Malfatti (spinach and ricotta gnocchi)

Just when you think you've exhausted every possible way of combining spinach and ricotta, along comes another recipe that makes you rediscover just how good these two ingredients are together!


As I was savouring these last week, I started wondering what it is that makes gnocchi (of any sort) so delectable. There really are very few sensations as satisfying as biting right into a warm gnoccho. I think it has to do with their density - you're basically taking a big bite of flour, with some other stuff mixed in (sort of like a very condensed sandwich?) - but that's just a hypothesis.

In any case, malfatti are truly wonderful, and a nice variant on the typical potato gnocchi. "Malfatti" means "badly made" in Italian, which is an odd name, considering how good these are! I think it may be because normally you'd put the spinach and ricotta inside the pasta (like ravioli for example), but here you just lazily mix them all up with flour and dump them into a pot of boiling water - far less time-consuming and tastes just as good, if not better!

Ingredients:
300 g. spinach
150 g. ricotta
All-purpose flour (as much as is necessary to get the dough to the right consistency - will vary depending on how watery the spinach and ricotta are)
1 whole nutmeg (or pre-ground nutmeg if you can't get a whole one)
A heap of parmesan
Salt
Pepper
Butter (for the topping)
Fresh sage leaves or parmesan (for the topping)

Thoroughly wash the spinach, and tear off any thick stems. Steam the spinach, in batches if necessary, until it wilts and reduces substantially. Let cool, squeeze dry, and then chop into little bits.

Grind the nutmeg to a powder and grate the parmesan. In a large bowl, combine the spinach with the ricotta, nutmeg, parmesan, salt, and pepper (you just need a pinch of the salt and the pepper). Mix in the flour, adding in just enough to get an elastic ball of dough.


Turn the dough out onto a well-floured board and knead a few minutes to thoroughly combine everything. Cut off bits of the dough and roll them into long strips about the width of your thumb. Cut each strip into little bits (the gnocchi), also about the width of your thumb, so you have roughly square-like lumps of dough. If desired, shape the gnocchi by pressing them into a cheese grater or other such implement and wrapping the ends around your finger as you do so.

I took this opportunity to make use of my gnocchi-maker (I don't think they're actually called that), which I bought in Italy the last time I was there. It's a little wooden board with rows and rows of indentations, so that when you press the gnocchi against it, you get the lovely little striped pattern that you see on gnocchi in stores and restaurants. Not really necessary, but lots of fun!


At this point, you can let the gnocchi sit out to dry for a bit, or you can make them right away. They also keep fine in the refrigerator for a day or so, in case you want to make them in advance.

When you're ready to make the gnocchi, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt it, and add the gnocchi, making sure not to crowd the pot - cooking the gnocchi in batches of 10-15 works well for me, though with a bigger pot you can cook more at once.

The gnocchi don't take long to cook - about 5 minutes. When they rise to the top they are done, although I usually let them cook another minute or two there. Remove the gnocchi with a slotted spoon, place in their serving dish, and add more to cook as you remove the first batch.

If using sage as the topping, wash the sage leaves and chop them very finely (do this while bringing the water to a boil). Heat some butter in a small saucepan and add the sage, if using. When all the gnocchi have finished cooking, place them in their serving plates and pour the butter & sage over them. If you prefer to use parmesan, simply place a pat of butter over each plate of gnocchi and add the parmesan over it, and then mix. The heat of the pasta will melt the butter and parmesan, resulting in a wonderfully rich condiment for a wonderfully rich dish!

Lasagne Verdi dell'Emilia Romagna - Daring Bakers Challenge

I have to say, I was pretty surprised when this month's challenge was revealed. I was expecting a dessert or perhaps something St. Patrick's Day themed, but lasagne? And not just any lasagne, but spinach lasagne! Lasagne verdi (green lasagne) as they're called in Italian*, served with ragù and beschamel (besciamella) in true Emilia Romagna style. Yum!!


