Torta Pasqualina: Italian Spinach Pie for Easter
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!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 375 g ready-rolled puff pastry
- 450 g spinach
- 6 eggs 2 beaten, 3 left whole, 1 for eggwash
- 250 g ricotta
- 2 brown onions finely chopped
- 20 g parsley stalks and leaves chopped
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
- 50 g parmesan finely grated
Instructions
- Place wash spinach in a large colander. Boil a whole kettle of water and pour it slowly over the spinach to wilt. If you need to, boil another kettle and repeat. Leave to cool down just enough so you can handle the spinach with your hands. Squeeze out any 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 don't have the dreaded soggy bottom. You should be left with a block of compressed spinach. Chop it up roughly with a sharp knife and tip into a large bowl.
- Place the finely chopped 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 much. Tip the onions in together with spinach.
- To the same bowl, add the ricotta, 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.
- Preheat the oven to 180C 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 up.
- Unroll 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 above). If you have pastry overhanging, cut it off leaving about 1cm still sticking up. You can cut some decorations out of the scraps for 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 size of the loaf tin.
- Beat one remaining egg in a small bowl. Brush the edge of the pastry carefully not to get any egg on the tin.
- Place the pastry lid on top of the pie and crimp the pastry to seal in the filling.
- Decorate the pie with any leftover pastry, brush it with eggwash. Then pierce a few wholes with a fork so that the steam can escape whilst the Easter Pie cooks.
- Bake 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 Torta Pasqualina to cool for another 10 minutes before slicing.
Notes
For serving suggestions, have a look at Recipe FAQs in the text above.
Nutrition
Calories: 302kcalCarbohydrates: 12gProtein: 24gFat: 18gSaturated Fat: 9gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 286mgSodium: 440mgPotassium: 905mgFiber: 4gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 11704IUVitamin C: 42mgCalcium: 446mgIron: 5mg
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