Saturday, July 14, 2007

A Beetroot & Potato Pie



UPDATE 22.8.2007
One of my Estonian readers tried this pie and really liked it. You can see her photo here.

*****

I posted the above teaser picture yesterday and asked you to guess what it was. Well, I'm sorry to tell that none of the seven readers who left their guess in the comments got it right. It's not a cherry pie, nor raspberry pie and it's definitely not a rhubarb pie (we don't really eat rhubarb after St John's night over here). And there's no meringue involved either.

It wasn't even a sweet pie, but a savoury one. But even if I had told you that, I doubt that you had guessed the ingredients - it's a beetroot & potato pie :)

And what a brilliant pie it was. Apart from being tasty (though you do need to like beetroot to like a beetroot pie, of course), it also looked beautiful, and my whole extended family wholeheartedly approved. The recipe is very slightly adapted from the Finnish Herkkutori site and the recipe below will yield 6 generous slices. If you don't feel like making a pie, yet want something with lovely beets and new potatoes, then check out Alanna's recipe for Scalloped Potatoes with Beetroots.

Beetroot & Potato Pie
(Uhke peedipirukas)



For the pastry*:
50 grams soft butter, at room temperature
250 grams plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
100 ml milk

Filling:
4 small beets
4 medium potatoes
3 eggs
150 ml sour cream or creme fraiche
150 ml milk
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

For brushing:
a small egg

First, prepare the pastry. Mix flour with baking powder and knead it into the soft butter, adding milk bit by bit (you may need a spoonful more or less, so don't rush). Press the pastry into a ball, wrap in plastic and put into the fridge for 30 minutes.

For the filling, boil beets and potatoes (separately) until almost done (for small beets, this would probably mean about 20-25 minutes). Drain and cool and peel. (You can obviously also use left-over boiled beets and potatoes). Cut into thin slices (about 3-4 mm thick).

Mix eggs, sour cream and milk in a bowl, season with salt and pepper. Put aside.

Divide the pastry into two pieces (about 1/3 and 2/3). Roll the larger piece of pastry into a thin disc to cover the bottom and sides of a 25 cm high springform non-stick pie dish. Press firmly onto the sides.

Now layer the potatoes and beets into the pastry shell, pour over the egg and cream mixture.

Roll the smaller pastry piece into a disc large enough to cover the pie, place over the filling and press edges firmly together.

Brush with an egg, pierce couple of holes into the lid and place into the lower shelf of a pre-heated 190-200 C oven. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the pie is lovely golden brown.

Let it cool a little, then remove the springform dish.



Serve with a herby yogurt or sour cream sauce. The pie is excellent when still warm, but can also be taken along to a picnic on the following day, as it doesn't loose any of the flavour when cold (and if you compare the second and third photo, then you can see that the beetroot 'leaks' into the potato layers overnight).

* I reckon you could also use the pastry I used for making hortapita or the Greek pie with wild greens to make this beetroot & potato pie.

BLAST FROM THE PAST
Two years ago I posted a recipe for Paul Hollywood's mint and halloumi bread. Although I think Mr Hollywood got some of the quantities wrong (20 grams of dried mint is A LOT!!!), the bread itself is fabulous and definitely worth trying.

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

I may be imagining it, but I think it's some sort of meringue-topped pie with something red inside it.

Shauna said...

something with rhubarb?

lobstersquad said...

well, it looks like an empanada gallega, but I don´t suppose that´s it. I´d hazard a guess that Kristjan has been destonign cherries again.

Wendy said...

It's raspberry season so I'm going to guess something to do with them. :)

K and S said...

chicken pot pie? or something with zucchini :)

Shayne said...

I am going with raspberry tart of some kind

shayne

Karen Baking Soda said...

My guess: a merenque topped cherry pie! (too early for raspberries, too late for rhubarb)

Pille said...