You would think that with all my experience making and eating pasta, I would have made lasagne before, but the fact is I almost never even eat lasagne, let alone make them. There isn't really a good reason for this - it's just not something that ever occurs to me. I actually don't think I ate lasagne one single time during the whole year and a half I lived in Italy. Of the lasagne I've eaten in the U.S. though, I have to say this one was far and away the best. Why? High-quality, fresh ingredients (which of course are the secret to making anything taste wonderful), and thin thin layers of everything - super-thin pasta topped with just enough ragù, besciamella, and parmesan to cover it, and then layer upon layer upon layer of the stuff!

Despite their incredible tastiness, I don't think I'll be making these again anytime soon - at least not unless someone gives me a pasta machine! I spent a little over an hour rolling out 18 strips of dough, trying to make them as thin as I could, and while the end result was delicious, my arm muscles are not happy about it!! Also, I highly recommend making the pasta in advance and then leaving it wrapped up tightly in the refrigerator overnight - unless you have a whole afternoon free, you'll be eating your lasagne at midnight if you start them when you come home from work!

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

I'll give the recipe below, along with my notes. I didn't quite follow the proportions for the pasta, and I made slightly different versions of the ragù and the besciamella, making the ragù a sort of amalgamation of several recipes I looked at online. Whenever I make an Italian recipe that I haven't made before, I go search around all the Italian websites I can find, because generally Italian recipes written in Italian are a bit different from Italian recipes in English. The measurements are often less precise, the verbs for describing what you're supposed to do are different, they can be quite strict about which ingredients to use and so on...

So without further ado, the recipe for lasagne verdi! My notes in purple as always

Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna (Lasagne Verdi al Forno)
(Serves 8 to 10 as a first course, 6 to 8 as a main dish)

Preparation Time: 15 minutes to assemble and 40 minutes cooking time

10 quarts (9 litres) salted water
1 recipe Spinach Pasta cut for lasagna (recipe follows)#1
1 recipe Bechamel Sauce (recipe follows)#2
1 recipe Country Style Ragu (recipe follows)#3
1 cup (4 ounces/125g) freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano


Method
Working Ahead:
The ragu and the béchamel sauce can be made up to three days ahead. The ragu can also be frozen for up to one month. The pasta can be rolled out, cut and dried up to 24 hours before cooking. The assembled lasagne can wait at room temperature (20 degrees Celsius/68 degrees Fahrenheit) about 1 hour before baking. Do not refrigerate it before baking, as the topping of béchamel and cheese will overcook by the time the center is hot. *As stated above, I highly recommend making most portions of this ahead of time. It definitely makes the actual lasagne-making night less stressful!

Assembling the Ingredients:
Have all the sauces, rewarmed gently over a medium heat, and the pasta at hand. Have a large perforated skimmer and a large bowl of cold water next to the stove. Spread a double thickness of paper towels over a large counter space. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius). Oil or butter a 3 quart (approx 3 litre) shallow baking dish.

Cooking the Pasta:
Bring the salted water to a boil. Drop about four pieces of pasta in the water at a time. Cook about 2 minutes. If you are using dried pasta, cook about 4 minutes, taste, and cook longer if necessary. The pasta will continue cooking during baking, so make sure it is only barely tender. Lift the lasagne from the water with a skimmer, drain, and then slip into the bowl of cold water to stop cooking. When cool, lift out and dry on the paper towels. Repeat until all the pasta is cooked.


Assembling the Lasagne:
Spread a thin layer of béchamel over the bottom of the baking dish.*I spread ragù on the bottom instead - I saw recipes that had you do it both ways and also recipes that had the pasta on the bottom, but this was the way that appealed to me most. Arrange a layer of about four overlapping sheets of pasta over the béchamel. *I made sure to poke some holes in all the layers of pasta with a fork to let out the steam. Not sure how much difference it made, but I'm sure it didn't hurt. Spread a thin layer of béchamel (about 3 or 4 spoonfuls) over the pasta, and then an equally thin layer of the ragu. Sprinkle with about 1&1/2 tablespoons of the béchamel and about 1/3 cup of the cheese. Repeat the layers until all ingredients are used, finishing with béchamel sauce and topping with a generous dusting of cheese.

