Ricotta, Spinach, Vegetarian

Spinach and ricotta pie – Torta verde

A typical Ligurian vegetable pie served as an appetizer or main course. It's usually made with chard, but, as they're easier to find here, I used spinach. The crust is homemade and is a traditional olive oil pastry.

Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 hour and 20 min

$9-11 total*

4-6 people

Ingredients

For the dough:

200 g (1 and 1/4 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour
100 g (slightly less than 1/2 cup) lukewarm water
20 g (2 tbsp) extra virgin olive oil + some more (about 10 g/1 tbsp) to put on top of the pie
a pinch of salt

For the filling:

600 g (21.2 oz) fresh spinach leaves (or chard) – about 1 and 1/2 cups once boiled and chopped
1 small onion (about 50 g), finely chopped
250 g (9 oz) ricotta cheese
50 g (1.7 oz) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 egg
a pinch of marjoram
1/2 teaspoon of salt, more to taste
freshly ground pepper

Preparation

Prepare the dough (“pasta matta”): put the flour, water, salt, and extra virgin olive oil into a mixing bowl. With a fork, mix the ingredients until incorporated into a ball.

Transfer the ball to a working surface and knead it for 5 minutes (press and pull it several times). This will allow developing the gluten that will make the dough very elastic and able to stretch. The final dough must be very soft and must not stick to your hands. If it does, add some flour.

The dough needs to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature. I like to put it in an airtight container to avoid plastic wrap, but this is also an option.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and move the oven’s internal rack to the middle position.

While the dough is resting, prepare the filling: Trim and discard the thick stalks from the spinach. Wash the spinach and blanch them in 3 cups of salted boiling water for about 2-3 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool.

In a large skillet, sauté the onion in the oil over medium heat until soft, for about 2-3 minutes.

Once cooled, squeeze as much water as possible out of the spinach, roughly chop them, and add to the skillet with the onion. Add salt, pepper, and marjoram and sauté for a few minutes. Let cool.

In a small bowl, add the ricotta, Parmesan cheese, spinach, a pinch of salt and pepper, and the egg. Stir well until everything is incorporated.

Take the dough and divide it into two parts, one slightly larger than the other. Roll the largest dough with a rolling pin on a working surface dusted with flour.

Drape the dough over a 9-inch pie plate, making sure to have about 1 inch of extra dough outside the edges of the plate.

Spoon the spinach mix into the center of the dough, and spread evenly.

Finely roll the second piece of dough and place it on top of the spinach mix. Cut out the rest of the dough to fit within the plate (see pictures below). Fold the edges of the lower dough on top of the upper one.

Brush top crust with oil and bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown.