Leek, butter bean & spinach pie

About this recipe

A quick puff pastry pie with shop-bought pastry, designed as a substantial lunch or dinner. The combination of sweated leeks, butter beans (large, creamy beans) and spinach is rich and filling, and the salty cheese balances the leek's natural sweetness. The herb is your call — dill brings a fresh, classic Romanian note, thyme adds Mediterranean depth, tarragon opens up a more delicate, slightly aniseed flavour.

Shop-bought puff pastry cuts the prep time considerably. Homemade puff pastry works just as well if you have time and patience.

Ingredients

For the filling

• 2 leeks, white and light-green parts only
• Neutral oil, generous (leeks absorb a lot)
• 4 × 400 g tins of butter beans, drained and rinsed
• 500 g fresh spinach or baby spinach
• 200-300 g salty cheese — original: cottage, goat or sheep's cheese, or feta / vegan: vegan feta
• 4 garlic cloves (up to 8, depending on the herb you choose)
• Herbs — pick one only:
  • Fresh dill (1 bunch) — with 4 garlic cloves
  • Thyme, dried or fresh (1 tbsp dried / 2 tbsp fresh) — with up to 8 garlic cloves
  • Fresh tarragon (1 small bunch) — with 2 garlic cloves
• Salt and pepper, to taste

For the pastry and glaze

• 1 packet (~500 g) puff pastry — original: regular puff pastry / vegan: puff pastry made with vegan margarine (read the ingredients list: some contain butter or egg, others are 100% plant-based)
• For brushing on top — original: 1 beaten egg / vegan: 2-3 tablespoons of brine drained from the butter bean tin (aquafaba)

Method

1. Prepare the spinach (5-7 min)

Wash the spinach very thoroughly in several changes of water — the leaves trap grit. Place it in a pot of lightly salted boiling water and blanch for 5 minutes, until it's fully wilted and has lost its volume.

Drain in a sieve, then, once cool enough to handle, squeeze it firmly in your fist to remove as much water as possible. Poorly squeezed spinach makes the pie soggy. Roughly chop it and set aside.

2. Slice and sweat the leeks (10 min)

Cut the leeks into thin rounds (~3-5 mm), including the light-green part (it's sweet and tasty).

Pour neutral oil into a wide heavy-bottomed pan, more than you think you need — leeks absorb oil quickly and dry out otherwise. Over medium heat, add the rounds and sweat for 8-10 minutes, stirring often, until they're soft, sweet and lightly golden.

3. Add the beans (5-7 min)

Before you drain the tins: save 2-3 tablespoons of brine in a small cup, for brushing the pastry later (aquafaba makes an excellent vegan egg wash). Then drain and rinse the rest.

Add the drained, rinsed butter beans to the leeks. Stir well. Continue on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the beans start to catch slightly on the bottom of the pan and pick up some colour. This step concentrates the flavour of the beans and gives them a slightly crisp edge.

4. Add the spinach (2 min)

Add the chopped spinach. Stir well, scraping the bottom of the pan to lift everything that has stuck there — all that flavour goes into the spinach. Continue 1-2 minutes, until everything is well integrated.

5. Add the garlic and herbs (1 min)

Add the crushed garlic (4 cloves with dill, 8 with thyme, 2 with tarragon). Stir continuously for 1 minute — careful not to burn it, garlic turns bitter quickly.

Turn off the heat. Chop the herb of your choice — dill, thyme or tarragon — and add it to the pan. Let the residual heat release the aromas.

6. Finish the filling

Crumble the cheese (original or vegan feta) over the mixture and stir gently. Taste and adjust with salt and pepper — careful, the cheese is already salty, so go easy on the salt.

Let the filling cool for 10 minutes before placing it in the pastry. Filling that's too hot melts the pastry prematurely.

7. Prepare the pastry and assemble (10 min)

Preheat the oven to 210°C fan.

Line a rectangular tray with parchment paper. Spread the filling in an even layer in the tray.

