Root-Top Pie

Spinach pie, it’s not just for spinach anymore! This week’s CSA box was chock full of root vegetables:  Japanese white salad turnips, French breakfast radishes, and beets, all with their green-tops nicely intact.  This often discarded part of the vegetable is delicious, and can be treated just like spinach: either steamed, sauteed, or boiled.

When I saw the box and all the green-tops, I immediately thought of making them into a spanakopita-inspired pie, by steaming them, and wrapping them in phyllo dough along with some feta cheese and onion.  Sure, you could do this with spinach, but these root-tops are so much more fun!

Root-Top Pie:

Ingredients:

• Any leafy vegetable you have around, washed and chopped (I used beet greens, turnip greens, radish greens, and baby arugula)
• 1 yellow onion, sliced
• 8 oz feta cheese, crumbled
• Phyllo dough (it comes frozen, thaw it overnight in the fridge, and take it out of the fridge an hour before using)
• Melted butter for brushing the phyllo

Preheat oven to 350F. Cook the sliced onions in olive oil over medium high heat with salt and pepper; cook until golden brown (about 10-15 minutes). Steam the greens in a steamer basket (no need to steam any baby greens, like baby spinach or arugula) until just wilted (about 7 minutes); then place the greens in a clean kitchen towel and ring out all excess moisture.

Add the greens to the pan with the onions, as well as any baby greens you are using; season with salt and pepper.  Cook over low heat until all the greens are wilted, then remove from heat and place mixture in a bowl, and mix in the crumbled feta.

Meanwhile, place the thawed phyllo dough under a moist kitchen towel. Line a shallow pie dish with a sheet of phyllo dough, then brush with melted butter. Do this with 4 sheets, brushing butter in between each layer. Then add the filling. Fold over each of the sheets of phyllo dough, again, brushing each layer with butter, until they are all folded up,and brush the top with the remaining butter.

Use a sharp knife to score the top with hash marks and bake in the middle rack for 45 minutes, until golden brown.

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