TORTA PASQUELINA Italian Riviera

TORTA PASQUELINA

Pasqualina is a savory cake from Liguria (Torta Pasqualina, ) is a second dish typical of Liguria,which is a very good savory pie made from puff pastry with olive oil, ricotta, spinach and eggs.

Preparation: 15 minutes.....Cooking: 35 - 40 min ....

Servings: 4 - 6

Ingredients :

For the pastry

600 g Flour 0
1 & 1/2 cups Water
2 tablespoons g Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 pinch Salt Up

For the filling

2 pounds Spinach
1 pound whole milk Ricotta Cheese
200 g Parmigiano Reggiano
1 samll Onion
10 large Eggs
3 sprigs Marjoram (fresh)
Salt to taste
Black Pepper to taste

Start preparing the Pasqualina cake from the pastry.
Combine the flour with water, salt and extra virgin olive oil in a bowl. Mix everything until you obtain a homogeneous and compact mixture. 

Divide the dough into 4 loaves of  the 2 from 10 ounces from 6 ounces approximately. Roll them with your hands and let them rest for about an hour in a cool place.

In the meantime wash the fresh spinach, drain them and sauté in a pan with extra virgin olive oil and finely chopped onion. Cook for a few minutes, do not overcook but only wither, then let them cool and pour into a bowl.

To these, add two eggs,  1/4 cup Parmesan, a pinch of salt, pepper and fresh marjoram then mix well. In another bowl add the ricotta with 3 other eggs, a pinch of salt, pepper and 100 g of Parmgiano, then mix well.

At this point you have two choices, leave the vegetables and ricotta separated so that they have a white and a green layer of the cake, or (as I did) combine the vegetables with the ricotta.

Once the dough has lapsed, oil a 12" Springform Pan, roll out the first two sheets of 10 ounces and place them in the pan. The dough should be very thin. Grease the sheet of extra virgin olive oil and add the filling. Level the mixture and make 7 spaces in it with a spoon, where you will put the 7 eggs left, obviously raw.

Sprinkle the surface with the remaining Parmesan, salt and pepper, then cover with the other two loafs of pastry spread out. Close the cake, brush the surface of extra virgin olive oil and bake at 180 ° C for about 40 - 45 minutes, adjusting the cooking according to the power of your oven.

When the cake is cooked and well browned, take it out of the oven and let it cool.

TARALLI

 This recipe was given to my Grandmother by an Italian baker. After they both moved to NY e would deliver these to Italian bakeries and also sell directly to my grandmother(she had to buy a minimum of 5 pounds. It is one of the more labor intensive recipes you will see here but it is great to make on a cold winter weekend especially if you have some family or friends to help. There is also a link to my video under the recipe...

Taralli Baresi

Ingredients :

8 cups all purpose flour

8 oz. of vegetable oil(1 cup)

8 oz. white wine(1 cup)

1 Tablespoon of salt

8 oz. warm water

2 packages of active dry yeast

¼ cup fennel seeds

Add warm water and yeast together first in mixing bowl. Then add wine and oil. Mix in flour and salt to make dough. Add fennel seeds for last minute of mixing. Dough should be silky and not wet. Add more water if necessary a teaspoon at a time.

Cover dough in a bowl with a dish towel to rise for about 60 minutes.

Take pieces of dough and roll to about 7 inches and a half inch thick and fold over once to form an X with an oval on top(like a ribbon) and press the center so it stays in place.

Boil a large pot of water. Drop the Taralli a few at a time into the boiling water and as soon as they float remove them and place on a large cloth table cloth (clean of course). Let them all dry about 30 minutes. Then bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about an hour….The 2 pics are from 2 different times I made them.