Individual Scape and Chard Pies

Of all the chard pies I've made over the year, I've never actually posted about them. I guess that's because for the most part it makes up one of our fall back meals - like spag bol, or stir fry. So to me it's not all that interesting although oh so yummy!

Since my acquisition of Scapes recently, I've been trying to think of ways to use them. One of the most popular scape recipes seems to be pesto which I hope to try out this weekend. But for the mean time, I decided to try it out as a replacement for garlic in the chard pie. The end result was an earthier, more delicate flavour to the mix - which is a welcome change to an otherwise mundane-ish meal (although I really, really like chard pie in general - it's just you get used to it, if you know what I mean). Below I've detailed the filling only - I've used a standard shortcrust pastry which I not ready to share with anyone just yet.

Scape & Chard Pie Filling

350g chard
250g ricotta
4 slices of thick bacon
3 tablespoons pine nuts
3 stems of scapes with bulbs

Wash the chard thoroughly and pat dry with paper towels. Chiffonade the chard by layering each leaf on top of the other and roll up like a cigar. Slice into 1 inch strips starting from the leafy end and working to the stem. Separate the stem from the leaves.

Roast the pine nuts until golden brown. Leave to cool. Chop the scapes into 5 millimetre slices. Chop the flower finely and keep separate from the stem. In a saucepan heat a touch of oil with the scape stem. Dice the bacon and brown in the pan with the scapes. Fry until crispy. Add the chard stems and cook for 2 minutes. Add the chard leaves and keep the mixture moving until the leaves are wilted. Add the chopped scape flower.

Transfer to a sieve and press out all the juices ensuring that it is as dry as possible, otherwise the pie may become soggy. Place the chard into a bowl and stir in the ricotta until well mixed through. Add the pine nuts and stir though. Season to taste.