Name: Mini Pies with Wild Greens and Goat Cheese
Prep time: 60 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 1 block coconut oil shortcrust pastry; 200 g mixed cooked greens; 100 g goat cheese (fresh spreadable); 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil; 1 clove garlic; chili pepper

Are you ready for the new Monday recipe? Today I offer you mini pies with wild greens and goat cheese. 😋

Last week I went foraging for herbs. Not that I did a lot of trekking through the fields (though I would love to have the time to do it!), I just took advantage of the land around my parents’ new house to gather a bag of wild chard.

These beautiful green and red chard leaves grow everywhere around the house and under my brother’s olive trees, to me they are a wonder of nature and when I see them, I absolutely have to pick them up, how can you leave them there? You can’t!

I also found some sporadic scarpegn, an herb that is very important here because it is typically used to stuff piada (I believe the correct Italian name is crespigno, but we love to call it by its dialect name: scarpegn), and in the end, I came back home very satisfied with my loot. 😀

Since today’s Light and Tasty outing is dedicated to green leafy vegetables… a visit to mom has never been more providential! 😀 Here’s how I used the excellent wild chard and scarpegn I gathered with my hands: they ended up in the filling of four mini pies!

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Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Affordable
Preparation time: 1 Hour
Portions: 4
Cooking methods: Oven
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All Seasons

Ingredients

1 block coconut oil shortcrust pastry
200 g mixed cooked greens
100 g goat cheese (fresh spreadable)
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic
chili pepper

Tools

Frying Pan
Rolling Pin
Pastry Wheel
Pie Molds

How to Prepare 4 Mini Pies with Wild Greens and Goat Cheese

Clean and wash the greens, in my case green and red chard, and some scarpegn (or crespign), but other wild greens can also be used (whatever is available! 😀).
Cook the greens directly in a pan, using only the water from draining and with a closed lid, for 10 minutes. Then sauté them for a few minutes with a drizzle of oil, a garlic clove, and a piece of chili pepper.
Let the greens cool.
In the meantime, prepare the shortcrust pastry (this time I made it with coconut oil, but you can also use the classic butter version or an oil shortcrust).
Cut out dough circles using a mold as a guide, and cut some strips.
Assemble the mini pies:
place the dough circle in the mold,
cover the dough circle with a layer of goat cheese (about 25 g per mini pie),
add the greens, cooled or cold (about 50 g), after coarsely chopping them with a knife,
decorate the mini pies with the dough strips and complete with a strip that covers the circumference, pressing it to adhere well and close the edge.
Bake and cook at 392°F (200°C) for 20 minutes.
After removing from the oven, let the mini pies cool on a rack to avoid condensation under the base.
The mini pies with wild greens and goat cheese can be served as an appetizer, second course, side dish, snack, for a packed lunch or at the office, a picnic or a trip… and they are excellent both hot and cold.
Enjoy your meal!

Salt-Free Tips

Salt-Free To flavor the greens, it is always useful to sauté them in a pan with garlic and chili pepper.

The salt intake in this recipe is minimal: the salt is only in the goat cheese and corresponds to about 0.8 g per 100 g of product (the goat cheese in 4 mini pies).

If you are interested in reducing or eliminating salt, always remember to:
▫ Gradually reduce the salt, as the palate needs to get used to it slowly and should not notice the progressive reduction.
▫ Use spices. Chili pepper, pepper, curry, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, cumin…
▫ Use aromatic herbs. Basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, mint…
▫ Use seeds. Sesame, pine nuts, almonds, walnuts…
▫ Use spicy vegetables or fruits. Garlic, onion, lemon, orange…
▫ Use my salt-free vegetable granules
▫ Prefer fresh foods.
▫ Avoid water-based cooking, prefer cooking methods that do not disperse flavors (grill, foil, steam, microwave)
▫ Avoid bringing the salt shaker to the table!
▫ Occasionally allow yourself a cheat day. It’s good for the mood and helps perseverance.

If you don’t want, or can’t, give up salt:
▫ You can still try my recipes by salting them according to your habits.