ITALIAN MEAT AND SPINACH PIE

Italian Meat and Spinach Pie image

I found this recipe on another site, I tried it and we just loved it! I added a top to make it a pot pie, it turned out even better than expected. This is an amazing comfort food, it defiantly warms the tummy! This recipe also has a lot of room to play around with, you can add or subtract ingredients to suit your taste.

Provided by ashley gore

Time 2h5m

Number Of Ingredients 16

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Ingredients

2 pre-made pie crust 9 inch
1/2 lb ground beef
3 italian sausages, no casings
2 clove minced garlic
1 onion chopped
1 c chopped red bell pepper
10 oz sliced fresh mushrooms
6oz can(s) tomato paste
1 1/4 c water
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 Tbsp dried oregano
10oz pkg frozen spinach, thawed and drained well
1 c part-skim ricotta cheese
1 1/2 c shredded mozzarella cheese divided
1 medium tomato sliced
3oz can(s) sliced black olives draind

Steps:

1. Line a 9-inch pie pan with the pastry and press the edges of the crust with a fork to seal it to the pie dish. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate while you prepare the sauce.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and stir in the ground beef, turkey sausage, and 1 clove of minced garlic. Cook and stir until the meat is crumbly, evenly browned, and no longer pink. Drain and discard any excess grease. Add the onion, red bell pepper, and mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is soft and translucent and the mushrooms have given off their liquid, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
3. Stir in the tomato paste, water, salt, basil, and oregano and bring the sauce to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Preheat an oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
5. Line the chilled pie crust with a double thickness of aluminum foil. Bake for 9 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking until the bottom of the crust is set, about 7 more minutes (see Editor's Note for tips). Remove from the oven and set aside. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
6. Combine the spinach, ricotta, and 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese. Spoon the filling into the baked crust. Top with the meat mixture. Cover the edges of the pie crust with foil to prevent over-browning, place the pie on a baking sheet, and bake for 45 minutes.
7. Remove the pie from the oven. Top the meat mixture with 1 cup of mozzarella cheese, sliced tomatoes, and sliced olives. Next add your top pie crust, use a fork to seal edges and make four small slits in the top middle of your crust. Again use foil to protect the crust. Bake about ten minutes or so, then remove foil and continue baking until crust is a nice golden brown, about another ten minutes. Let stand at least ten minutes before serving.