Cooking in an RV comes with some challenges, and many recipes just don’t suit small kitchens. So when I came across The Small Kitchen Cook recipe book by Ashleigh Butler, which, crafted on the road, is chock full of thoughtful recipes for tiny kitchens, I just had to share it with you. In fact, nothing in this book needs more than a two-burner stove.
I’ve been on and off the road with this book for two months now and are particularly fond of the Pan Fried Pie recipe (you don’t need an oven), which can be found in the Spring section of the book. Yep, this book is sorted by seasons, so you get exactly what you’re craving! Thankfully, we’ve been given permission to share it with you.
But before we do, make sure to head over to Exploring Eden Books and check it out for yourself, as well as some of their other great titles.
Recipe: Pan Fried Pie
With spinach, leek and dill
- Prep: 15 minutes
- Cook: 30 – 40 minutes
- Makes: 20 – 25cm pie
Fear not, pie-lovers who don’t have an oven – there is a way to make delicious pastry-filled treats on the stovetop in your tiny kitchen. It requires one bowl to combine the ingredients and one medium-sized frypan. A good pie is my love’s favourite thing to eat, but, living for many years without an oven, we often missed this amazingly buttery meal. Local bakeries filled the void until we realized that all we needed was a couple of sheets of pastry and a heavy-based frypan. It works a treat, and it’s herby, cheesy and downright delicious.
Ashleigh Butler
Ingredients:
- Butter or extra virgin olive oil, for frying
- ½ a leek, white part finely sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, finely diced
- Large bunch of spinach, roughly chopped
- ½ a bunch of dill, roughly chopped
- ½ a bunch of parsley, roughly chopped
- 100g of feta
- ½ a cup of grated parmesan
- Zest and juice of ½ a lemon
- ½ teaspoon of cracked black pepper
- 2 sheets of puff pastry
- Tomato relish or sauce
Instructions:
- In a medium frypan, saute the leeks and garlic with a good glug of olive oil until they are soft and smell delicious. Throw in the spinach and herbs and cook until the greens are soft and juicy. Remove from the heat.
- Break up the feta and fold it through. Add the parmesan, lemon zest and pepper. Stir through to combine the spinach and the cheeses.
- Place a medium-sized frypan on medium heat and coat it with butter. Coat the sides as well, so the pastry doesn’t stick. Lay one sheet of pastry inside the frypan and scoop in the filling.
- Lay the other piece of pastry on top and press the sheets together with a fork all around the edges of the filling. Trim off excess pastry you don’t need, or that rolls up the edge of the pan. If not, I’ve found the pastry doesn’t cook well.
- Cook until the underside is golden. Check regularly by lifting an edge with an egg flip.
- When it is ready, place a plate over the top of the pan and flip the pie onto it, then slide it back into the frypan so you can cook the other side until it’s also golden.
- Serve with tomato relish or sauce. The tomato and cucumber salad from page 189 or the Peach and Radicchio Salad from page 77 is perfect on the side.
