so sure about that – you’ll find pies that look like quiches in cuisines throughout Europe, at least.  One thing about those French – they don’t spare the butter.  Or the cream.  Which means that a quiche is often loaded heavily with fat.  “French women don’t get fat”, but it’s not because of the baked goods.  Not that I have anything against fat in moderation.  It’s a great thing and I have no interest in living without it.  However.

Whenever I see a recipe that calls for “2 cups of heavy cream” and I am in the process of making dinner, I’ll admit – I cringe a little and I think my waistline may even start to expand a little right there in anticipation of an overload of calories.

But you know what?  You don’t need cream to make a great quiche, savory pie, whatever.  You don’t even need to load the crust with butter.  Nope.  You can make a few easy adjustments, and come up with a winner every time.  Like this pie.  2 vegetables.  Salt & Pepper.  Milk, not cream.  Eggs, cheese. Oatmeal, flour, flaxseed, baking soda, butter, yes, but then yogurt.  Fast.  Delicious.  Dead easy.  And you won’t need to pull on your sweat pants before or after dinner in order to feel comfortable.

Broccoli Leek Savory Pie

Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F

First make the crust:
1/2 cup / 1 dl oatmeal
1/2 cup / 1 dl flour
2 tablespoons ground flaxseed (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4 tablespoons / 60 g butter, melted
1/2 cup greek yogurt or quark (rahka)

Stir the oatmeal, flour, flaxseed, baking soda and salt together with a fork.  Add the melted butter and yogurt and stir until well combined.  Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9″pie pan.  Bake for 15 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.

Meanwhile, in a cast iron skillet heat:
2 tablespoons of oil

Add:
1 leek, sliced in half lengthwise and the sliced into half moons
1 head of broccoli, roughly chopped

Cook until the leek and broccoli are tender – about 8 minutes.

While the vegetables cook, make the egg batter:
4 eggs (double yolk if you happen to find them)
2 cups 2% milk / 4 dl kevyt maito
1 cup shredded mild cheese; e.g. Edam or Mozzarella
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

When the crust is ready, pull it from the oven and spread the cooked vegetables evenly across the bottom.  Carefully pour the egg mixture over the top and bake 30-35 minutes until it puffs up nicely in the middle and is golden brown.  Allow the pie to rest on the counter for 10 minutes before serving.  Serve with a green salad on the side.

Serves 6.