I would not blame you if you thought that Torta Pasqualina could be a cake called Pasqualina or made by a woman called Pasqualina.
But a torta in Italian isn’t just the word for a torte or cake that’s associated with a dessert, it can also be used to describe a tart or a pie.
A torta is very often baked with a pastry shell and can be filled with sweet ingredients, but however, it is more likely to be filled with savory ingredients and mainly with vegetables. Sometimes to differentiate a savoury pastry/ torta from the sweet it is called a salty torta – torta salata. The torta may have an enclosed pastry lid or it may have a lattice top pastry covering. A small torta is called a tortino.
Now that I have the torta issue, I am going to introduce you to another complication. Tarts in Italy are also called crostata . Think of a jam tart – crostata di marmellata (jam in Italian) or an apple tart. This tart consists of a filling over a pastry base with an open top or covered with a pastry latticed top. Crostata is the Italian word, and galette is the French.
I usually think of a torta as having a more substantial filling than a crostata. Picture the huge ornate pies served during the Renaissance banquets, that could be filled with live birds, hares and other creatures. Remember the nursery rhyme about four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie? Once the live creatures were released and the entertainment was over, there was an edible torta encased at the bottom that the guests feasted on.
There are even more different names for baked pastry relating to particular Italian regions, each with their own food culture and titles for particular dishes. And within each region there would be local variations both of the dish but also the local name of that particular dish. For example, I am familiar with the particular covered pastries in Sicily that are called impanate. An impanata is a wrapper of dough that contains a lamb meat filling. It is popular during Easter (Easter spring lamb). The Impanata is especially popular at Easter in Ragusa, an Iblean city in Southern Sicily, where my relatives live.
Sicily had Arab settlers and later French and Spaniards. These cultures have meat and/or vegetable filled pastries. Think empanadas (South American /Spanish speaking countries) and pastilla or bastilla (Morocco and countries with Arab influences) and the fine pastry made by the French. The Sicilians used the term monsù cuisine for a fusion of refined French food with agriculturally-based Sicilian produce and recipes. Monsù is derived from the word monsieur – a French or French-trained male cook employed in the homes of the wealthy in Sicily (and southern Italy) during the 18th and early 19th centuries.
There are more savoury pastries in Ragusa. My relatives make and eat Scacce for Easter. A Scaccia consists of two or more layers of leavened dough around a filling – vegetables, especially eggplant and tomato and ricotta and sausage.
By now you may have guessed that Pasqua means Easter, so a Torta Pasqualina is an Easter pie. It is also a Torta di Verdura/Verdure (vegetable/vegetables). There are many variations of these torte cooked all over Italy. They are usually made with a variety of green leafy vegetables – spinach, cavolo nero, endives, chicory etc. The vegetables are braised first and then bound with eggs. Some may have a little cheese, placed into a pastry base and fully or partially covered with pastry. All these pies are very regional and with variations. The Torta Pasqualina is a variation of a Torta di Verdure that comes from Liguria. Genova is in Liguria and some call the Torta Pasqualina, a Torta Pasqualina Genovese.
This regional specialty differs from the usual Torta di Verdure because apart from containing eggs to bind the vegetable filling there are also whole eggs (or whole egg yolks) embedded in the centre of the filling and baked inside the pie. Torta Pasqualina becomes more spectacular than a Torta di Verdure and sometimes even more so when the ricotta that is part of the filling is placed in a layer on top of the green vegetables rather than being mixed in with the greens. The greater visual display is due to the eggs embedded in the white ricotta layer. When the pie is cut you will see the egg sliced through the middle. It is after all Pasqua, a festive occasion.
The original recipe for Torta Pasqualina contained artichokes with or without green leafy vegetables – silverbeet/chard, spinach. The pie is now usually made with puff pastry made with extra virgin olive oil or a mixture of butter and oil. In the past it was made with thirty-three sheets of very thin pastry, one for every year of Christ’s life. Many recipes divide the dough into seven pieces and roll it into seven layers, each layer coated with oil before the next layer is placed on top. Usually there are four layers on the bottom (needs to be thicker than the top to hold the filling) and three on top. You could try using Phyllo pastry, but I would use more than seven layers of pastry especially if the filling is substantial.
