A Dish Perfect for Summer: Greens and Feta Pie

For many gardeners in the northeast, the months preceding July are a period of eager anticipation for zucchinis, tomatoes, eggplants, corn and all the other veggies, berries, and fruit that summer brings. In my cool climate in central New York, it can take quite a while for the garden to get established and unless you have a greenhouse, the wait for fresh, local veggies can feel long. But in the meantime, there’s greens… so many greens!

There’s spinach, chard, and kale. There’s also plentiful wild greens (aka "weeds") that are nutritious and grow everywhere such as dandelion greens, garlic mustard, and lambsquarters. There’s herbs like mint, chives, parsley, dill, and oregano. This hearty pie makes use of them all! It’s the quintessential spring / early summer salad and a great way to sneak more greens into your diet. And it will keep you happy while you await all the delicious vegetables summer will soon be offering up.

This dish is inspired by Mediterranean green pies like Spanakopita, Hortokopita, and Torta Pasqualina. My version is adaptable to whichever greens are available to you. If you’ve got tons of spinach, use that. If you only have wild greens, that’s fine. Each pie I make is a little different from the last, depending on what’s available to me. In fact, I never measure the ingredients when I make this pie (though I finally had to so I could share it with you below!). It’s a very forgiving and versatile pie. One thing to note though, you’ll see I used some baby kale in the video version, I find that a little bit of baby kale is ok but that kale is generally not ideal in this pie, it’s a bit too tough. Greens like chard, spinach, lambsquarters are ideal because they’re so tender when cooked, they really melt in your mouth.

In terms of the crust, you can really use pretty much any recipe you like. Store-bought puff pastry would be lovely if you’re short on time. Phillo is always great. I initially used my favorite all-butter basic pie crust recipe, but over time, I’ve found that I prefer an olive oil-based crust for this recipe, it has an appealing texture, almost crisp on the top, and the bottom cooks better. (The greens can hold a lot of moisture and make a standard pie crust a tiny bit soggy if you don’t wring their water out really well). In fact, many of the Italian and Greek recipes call for an olive oil-based crust so it also feels more true to tradition.

It takes a bit of time and effort to prepare this pie, but it’s well worth it. It makes a hearty summer meal, and will serve a good eight or so people. If you’re feeding fewer people, it will provide leftover meals for days to come. And in my opinion, the flavor only gets better as the days go by. I sometimes reheat the leftover pie, but I also love to eat it cold. I find it delicious that way, especially when I’m in need of a quick lunch and have no time to cook.

Oh and yes, frozen spinach is totally fine to use in this recipe!

I hope you enjoy this pie and make it your own, let me know in the comments below.