Lay the puff pastry on top, large enough to cover the whole tray with a small margin all around. Press the edges down — use your fingers or a fork to seal them firmly to the edge of the tray.

8. Score the pastry decoratively

With a sharp knife, make decorative cuts in the top of the pastry — squares, diamonds, leaves, whatever pattern you like. Important: the cuts should slice through the pastry but not all the way down. They serve two purposes: letting steam escape (without them, the pastry puffs unevenly and the filling boils underneath) and marking the lines along which you'll cut the pie after baking.

9. Bake (35 min, with egg wash at 20 min)

Put the tray in the oven. After 20 minutes, briefly take the tray out and brush the pastry with aquafaba (or beaten egg) using a pastry brush. This step gives the pastry a beautiful golden colour and a glossy crust.

Return to the oven and bake another 15 minutes, until the pastry is golden, crisp and risen. Total: 35 minutes.

10. Rest and serve

Take the pie out of the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing. The pastry needs to settle, otherwise it crumbles, and the filling is too hot to handle.

Cut along the scored lines. Serve warm, with a simple green salad on the side.

Notes & Tips

Butter beans — a specific bean

Butter beans (also called lima beans in some countries) are a large white bean with a particularly creamy texture and a slightly buttery flavour — hence the name. They are not interchangeable with the regular white beans used in bean soup; those are smaller and firmer. You'll find them tinned in well-stocked supermarkets or in shops with Mediterranean products.

The herb completely changes the recipe

The three options — dill, thyme, tarragon — take the pie in very different directions:

• Dill is the most Romanian, fresh and herby. Goes with less garlic (4 cloves) so it doesn't dominate. Best combination with classic feta.
• Thyme brings a herby, Mediterranean depth. Stands up to plenty of garlic (up to 8 cloves) — together they form a strong aromatic base. Excellent with goat's cheese.
• Tarragon is the most delicate and fragrant, slightly aniseed. Needs only 2 garlic cloves — more would overpower it. Best with feta or a soft cheese.

Don't combine them — each one is pronounced enough to drown out the others.

Why squeeze the spinach so hard?

Spinach is ~90% water. If you don't squeeze it well after blanching, the pie comes out with liquid pooling at the bottom of the pastry — the pastry stops being crisp and turns soggy. Hard squeezing in your fist (as much as you can, until nothing more drips) is the difference between a successful pie and a failed one.

Vegan puff pastry — read the label

Many shop-bought puff pastries contain butter or milk powder. The vegan ones use vegan margarine or oil. Check the ingredients list: look for "vegan margarine" and the absence of butter, milk, egg. Frozen puff pastry tends to use butter more often; the chilled fresh kind has more vegan options.

What does "leeks need oil" mean?

Leeks have less water content than onions, so they absorb oil quickly and can burn if you don't use enough. I use at least 3-4 tablespoons of oil for 2 leeks, sometimes more. If you see the rounds drying out in the pan or sticking before they soften, add another tablespoon of oil.

Sealing the pastry edges

Puff pastry rises a lot when baked. If the edges aren't well sealed to the tray, the pastry lifts up, the filling spills out, and the pie looks messy. Press the edges firmly with a fork or your fingers — don't go easy on the pressing.

Aquafaba — vegan egg wash

The brine drained from tinned beans (called "aquafaba") is a surprising vegan kitchen discovery: it has proteins and starches that mimic egg white properties remarkably well. For brushing pastry, it produces exactly the same golden colour and gloss as a beaten egg. You get it for free in any tin of butter beans, chickpeas or beans — instead of throwing it out, save 2-3 tablespoons for the brushing step. The rest (from one tin) keeps in the fridge for 3-4 days and can be used for other recipes (mousse, meringue, vegan mayonnaise).

Storage

In the fridge, in a sealed container, keeps 3-4 days. Reheat in the oven (180°C, 10-12 min) to bring back the pastry's crispness — the microwave makes it soggy. I don't recommend freezing: baked puff pastry doesn't behave well after thawing.