This Tourte Milanaise recipe is a vegetarian version of the popular French savory pie, a perfect breakfast for Christmas morning. (Recipe Credit: Aube Giroux of Kitchen Vignettes)
1 pound fresh spinach (or a 10-oz. bag of frozen spinach)
About 6 large roasted red peppers (a 12 oz jar)
12 oz real Swiss (Emmental) cheese, sliced thinly
Directions
First, prepare the scrambled eggs. Whisk 12 eggs, dijon mustard, milk, and 1/4 tsp salt into a large bowl. Melt 1 Tbsp of butter in a large skillet on medium-low heat. Once the butter is hot, pour the egg mixture into the pan. Wait about a minute for the eggs to begin cooking on the bottom and gently drag a wooden spoon through the eggs, mixing gently every few seconds until soft scrambled eggs have been achieved. Don’t worry about the eggs not being cooked through all the way as they will continue cooking in the pie. Remove from heat, and cool the eggs completely.
If using fresh spinach, steam for 1 minute until wilted and remove from heat. If using frozen, thaw and drain. Either way, be sure that the spinach you use is not overly wet, squeeze out any excess liquid.
On a floured surface, roll out about 2/3 of the puff pastry into a piece large enough to cover the bottom and sides of an 8-inch springform pan. Be careful that the dough is no thinner than 1/8 inch. Puff pastry dough is a bit tricky to handle but do your best to cover the bottom of the pan and line the sides, leaving about 1 inch overhang on the sides.
Place half of the fully cooled scrambled egg mixture into the bottom of the pan. Top with half of the spinach, evenly distributed to cover the eggs. Place half the cheese slices evenly on top of the spinach to cover the full surface area. Now use all the roasted red peppers to make a nice even layer of red, this will be the centre of the pie. After the peppers, cover with the remaining cheese, then the remaining spinach, and finally the remaining eggs. Try to get nice even layers that are flat and not bulging in any one spot. This will give your pie a nice clean profile when you slice into it.
Make an egg wash by beating one egg with 1 Tbsp milk. Use the overhanging puff pastry and bring it towards the centre, covering the edges of the top of the pie. Brush some of your egg wash on top of the overlapping dough. Now roll out the remaining 1/3 of the puff pastry dough to make a circle about 9 inches across. Place it on top of the pie, and trim the overhang. Pinch the edges all around, pressing them in to seal. Cut a small cross into the middle to allow steam to escape during baking. Cut some decorative patterns into the top of the pie if you wish (being careful not to slice all the way through the dough). Make some cookie cutter shapes with any of the excess dough to decorate the top. Now cover the whole top of the pie with a generous coating of egg wash.
Bake pie in a preheated 350F oven for about 45 to 55 minutes or until the top is a beautiful golden color. Allow the pie to cool at least 30 minutes before serving. The pie will slice more cleanly if it is fully cooled. It can be served cold, warm, or hot.
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