Layer 1

Baking and Serving the Lasagne:
Cover the baking dish lightly with foil, taking care not to let it touch the top of the lasagne. Bake 40 minutes, or until almost heated through. Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes, or until hot in the center (test by inserting a knife – if it comes out very warm, the dish is ready). *I let it bake a little less time with the foil and a little more time without it, because I don't like my lasagne to be too moist. Take care not to brown the cheese topping. It should be melted, creamy looking and barely tinged with a little gold. Turn off the oven, leave the door ajar and let the lasagne rest for about 10 minutes. Then serve. This is not a solid lasagne, but a moist one that slips a bit when it is cut and served.

#1 Spinach Egg Pasta (Pasta Verde)

Preparation: 45 minutes

Makes enough for 6 to 8 first course servings or 4 to 6 main course servings, equivalent to 1 pound (450g) dried boxed pasta.

2 jumbo eggs (2 ounces/60g or more)
10 ounces (300g) fresh spinach, rinsed dry, and finely chopped; or 6 ounces (170g) frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
3&1/2 cups (14 ounces/400g) all purpose unbleached (plain) flour (organic stone ground preferred)
*Added a spoonful of salt

Working by Hand:

Equipment

A roomy work surface, 24 to 30 inches deep by 30 to 36 inches (60cm to 77cm deep by 60cm to 92cm). Any smooth surface will do, but marble cools dough slightly, making it less flexible than desired.

A pastry scraper and a small wooden spoon for blending the dough.

A wooden dowel-style rolling pin. In Italy, pasta makers use one about 35 inches long and 2 inches thick (89cm long and 5cm thick). The shorter American-style pin with handles at either end can be used, but the longer it is, the easier it is to roll the pasta.
Note: although it is not traditional, Enza has successfully made pasta with a marble rolling pin, and this can be substituted for the wooden pin, if you have one.

Plastic wrap to wrap the resting dough and to cover rolled-out pasta waiting to be filled. It protects the pasta from drying out too quickly.

A sharp chef’s knife for cutting pasta sheets.

Cloth-covered chair backs, broom handles, or specially designed pasta racks found in cookware shops for draping the pasta.

Mixing the dough:
Mound the flour in the center of your work surface and make a well in the middle. *I mixed the salt in with the flour too. Add the eggs and spinach.*I steamed the spinach first, which most of the recipes I looked at recommended. I squoze them dry before using, although I think I squoze them a bit too dry, because I had to add a few spoonfuls of water to get the dough to the right consistency. Use a wooden spoon to beat together the eggs and spinach. Then gradually start incorporating shallow scrapings of flour from the sides of the well into the liquid. As you work more and more flour into the liquid, the well’s sides may collapse. Use a pastry scraper to keep the liquids from running off and to incorporate the last bits of flour into the dough. Don’t worry if it looks like a hopelessly rough and messy lump.

Kneading:
With the aid of the scraper to scoop up unruly pieces, start kneading the dough. Once it becomes a cohesive mass, use the scraper to remove any bits of hard flour on the work surface – these will make the dough lumpy. Knead the dough for about 3 minutes. Its consistency should be elastic and a little sticky. If it is too sticky to move easily, knead in a few more tablespoons of flour. Continue kneading about 10 minutes, or until the dough has become satiny, smooth, and very elastic. It will feel alive under your hands. Do not shortcut this step. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and let it relax at room temperature 30 minutes to 3 hours.


Stretching and Thinning:
If using an extra-long rolling pin work with half the dough at a time. With a regular-length rolling pin, roll out a quarter of the dough at a time and keep the rest of the dough wrapped. Lightly sprinkle a large work surface with flour. The idea is to stretch the dough rather than press down and push it. Shape it into a ball and begin rolling out to form a circle, frequently turning the disc of dough a quarter turn. As it thins outs, start rolling the disc back on the pin a quarter of the way toward the center and stretching it gently sideways by running the palms of your hands over the rolled-up dough from the center of the pin outward. Unroll, turn the disc a quarter turn, and repeat. Do twice more.

Stretch and even out the center of the disc by rolling the dough a quarter of the way back on the pin. Then gently push the rolling pin away from you with one hand while holding the sheet in place on the work surface with the other hand. Repeat three more times, turning the dough a quarter turn each time.

