This insanely delicious pie had just the right amount of sweetness, a delicious crunch from the toasted almonds, and the cream with a hint of orange zest all served as the perfect pairing with blanched chard. Seriously, I cannot believe how much I enjoyed this pie. While we ate a few slices each for a late lunch, we couldn’t help but talk about how good it would be for brunch with a nice hot coffee.... or even for dessert! I know, I can’t believe I even suggested that a pie with chard should be a dessert, but it really would work!
This recipe was originally supposed to be made with pine nuts, but our nearest grocery store doesn’t have them so we subbed them for toasted almonds. We also veered quite a bit from the original (since it wasn’t plant based) and made a different crust because I forgot to get yeast at the store! Everything we did is listed below, with original inspiration coming from: https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/swiss-chard-raisin-and-pine-nut-tart-236407
and the official crust recipe I used was sourced from: https://www.thespruceeats.com/flaky-vegan-pie-crust-recipe-3377320
I’ve seen other iterations of this with prunes instead of raisins, or cranberries and lemon zest, or kale and spinach instead of chard. The possibilities are endless! Now I want to make a massive batch of pie dough so I can whip one of these up whenever I want.
Making this pie? Please leave a comment below and share what changes you made, or just share what you thought about it!
Will I be making this pie again? Absolutely!
Before I put it’s hat on.
ACTIVE TIME 40 min
TOTAL TIME 4 1/4 hr
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup raisins (golden suggested, but we used regular)
1 cup water
2 pounds green Swiss chard, we trimmed the stems but the original suggest removing them completely)
1 large egg substitute- I used Ener-G Egg Replacer at 1 1/2 teaspoons of the powder mixed into 2 tablespoons of warm water and left to sit for 5 minutes
1/2 cup almond milk creamer
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon finely grated fresh orange zest
1/3 cup almonds (1 1/2 ounces), toasted
Pastry dough (recipe below)
2 teaspoons confectioners sugar
PREPARATION
Bring raisins and water to a boil in a 1-quart heavy saucepan, then remove from heat and let stand, covered, 1 hour. Drain in a colander, then pat dry with paper towels. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400°F.
Blanch chard in a large pot of boiling salted water, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until tender but still bright green, about 5 minutes. Transfer chard with a slotted spoon to a large bowl of ice and cold water to stop cooking. Drain chard in a colander, then squeeze out excess water by handfuls. Coarsely chop chard.
Whisk together egg substitute, almond cream, granulated sugar, zest, and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Stir in almonds, raisins, and chard until combined.
Roll out larger piece of dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 15- by 11-inch rectangle and fit into tart pan (do not trim edges). Chill shell while rolling out top.
Roll out smaller piece of dough on a lightly floured surface with lightly floured rolling pin into a 12- by 9-inch rectangle. Spread chard filling evenly into shell, then top with second rectangle of dough. Using a rolling pin, roll over edges of pan to seal tart and trim edges, discarding scraps. Cut 3 steam vents in top crust with a paring knife, then put tart in pan on a baking sheet. Bake until top is golden, about 1 hour. Transfer to a rack and cool 10 minutes, then remove side of pan. Cool to room temperature, about 1 hour (this ended up taking me about 45 minutes, but I used a convection oven). Dust with confectioners sugar.
The Pastry Dough
Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup, plus 2 tablespoons vegan butter
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons water (cold) (I ended up using closer to five to get the consistency I needed)
The steps:
Combine flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl
Cut in the vegan butter (I did this in the food processor)
In a separate bowl mix together the oil and cold water
Add the flour and sugar mix, taking care to mix just until everything is incorporated.
Wrap it in saran wrap, or cover the bowl with foil and chill in the refrigerator for at least thirty minutes. Don’t skip this step!
After the dough has chilled, divide it into two with one of the portions being a little larger than the other. Then head back up to the instructions above for rolling it out! While the top recipe used a spring baking pan, I used a glass pie dish (without greasing or flouring it) with great results.