the end result!  beetroot, asparagus, mushroom, & pistachio pie… oh man… that is a mouthful ;)

For super on Sunday, Ben made an iron chef challenge for me… to use beet-root and asparagus together as main ingredients for dinner.  I spent a good hour at the grocery store contemplating how these flavors would work best together… and ultimately decided a vegetarian pie with mushrooms, chic peas, purple onion, goats feta, and of course beet-root & asparagus.  To tie the flavors together I thought pistachios would be a delicious touch (love the salty & nutty qualities plus it is, like the beets, onion, & aparagus, also green & purple).  Oh and obviously garlic – i crushed & diced about 3 cloves.

It was my first time cooking with beet-root from scratch (aka not a can or jar), even though I LOVE THEM! (Australians are crazy about beet-root)… cooking with filo is also a relatively novel experience for me… making the challenge all the more difficult.

More ideas/detailed instructions on preparing beets can be found in this weeks posts @ sunday-supers (good blog!)

sauteed the asparagus, chic peas, mushrooms, purple onions & pistachios in olive oil, diced garlic and herbs… personally my preference is to dice the vegetables into big & chunky pieces…

Double wrap the beet-root in foil and bake for 45 minutes at 225 C… Remove and cut into 1/4 inch slices… Lay filo down in pan and bake for 5 min (just so a little crispy!) disperse the beetroot evenly along filo… add goats feta

Lay the sauteed vegetables over the beet-root and feta!

Filo was easier to work with than expected… use as little as possible to keep the meal healthy!  cover the entire hodge podge with filo pastry and bake for 15 minutes (or until crust is golden brown)

and this was pretty much the only picture of the end result that turned out because we were so excited to try…  It was delicious and low calorie (with the exception of the filo)…