Repeat the two processes as the disc becomes larger and thinner. The goal is a sheet of even thickness. For lasagne, the sheet should be so thin that you can clearly see your hand through it and see colours. Cut into rectangles about 4 by 8 inches (10 x 20 cm). Note: Enza says that transparency is a crucial element of lasagne pasta and the dough should be rolled as thinly as possible. She says this is why her housekeeper has such strong arms!

*I don't know if I was able to get my lasagne quite that thin, but they were about as thin as I could make them without my arms falling off! Instead of using the method described above, I cut of small sections of the dough and rolled them with my hands into long thin cylinders. Then I rolled the cylinders into strips. I ended up with 18 strips in all, which was enough to make 6 layers in my baking dish.

Dry the pasta at room temperature and store in a sealed container or bag.

Lasagne hanging out to dry

#2 Bechamel

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

4 tablespoons (2 ounces/60g) unsalted butter
4 tablespoons (2 ounces/60g) all purpose unbleached (plain) flour, organic stone ground preferred
2&2/3 cups (approx 570ml) milk
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Freshly grated nutmeg to taste
*I left out the pepper and nutmeg

Using a medium-sized saucepan, melt the butter over low to medium heat. Sift over the flour, whisk until smooth, and then stir (without stopping) for about 3 minutes. Whisk in the milk a little at a time and keep the mixture smooth. Bring to a slow simmer, and stir 3 to 4 minutes, or until the sauce thickens. Cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Season with salt, pepper, and a hint of nutmeg.


#3 Country Style Ragu’ (Ragu alla Contadina)


Preparation Time: Ingredient Preparation Time 30 minutes and Cooking time 2 hours

Makes enough sauce for 1 recipe fresh pasta or 1 pound/450g dried pasta)

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (45 mL)
2 ounces/60g pancetta, finely chopped *Used 100 g prosciutto cotto instead
1 medium onion, minced
1 medium stalk celery with leaves, minced
1 small carrot, minced
4 ounces/125g boneless veal shoulder or round
4 ounces/125g pork loin, trimmed of fat, or 4 ounces/125g mild Italian sausage (made without fennel)
8 ounces/250g beef skirt steak, hanging tender, or boneless chuck blade or chuck center cut (in order of preference)
1 ounce/30g thinly sliced Prosciutto di Parma *Used 350 g. ground beef instead of the above 4 meats - I don't suppose it matters much, but that was what I had and most recipes I saw called for a mixture of ground beef and ground pork/sausage
2/3 cup (5 ounces/160ml) dry red wine
1 &1/2 cups (12 ounces/375ml) chicken or beef stock (homemade if possible) *Left out
2 cups (16 ounces/500ml) milk *Left out
3 canned plum tomatoes, drained *Used a can of tomatoes (about 6 or 7) with their juices, plus a little dollop of triple-concentrated tomato paste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Working Ahead:
The ragu can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate. It also freezes well for up to 1 month. Skim the fat from the ragu’ before using it.

Browning the Ragu Base:
Heat the olive oil in a 12 inch (30cm) skillet (frying pan) over medium-high heat. Have a large saucepan handy to use once browning is complete. Add the pancetta and minced vegetables and sauté, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, 10 minutes, or until the onions barely begin to color. Coarsely grind all the meats together, including the prosciutto, in a food processor or meat grinder. Stir into the pan and slowly brown over medium heat. First the meats will give off a liquid and turn dull grey but, as the liquid evaporates, browning will begin. Stir often, scooping under the meats with the wooden spatula. Protect the brown glaze forming on the bottom of the pan by turning the heat down. Cook 15 minutes, or until the meats are a deep brown. Turn the contents of the skillet into a strainer and shake out the fat. Turn them into the saucepan and set over medium heat.

Reducing and Simmering: Add the wine to the skillet, lowering the heat so the sauce bubbles quietly. Stir occasionally until the wine has reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Scrape up the brown glaze as the wine bubbles. Then pour the reduced wine into the saucepan and set the skillet aside.

Stir ½ cup stock into the saucepan and let it bubble slowly, 10 minutes, or until totally evaporated. Repeat with another ½ cup stock. Stir in the last 1/2 cup stock along with the milk. Adjust heat so the liquid bubbles very slowly. Partially cover the pot, and cook 1 hour. Stir frequently to check for sticking.

