Torta Pasqualina: Italian Spinach Pie for Easter

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Looking for pie recipes for Easter? One of our most cherished spring recipes - Torta Pasqualina - is a traditional Italian Easter Pie! With heaps of spinach, a good measure of ricotta cheese and a surprise of whole eggs inside, this puff pastry spinach pie is both delicious and filling! A great vegetarian option for your Easter table, this spinach and ricotta pie, can be served both warm and cold! We made our Easter Pie in a 2 lbs loaf tin to serve four!

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What is Torta Pasqualina?

A well-known pie from Liguria, made with spinach (or chard), ricotta and egg filling, is a true Italian Easter tradition. The pastry used varies widely, from shortcrust to filo! When made with filo, 33 sheets are used to represent the years Jesus lived before crucifixion! We, however, made ours with shop-bought puff pastry to make it an easy and effortless Easter Pie!

The most interesting feature of this Italian Spinach Pie is whole eggs baked inside. It's a wonderful surprise to find when you cut into the pie and expose little yellow rounds of yolks!

***TIP: if you are looking to make an impression at your Easter dinner table, make small cuts in the pastry you top the pie with to guide you on where to cut for the best chance of exposing the pretty eggs on the first slice.***

If pies float your boat, you must try our Chicken, Bacon and Leek Pie With Filo Pastry as well as Halloumi & Sweet Potato Pie.

Ingredients for this Easter Pie:

• 375 g ready-rolled puff pastry: ready-rolled puff pastry makes it easy to assemble, but making your own can be extremely rewarding!
• 450 g spinach: whilst spinach is a traditional choice for this Italian Easter Pie, we also make it with swiss chard and it is just as delicious. Note, though that swiss chard will take longer to wilt, so we place it in hot water for a few minutes before cooling and squeezing the moisture out.
• 6 eggs: 2 beaten, 3 left whole, 1 for eggwash
• 250 g ricotta: drain your ricotta before adding it to the filling. You don't want extra moisture going into the filling! If you can't get hold of ricotta, use cream cheese instead!
• 2 brown onions: we used two medium-sized onions.
• 20 g parsley stalks and leaves chopped: you need to use quite a handful of fresh herbs in this recipe, otherwise, the flavour may get lost. We love this pie with lots of parsley, but dill and coriander will work too.
• ¼ tsp allspice: flavours of cinnamon, clove and nutmeg all in one ground up berry! It's become one of our favourite spices to use both in the savoury and sweet dishes.
• ⅛ tsp nutmeg: a small pinch of nutmeg goes a long way!
• 50 g parmesan: finely grated. If you wish, you can substitute parmesan with Grana Padano, pecorino or other strong-tasting hard cheese.

Method: How to Make Torta Pasqualina?

Prepare the Spinach:

Place washed spinach in a large colander. Boil a whole kettle of water and pour it slowly over the spinach in order for it to wilt. If you need to, boil another kettle and repeat. Leave the spinach to cool down just enough so you can handle it with your hands (about 10-15 minutes).

Squeeze out excess moisture with your hands, then place the spinach in a piece of muslin cloth and squeeze again. This process will ensure the filling isn't too wet and you won't have the dreaded soggy bottom. At the end of this process, you should be left with a block of compressed spinach. Chop it up roughly with a sharp knife and tip it into a large bowl.

Make the Spinach and Ricotta Pie Filling:

Whilst the spinach is cooling, chop the brown onion finely. Place the onions in a frying pan with a tablespoon of oil. Sautee on low-medium heat for 8-10 minutes until soft, but don't let the onions brown too much. Tip the onions in together with spinach.

Chop the parsley, including the stalks and leaves. Grate the parmesan.

To the same bowl, add the ricotta (drain any excess liquid if there's any in the tub), parsley, parmesan, 2 eggs, allspice and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper and mix to combine. Place the mixture in the fridge whilst you prepare the loaf tin.

Assemble the Pie:

Preheat the oven to 180°C Fan. Lightly grease a 2 lbs loaf tin with oil or butter and line with baking parchment with sides sticking up higher than the rim, so you can lift the cooked pie out.

Unroll the puff pastry and cut a third of it off for the pie lid. Roll the rest of the puff pastry so that you can line the loaf tin on the bottom and up the sides right up to the rim (see photos below). If you have pastry overhanging, cut it off leaving about 1cm still sticking up. You can cut some decorations out of the scraps to decorate the top.

Spoon the spinach filling into the lined tin. You should have enough filling to fill it almost to the brim. Make three deep groves in the filling, and crack an egg into each.

Roll the remaining pastry for the lid, so that it is about 2 cm larger in length and width than the measurements of the loaf tin.

Beat one remaining egg in a small bowl. Brush the edge of the pastry carefully so as not to get any egg on the tin.

Place the puff pastry lid on top of the pie and crimp the pastry to seal in the spinach filling.

Decorate the Italian Easter Pie with any leftover pastry, then brush it with egg wash. Pierce a few holes with a fork so that the steam can escape whilst the pie cooks.

Bake:

Bake the assembled spinach and egg pie for 45-50 minutes. Once cooked, take the pie out of the oven and leave it in the tin for 10 minutes to firm up. Lift the pie out of the tin by holding overhanging baking parchment and then leave it to cool for another 10 minutes before slicing.

Recipe FAQs:

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Other Easter Recipes

If you're looking for other ideas for your Easter table, have a look at our Ultimate Easter Menu for Two.

For something Italian try Sourdough Pane Di Pasqua (Italian Sourdough Easter Bread) or Italian Lemon Ricotta Pie. Some of our other favourite Easter recipes are below:

• Carrot Cake with Coconut, Pecans and Sultanas
• Lithuanian Fourteen Layer Honey Cake
• Simnel Pinwheels for Easter | Fruit & Marzipan Pastry Rolls