Mediterranean Vegetable-Cheese Pie

We've been over-indulging lately and I can't fasten my favorite jeans. It's the food blogger's dilemma, isn't it? Daring Bakers, Sugar High Friday, The Mini Pie Revolution and meals out... well, let's just say there's a price for all this cooking and eating.

This is a recipe from Self magazine which I have adapted to suit my own tastes. It's very pretty and it's ridiculously low in fat and calories-- you can eat half the pie and stay under 400 calories. Best of all, it tastes good. Sometimes I double the amount of spinach-- sometimes I substitute escarole for spinach and add a little lemon juice to the cheese mixture. It all works.

Be sure to season the potato crust liberally with salt and pepper before you pre-bake it-- and a light coating of the olive oil cooking spray will help them crisp up nicely...

Mediterranean Vegetable-Cheese Pie
serves 4 (but the two of us often eat the whole thing)

Olive-oil cooking spray
2 medium potatoes, sliced in 1/8-inch rounds
1/2 cup diced onion
8 oz (about 8 cups) baby spinach
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 whole eggs
3 egg whites
1 cup nonfat ricotta
1 tbsp feta, crumbled
3 tbsp finely chopped oregano
3 plum tomatoes, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
1 1/2 tbsp grated Asiago or Parmesan
1 1/2 tbsp grated lowfat mozzarella
salt and pepper

Heat oven to 350°. Coat a 9" pie plate with cooking spray. Line bottom of plate with potato slices. Cut remaining slices in half and arrange around side of plate. Season with salt and pepper. Lightly spray them again. Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

Coat a sauté pan with cooking spray and sauté onion over low heat until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute about 1 minute. Add the spinach and let wilt, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Drain excess fluid from onion and spinach mixture.

In a bowl, beat eggs and egg whites. Stir in ricotta and feta. Add half the oregano and set aside.

Spoon onion and spinach mixture into pie plate over potatoes. Layer on egg mixture, then slices of tomato.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until egg is set and a knife inserted into pie comes out clean. Sprinkle grated cheeses evenly over top of pie and top with remaining oregano. Return to oven for 5 minutes or until cheese melts. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes. Cut pie into 4 wedges. Serve immediately.

192 calories per serving: 4.8 g fat, 20.5 g carbohydrates, 17.5 g protein, 7.8 g fiber

Comments

[Aran]

That looks amazing! That's a full meal in itself. Great job... I could certainly have that for breakfast right now!

[mimi]

love how golden the top is, looks delish! half a pie, under 400 calories? sounds like a keeper! yeah, especially because i can easily eat half a savory pie ;)

[Manggy]

Ooh, potato crust, cheeses, tomatoes and spinach-- what's not to love? :) I think SELF magazine didn't mean for you to eat 2 servings each though, hee :) But at 192 calories, that's pretty good!

I think I have to add to make sure that the salt isn't iodized. It's not a major deal, but I made that mistake once and my taters turned black-purple-blue all over. Not pretty (even if it tasted okay). In any case, it'll be buried by the filling :)

[Johanna]

I know that bloggers dilemma - this pie looks a delicious way of readdressing it - I can almost smell it!

[Bellini Valli]

Woah Ann. Love the potato crust on this pie...now this is perfection and low in calories. This is a dream come true:D

[zenchef]

Looks like perfect hangover food!
I want!
:-)

[cookinpanda]

Lovely potato crust! And very much agree with zenchef on the this being the "perfect hangover food."

[cookinpanda]

Lovely potato crust! And very much agree with zenchef on the this being the "perfect hangover food."

[LisaRene]

This is my kind of cooking, lower in calorie so you can eat more :) I love the idea of a potato crust.

[Siri]

Love the golden crust Ann. bookmarked..:D..

Siri

[yulinka]

What a great, original recipe. I have my doubts about how low-cal it really is--I'd use full fat cheese and eat at least two portions--but I'm sure it's delish.

[Pixie]

This is the kind of food that always makes me happy. Anything with cheese and vegetables is a keeper for me.

[Lydia (The Perfect Pantry)]

That does look yummy. And on days when I don't want to (or can't) eat the potato crust, I'd make it without -- and probably could eat the whole thing.

[Kris]

Ohhh...I can't wait to try this! It looks so good, I'll bet even my husband will eat it. Thanks, Ann - love your blog. xxoo

[Pasticcera]

That looks divine. Love the potato crust and could definitely stand in for a number of variations.

[Psychgrad]

I usually look through all of the ingredients and try to imagine eating the flavours together. This post has passed the imaginary flavour test and I'm starring it.

[Sharon McBurney]

I made this dinner last night and it was delicious! Thanks so much for the recipe.

[Shubha]

Amazing.. recipe. u have a beautiful blog here...first time here.......do visit my blog too.,...

[myfrenchkitchen]

This looks delicious, spinach being one of my favourite veggies...I'm alone for the week and what would I give to have this for the week(instead of my bowl of cereal I had tonight?)
Ronell

[lizzie]

you can also use packaged hash-brown potatoes (in refridgerator section of store, not frozen) instead of sliced potatoes.