What I particularly like in the Torta Pasqualina is the use of sweet marjoram, a herb that is quite common in Liguria, especially in Genova. Nutmeg compliments ricotta and spinach, so add this as well. I have seen many recipes that do not use either marjoram or nutmeg and I dismiss those recipes.
I usually don’t weigh ingredients when I cook but if you use the following quantities for a base and pastry, you will be OK.
It will not matter if you make the pastry before the filling. Thy both can be made in advance and rest.
The filling:
1kg of silverbeet/chard/ spinach green leafy vegetables – washed cut into small bits and well drained as you don’t want too much moisture when sauté them.
8 eggs – 2 to bind the greens and 6 to place inside for a visual effect chopped sweet marjoram – to taste but is like it and use about 8 sprigs one onion and a little garlic to taste – all finely sliced/chopped.
80g grated parmesan
700g of ricotta (not from a tub)
salt, pepper, a little nutmeg
extra virgin olive oil (½ cup) and a good sized lump of butter to braise the greens – I am always generous but you don’t have to be.
Cooking the filling:
Sauté the onions and garlic, add the greens and marjoram, some salt and pepper and braise them until they wilt – 15 – 20mins
Make sure that they are not wet or the pastry will be soggy. Either evaporate the liquid while cooking the greens or drain the vegetables and then evaporate the liquid.
Leave to cool.
When ready to assemble the pie combine the vegetables with ricotta, two eggs, nutmeg and parmesan. Check the seasoning.
For the pastry:
I like to make my own pastry, but you may prefer to use a commercial variety. I also enjoy using my fingers, however food processors work well.
In this recipe I have used standard cup measurements and approximate weight, but let your intuition guide you and vary the amounts as needed. Different flours will absorb differing amounts of liquid I have estimated the approximate amount of water which could be used. Pastry making is also influenced by the weather, use cold water, and rinse your hands to cool them under the cold-water tap and keep the pastry in a cool place when you allow it to rest.
The pastry should be compact and may not need any extra liquid, but if you feel that you will not be able to roll it out, add more oil or a little water.
400g/3 cups and 1 tbsp ’extra.
quarter teaspoon of salt, to taste
4 tablespoons good quality virgin olive oil plus a few tablespoons for glossing the top of the torta
half a glass of water
Process:
Sieve the flour into a big bowl and mix in the salt.
Make a well in the flour and add the oil and cold water gradually.
Stir till the pastry comes together (adding a little more liquid or flour depending on which is necessary).
Knead very quickly to make a light elastic ball of dough but don’t overwork.
Cover in clingfilm and let it rest half an hour in the fridge.
I also have satisfactory results with the recipe for Pasta Frolla Fatta Con Olio (Short pastry made with oil). This is a much richer pastry and it contains eggs. Link is at the bottom of this post.
Assembling the pie:
I like to sprinkle some breadcrumbs (fresh bread is OK) to help absorb some of the moisture from the vegetables.
Cover the pastry base with the filling. Dig 6 holes in the freshly placed filling at equal distances from each other, crack an egg into each hole and on each yolk add a pinch of salt and a dollop of butter.
Gently fold the edges of the pastry and seal the pie. Paint the top of the pie with oil (or some beaten egg). Score a pattern on the top of the pie with a sharp knife. You could also consider placing a mark on the pastry where the eggs are embedded so that when you cut the pie you will be successful in cutting through the baked egg.
Cook at 180° degrees for about an hour.
The pie is either eaten warm or cold. It makes fabulous picnic food., perhaps on Pasquetta – literally “little Easter,” but is taken to mean Easter Monday.
***The link below is for a Torta di Verdura with a mix of green leafy vegetables. It also has the recipe for the short pastry.
TORTA DI VERDURA (A vegetable flan or pie)
SCACCE (focaccia-like stuffed bread)
‘MPANATA (A lamb pie, Easter treat)