Dear Anon, Shauna, Ximena, Wendy, K&S, Shayne, Baking Soda - sorry, none of you were right. It wasn't even a sweet pie, but a savoury one :)
But thanks for guessing - it was a lot of fun!

Chris said...

Pille, this is a very cool pie! I love it. I am a huge fan of beet root and am always looking for new recipes. Thanks!

Dagmar said...

Hi Pille, the pie looks really lovely.

Kalyn Denny said...

Great looking pie!

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

The color of that filling is shocking -- and beautiful!

Alanna Kellogg said...

How in the world did I miss the sneak preview? I think I might have guessed!!! But OH this looks good. And I'm in such a fiddle: I'm already taking THREE things to a potluck tomorrow except that NONE are made and NONE would be half as gorgeous as this and I just oh my happen to have ALL the ingredients for it already at home including just dug up beets. Our next project, indeed!!!

Alanna Kellogg said...

BTW the potluck has a 'vampire' theme (don't ask) and so with the addition of garlic, wouldn't this be perfect?

Evelin said...

See näeb tõeliselt-tõeliselt hea välja!

K and S said...

looks great!

Shayne said...

we were so off on the guessing of this one and it makes so much sence with your love of beets.

shayne

Anonymous said...

Looks really good! I especially like the last photo. When i saw it on my reader, i thought of every single red berries but not beetroot.

Anonymous said...

what a wonderful-looking pie. i would have never guessed what type of pie it was, though. ;-)

Paz

Mercedes said...

This is beautiful, I'm adding it to my must-try list!

Anonymous said...

That looks so pretty! And I'm sure it's also delicious :) I saw a fritata in one of my Donna Hay magazines with beets and it looked like this...all pink the seeping prettily into the other layers :)

Shaun said...

Pille - How fabulous, and what a great way to use both beets and potatoes. I am a big fan of your recipes that feature beets. It helps to have someone on hand who can source those recipes in languages I sadly do not understand...This is definitely on my list of food to make.

lobstersquad said...

darn. it wasn´t easy to guess, you´ll admit. but it looks delicious, so never mind.

Anonymous said...

That is such an interesting idea. I'd really like to try this.

Amrita said...

Wow! I love how something savory can look so much like dessert! A feast for all the senses!

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

I guess it's ok I missed the preview because I would never have come close.
I do so want to make this pie. I would love to go with Alanna to the vampire party with this one.

Jeanne said...

Wow - what a beautiful pie. And I don't even like beetroot! I must say, I would never in a million years have guessed the filling...

chili&vanilia said...

Pille, this looks absolutely delicious, I just picked some fantastic baby beets and I have so many of them -but now I know what to try..

Pille said...

K&S, Paz, Dagmar, Kalyn, Lydia & Mercedes - thanks!

Alanna - I knew you would have guessed it, although it wouldn't have been totally fair towards others, as I had given you some pretty clear clues :) So what did you take along to the vampire party?

Evelin - minu arust oli ka päris uhke välimusega :)

Shayne - so you've noticed, eh?

Mae - sorry for being such a tease:)

Joey - oh, I do hope you'll make that Donna Hay recipe, as I'd love to see a beetroot frittata!!

Chris & Shaun - there's going to be lots of beetroot recipes popping up on my blog in the next few months - I hope I won't lose any beet-hating readers, however!

Ximena - I know, I was being cheeky. I wouldn't have guessed myself if I hadn't known it:)

Hungrykat - hope you'll do!

Amrita - that's a nice way of putting it - thanks!

Tanna - or you could host your own vampire party and serve this pie as the main dish :)

Jeanne - you too? Well, you and Johanna make good dining companions then - neither one likes beetroot;)

Chili&Vanilia - it is pretty picturesque, isn't it? Thanks for commenting!

Eva P. said...

Proovisin ka seda pirukat ja tuli väga maitsev! Väljanägemine iseäranis uhke. Muretaignasse võiks lisada ka riivitud juustu, et krehvisemat maitset saada.