There is a saying in Italy, “Natale con i tuoi. Pasqua con chi vuoi.” It basically means you spend Christmas with you family and Easter with whomever you’d like! Easter is a more relaxed holiday. Easter in Italy even goes onto the following Monday: La Pasquetta. Typically Italians go to eat outdoors, by the beach, in the mountains, on picnic. I just spoke with my aunt in Sicily and she told me my cousins went to the farm to eat only grilled meats.
yields: 10-12 servings1 tablespoon butter
21 ounces Swiss chard (or spinach)
10 eggs, divided
1 1/3 cups ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons bread crumbs
scant 1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon chopped fresh marjoram
14 ounces puff pastry dough
all purpose flour for dusting
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and grease a large pie pan or 10 inch springform pan with the butter.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Remove the tough stems from the chard and add to the boiling water. Cook until tender, 3-5 minutes or shorter for spinach. Rinse in cold water, drain, and chop.
In a medium bowl, beat together 4 of the eggs. Push the ricotta through a strainer into the bowl, being sure to scrap the underside of the strainer for excess ricotta. Mix in the Parmesan, bread crumbs, heavy cream, salt, pepper, chopped chard, and marjoram.
On a lightly floured surface, cut the puff pastry into 4 equal pieces. Roll one piece until thin and large enough to cover pan with excess hanging over the edges. Brush with olive oil and roll out another piece. Place over first piece at an angle so the overhanging edges are not together. Cover the other two pieces with a damp cloth.
Pour half of the chard ricotta mixture into the prepared pan over the puff pastry. Use a spoon to make 6 indentations in the chard mixture in a circle. Break an egg into each indentation. Season with salt and pepper and cover with remaining chard ricotta mixture. Use a wet spatula to smooth the top.
Roll another piece of puff pastry until thin and place over chard mixture. Brush with oil. Roll the remaining piece of puff pastry and place on top. Carefully crimp all of the edges the seal. Prick the surface a few times with a fork.
Bake in preheated oven until heated through and top is golden brown. Allow to sit for 10 minutes before slicing and serving. Serve hot or cold.
Oh my goodness that looks exactly as my nonna would make it!!
What a beautiful torte!!! Great job!
I've never seen this before! It looks so good!
Lora, happy Easter to you and your family! This torts is absolutely beautiful! I'm in awe over that perfectly cooked egg in there.
Going to get the recipe now! that just looks amazing and I would have loved to have had this for Easter! yum!
Hum. That seems interesting. I wonder if my family would eat it.
This looks delicious! I wish something this fancy would show up at my Easter feast!
I think I could this whole thing BY MYSELF!
I finally clicked over to your Savoring Italy tab…and here I find this amazing Easter bread! Just stunning, Lora! I don't think I can wait till Easter to try this 🙂
[…] bake a dozen loaves with her eyes closed! You can find some better photos and recipes part 2, part 3 and now this is part 4! The recipe was tweaked a little bit. I melted the butter and cooled it […]
No coialpmnts on this end, simply a good piece.
[…] This Calabrian stuffed flatbread can be found in various regions of Italy with different names. It could be made with sweet white onions instead of scallions. If you have family from the Puglia region you may know it is a scalcione or calzone di cipolla. In Liguria it is made with a spinach (or Swiss chard) and egg filling and is called a Torta Pasqualina. […]