Pastel de Alcachofas

Artichoke pie by a fancy name. Think of this dish as artichoke spinach (more artichoke flavor) dip in a crust. This recipe is adapted from Adina by Martin Morales. I love the flavors of this cookbook, but you have to be ok with making substitutions and plenty of them. If you get this cookbook, beware, the measurements use the metric system — the book does come with a conversion chart.

This recipe has very simple ingredients (definitely an outlier in Adina) and a non-finicky filling so it’s a surefire recipe. If you don’t have time or don’t want to make a pie crust, buy a frozen one. No need to sweat it or feel guilty. Eat it as breakfast or as a side for lunch or dinner.

Crust Ingredients
3/4 c white flour
3/4 c whole wheat flour
6 T butter
1 egg yolk
75 ml water

Crust Directions
Freeze the butter then grate it. Freeze a bowl. Add flour to the bowl and the butter. Stir. Add the egg yolk (save the white — you’ll need it later) and water. Stir. You can add a little water if it’s too dry.

Divide the dough. Take 1/3, shape into a disk and wrap in Saran wrap. Take 2/3 of the dough, shape into a disk and wrap it. Place both disks in the fridge for at least 6 hours.

Filling Ingredients
3 T Olive Oil
1 small-med red onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
2 T whole wheat flour
200 mL milk
1 - 13.75 ounce cans of artichoke hearts, drained
2 ounces of grated Parmesan
3/4 t black pepper
1/4 t cayenne
2 eggs
3 handfuls of raw spinach leaves
salt

Filling Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Heat olive oil on medium low heat until the oil shimmers. Add the onion to sweat. Stir occasionally. Resist the urge to turn up the heat — you don’t want the onions to brown. Add the garlic and cook about 3 minutes. Add the flour and stir until the flour is well distributed, smooth (as smooth as can be with the onions and garlic in there).

While stirring, add the milk and keep stirring. It might be lumpy at first but will soon be thick. If it’s too thick add more milk.

Turn off the heat. Still in the artichoke hearts and Parmesan. Add the black pepper, cayenne. Do not add salt. Put the eggs in a bowl, take a fork, pierce the yolks, the rapidly move the fork right to left. When eggs lighten, add them to the artichoke and mix.

Put the mixture into a blender and add the spinach leaves. Puree.

Assembly
Pie Crust
Filling
Egg white

Roll the larger disk to a large circle. Place in a 9” pie pan. Lightly press the dough into the cracks and trim the excess. Add the filling. Add the excess dough to the small disk and roll. Cut (sharp knife or dough cutter) into strips. Cross hatch the strips on top of the pie. Brush egg white on the exposed strips.

Bake 40-45. The filling will be deep golden brown when it’s cooked.

Notes
Canned artichoke hearts have salt and the level of saltiness varies. The only true way to know how much salt you need is to wait until the mixture is pureed.

If you don’t have whole wheat flour, use all white flour. That’s how the original recipe was written anyway.