Among the various Italian regional cuisines, that of Emilia is certainly one of the most flavourful, full of fragrance and colour, thanks in no small part to the incredible fertility of the land in this part of Italy. Here, the art of eating well is communicated down the generations, respecting the traditions whilst at the same time offering the occasional interesting innovation. The recipe we have for you today is one of those dishes that are an integral part of that regional culinary heritage, a compelling reason to choose this region as an ideal destination for those who love the good life, eating really good quality and authentic food, made without pretention, but always relying on the excellent quality of the raw material: a spinach and chard tart known as ‘erbazzone’. However, to give a touch of originality to our recipe we decided to prepare a variant with a tasty and fragrant pastry crust, which makes it even more compelling: are you ready to try it?
Prepare the shortcrust pastry as per our recipe elsewhere on this website. While it’s resting in the fridge, prepare the spinach and chard and boil them for 5 minutes, then drain well! Coarsely chop the onions, garlic and parsley and blend together with the cooked and drained greens. In a bowl, add the parmesan cheese to the puréed vegetables, then add the nutmeg, salt, pepper and lard. Use a blender or food mixer to blend everything together well. Divide the pastry into two and roll them out into two circles, one larger and one smaller. With the larger one, lay it out on a baking tray where you will cook the tart, then fill with the blended mixture. Use the smaller one to cover the contents and then seal the edges with any leftover dough. Prick the entire surface with a fork, brush with egg yolk and bake for 30 minutes at 200°C.
View the step by step
|
Wash and blanch the greens
|
View the step by step
|
Drain and squeeze out moisture
|
View the step by step
|
Grate the parmesan into a bowl where you will prepare the filling
|
View the step by step
|
Chop the greens coarsely and add to the bowl
|
View the step by step
|
Finely chop the spring onion and add to the filling mixture
|
View the step by step
|
Blitz with an electric hand blender
|
View the step by step
|
Add the lard to the filling
|
View the step by step
|
Grate plenty of nutmeg and pepper over the filling
|
View the step by step
|
Mix everything well with an electric hand whisk
|
View the step by step
|
Roll out the pastry
|
View the step by step
|
Line the cake tin with the rolled out pastry
|
View the step by step
|
Transfer the filling to the cake tin
|
View the step by step
|
Cover the filling with the second piece of rolled out pastry
|
View the step by step
|
Brush the surface with some lightly beaten egg yolk to give it a lovely shine
|
View the step by step
|
The spinach and chard tart is ready, a savoury specialty from Reggiana
|