Torta Pasqualina

Genoa's Easter pie of chard and fresh curd scented with a great deal of fresh marjoram, whole eggs baked into hollows in the filling, under many sheets of thin pastry

Origin: Genoa & Liguria

From the journey of Marjoram.

Liguria is the part of Italy that cooks with marjoram as other regions cook with basil or parsley. Maggiorana goes into the stuffings of vegetables, into pansoti, into the walnut sauce, and above all into the torta pasqualina, the Easter pie of Genoa, where Ligurian cooks insist it is not a detail but the whole character of the dish: the aroma that separates this pie from every other vegetable tart in the country. It must be fresh; dried marjoram gives a different and much duller result. The filling is chard, or in some houses spinach or artichokes, bound with prescinseua, the soft, slightly sour curd of Genoa, and Parmigiano, and into it the cook makes hollows and cracks whole eggs, so that each slice cut at Easter shows a yolk set in the green. The pastry is a plain dough of flour, water, and oil rolled so thin it can be read through, and laid in many sheets. Tradition sets the number at thirty-three, one for each year of Christ's life. It is a fine tradition, and few cooks today follow it to the letter; most use far fewer sheets and nobody complains. It is Easter food, eaten on the Monday of the holiday on picnics in the hills behind the coast, and it is eaten cold or warm but never hot.

Ingredients

Pastry

500 g plain flour (tipo 00)
250 ml water
3 tbsp olive oil, plus more for brushing
1 tsp salt

Filling

1 kg chard (or spinach), washed and stalks trimmed
1 onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
400 g prescinseua, or ricotta mixed with 3 tbsp plain yoghurt
80 g Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
2 tbsp fresh marjoram leaves, chopped
2 eggs, beaten, for the filling
6 eggs, whole, for the hollows
1 tsp salt
0.5 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Method

Mix the flour, water, oil, and salt to a smooth, soft dough, knead for 10 minutes, divide into 8 balls, brush with oil, cover, and rest for at least an hour.
Blanch the chard for 3 minutes, drain, squeeze very dry, and chop. Soften the onion in the oil, add the chard, and cook for 5 minutes. Cool.
Mix the chard with the curd, Parmigiano, marjoram, beaten eggs, salt, and nutmeg.
Heat the oven to 190°C and oil a 26 cm springform tin. Roll four balls of dough as thin as you can, one at a time, lay them in the tin one over another, brushing each with oil, and let them overhang the edge.
Spread in the filling, make six hollows with the back of a spoon, and crack an egg into each.
Cover with the remaining four sheets, brushing each with oil, trim, and roll the edges together to seal. Prick the top without piercing the eggs.
Bake for 50 minutes to an hour, until deep golden. Cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting, and serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes

Prescinseua is sold only in Liguria. Ricotta loosened with a little plain yoghurt gives its slight sourness. Filo pastry is a reasonable shortcut for the homemade dough; use ten sheets top and bottom, brushed with oil.

The Gastrographer

Name: Torta Pasqualina
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 2 h 30 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Genoa & Liguria
Ingredients: 500 g plain flour (tipo 00); 250 ml water; 3 tbsp olive oil, plus more for brushing; 1 tsp salt; 1 kg chard (or spinach), washed and stalks trimmed; 1 onion, finely chopped; 2 tbsp olive oil; 400 g prescinseua, or ricotta mixed with 3 tbsp plain yoghurt; 80 g Parmigiano Reggiano, grated; 2 tbsp fresh marjoram leaves, chopped; 2 eggs, beaten, for the filling; 6 eggs, whole, for the hollows; 1 tsp salt; 0.5 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control