Mushroom, Spinach, and Ricotta Pie

This pie is the epitome of comfort food. Three types of fancy cheese, Lots of vegetables, and butter all wrapped up in a soft, flaky, thick double crust. I enjoyed that this was a hearty, comforting dish with a little bit of elegance. The goat cheese adds a grown-up flavor to the pot pies we remember eating at Mom's table. I would definitely consider this company-worthy. I would probably serve it with a refreshing glass of iced tea and some fresh fruit.
This recipe does require some time, and the ingredients are a bit on the expensive side, but it is totally worth it. If cooking is your therapy, this is a good recipe to go to as it comes together a bit slowly. This is the first involved meal I have been able to make since we adopted Samson three weeks ago.

He is cute, but I missed spending a couple of hours in the kitchen winding down after work, and am glad to be back.

Wild Mushroom, Spinach, and Ricotta Pie

Adapted from the Chicago Tribune

2 Tblsp butter
1 lb fresh spinach, chopped
3 large leeks, very thinly sliced, white and light green parts only
20 oz mixed mushrooms, sliced- I used half baby bellas and half white mushrooms
2 large cloves of garlic, chopped
1/4 C water
2 eggs
8 Oz Ricotta Cheese
6 Oz soft goat cheese
1 Tblsp dried thyme
1 Tblsp fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
2 Tblsp lemon juice
1 C fresh grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp salt
pepper
1 recipe savory pie dough-recipe follows, chilled
***Please do not use store bought pie crust. It will severely diminish the deliciousness of this dish. Once you learn how easy home made pie crust is to make, and how much better it tastes, you will never even think of buying one of those flavorless, insanely expensive things that are sold in the grocer's refrigerator. Thank you.***

Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a dutch oven over medium heat. Add the spinach and stir to coat. Cook for about 10 minutes, until the water is evaporated. Move the spinach to a bowl.
Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in the dutch oven. Add the leeks, mushrooms, and garlic. Cook over high heat until the garlic becomes aromatic. You will have no doubt when this happens, it should take 1-2 minutes. Add the water and reduce the heat to medium. Cook until the vegetables are tender and the liquid is gone. This will take about 10 minutes.
while your veggies are cooking whisk together eggs, ricotta, goat cheese, half of the thyme, the parsley, nutmeg, lemon juice, and Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper.

Remove your dough from the fridge and divide it in half. Roll each half out to a 12-inch disk. Lay one disk into a 9-inch pie plate.
Spread half of the cheese mixture over the crust. Top with half of the spinach, and then half of the mushrooms. Sprinkle in the remaining thyme. Now layer the remaining spinach, then mushrooms, followed by the rest of the cheese. Place the second dough disk on top, remove the excess dough from around the sides and crimp edges together. Cut a couple of vents in the top of the crust and bake until golden brown-50-60 minutes.

Savory Pie dough
2 sticks butter, at room temperature
8 oz cream cheese
1/4 C half and half
1 tsp salt
2 2/3 C flour

Beat together the butter and cream cheese in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Stir in the cream and salt.
Stir in the flour gradually, mixing with a fork as you go. Handle the dough as little as possible so as not to make it tough. Shape the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate one hour-24 hours.