Spinach Tart with Currants

Description

This recipe is derived from both Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book and The Good Huswife's Jewell, under "Tarte of Spinage" and "To make a Tarte of Spinadge," respectively. The recipes are very similar, bot calling for the Spinach first to be boiled, puréed (strained) and combined with Egg Yolks. Elinor's recipe goes on to include Sugar, Cinnamon, Ginger, Butter, and Rosewater where the other calls only for Sugar and Butter. I think the additional ingredients differentiate it substantially for modern diners while leaving it accessible, so I include them. In both cases, the primary ingredient, by far, is the spinach - one imagines this would balance a winter diet of mostly meat quite well.

Since my goal is to interpret recipes for the modern cook to make them more accessible, I have departed from the original technique in three ways that look significant on paper, but in reality affect the final outcome almost not at all except aesthetic improvement. Quite often, modern techniques replace skills that would take years to master, and that is the case here.

First, and I encourage you to do this any time you feel inclined, I am using store-bought pie crust. There is no shame, whatsoever, in this and for this period, modern pie crust can be appropriate. If you prefer your own short or puff paste crusts, by all means! It will work with any shell you choose, including gluten-free options. Packaged crusts are sold one of two ways, usually - either in a deep dish, fully formed frozen state or in a two-pack of rolled sheets. If you use the fully formed deep dish option here, it is ready to go out of the box. If you use rolled sheets, as I have, I recommend you use both. Do this by letting them come to temperature before unrolling, brushing all of the flour off of both sides of both sheets, then very gently moistening one side of one before placing the other directly on top and rolling it out to the size you need.

Second, I choose to bake the mixture and the shell together. Elinor advises us to gently cook it over coals, which would help her to ensure a good texture that may have been impossible in her bread oven. Using a modern oven with good temperature control, we can bake it all at once and we gain two benefits - there is no need to add the step of blind-baking the crust, and the mixture is easier to level out while uncooked, so our top with be smooth and perfect.

Lastly, I use frozen spinach and do not cook it. Frozen spinach has had all of the textural changes of cooked spinach while retaining its beautiful bright green color. By pureeing it thawed and drained, and baking the mixture whole, we achieve the beautiful deep green color on top with the bright, attractive interior shown in the slice.