Add the tomatoes, crushing them as they go into the pot. Cook uncovered, at a very slow bubble for another 45 minutes, or until the sauce resembles a thick, meaty stew. Season with salt and pepper. *I basically did what this recipe says, except obviously I left out the stock and the milk. Instead I added the tomatoes + juice at this point, and I let everything simmer about 2 hours (while I was dealing with the pasta), then added a bit of salt and pepper. The ragù smelled incredible, and I'll definitely be making some more soon so that I can eat it with just some plain spaghetti!

A final note from me: these lasagne are fantastic, but you really shouldn't serve them without a good red wine to accompany them! Sangiovese or Lambrusco are my recommendations.


*Note that 'lasagne' is a plural form. The singular would be lasagna, but that would refer to one sheet of pasta instead of the whole thing. In Italian, different types of pasta are almost always plural (e.g., spaghetti, ravioli, gnocchi), and my feeling is that if you're going to use another language's word for something, you may as well use it correctly!

Spinach and herb triangles

Since I can't seem to stop myself from buying spinach, I have to keep finding new ways to eat it! These spanakopita-inspired pastries were a delightful new discovery; the addition of herbs and freshly ground nutmeg livens up the spinach, and the triangles themselves are actually much simpler to make than you might think.


I had always thought that making your own phyllo dough was some crazy, outdated thing that nobody would ever do now that frozen phyllo dough is widely available. I envisioned bakers of times past rolling the dough out onto enormous bedsheets and folding the paper-thin dough over and over itself in a method that was far too complex and bothersome for anyone to deal with these days.

But in fact, making your own phyllo dough is actually quite simple! And the good news is that when you make your own, it won't dry out as fast as store-bought dough does. The bad news is that it will probably be impossible for you to get the dough as thin as the store-bought kind; however, if you care more about taste than presentation, then I'd strongly recommend trying to make your own, at least once.

Ingredients for about 20 triangles:
For the dough:
400 g. all-purpose flour
A small spoonful of salt
A couple spoonfuls of strained, freshly-squeezed lemon juice
4 large spoonfuls of olive oil
Warm water
Olive oil for brushing the dough

For the filling:
150 g. spinach
5 or 6 sprigs of parsley
5 or 6 sprigs of coriander (cilantro)
A bunch of fresh fennel leaves (can be substituted with dill leaves)
200 g. ricotta
1 egg
1 large shallot
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
1 nutmeg*

*You can substitute the whole nutmeg with a few spoonfuls of ground nutmeg, but I've found that using a whole nutmeg and grinding it yourself changes the flavor enormously. The flavor is much fresher and more interesting - I think once you try it this way, you'll never want to go back to using pre-ground nutmeg again!

Sift the flour into a bowl and add in the salt. Add the olive oil and lemon juice and mix together, adding warm water a bit at a time until the dough is smooth and still fairly sticky. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead about 10 minutes, adding more water and/or flour as necessary.

After 10 minutes the dough should me smooth and pliable - it should not be dry. Place the dough in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and leave to rest in a warm, non-drafty place for at least an hour.

While the dough is resting, prepare the filling. Dice the shallot and set it aside. Wash the spinach leaves very thoroughly, dry them, and chop or tear them roughly.

In a large pan, heat some olive oil and, when the olive oil is hot, add the shallot. When the shallot starts to change color and soften, add the spinach, in bunches if necessary, so that you only have one layer covering the pan. Let the spinach cook until wilted - a few minutes is all it takes.

Once the spinach is done, take the pan off the heat and let cool. Wash and then finely chop the parsley, coriander, and fennel leaves. Using a mortar and pestle, or other grinding mechanism, grind the nutmeg into a fine powder.

Combine the spinach and shallot mixture with the chopped herbs in a large bowl. Lightly beat the egg, and add that in, along with the ricotta. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and the nutmeg powder, and mix everything well.

If not using immediately, place filling in a covered container and refrigerate until ready.

When you're ready to make your triangles, preheat the oven to 180º C / 355º F and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper. Prepare the olive oil for brushing by pouring several spoonfuls of it into a small bowl.

Divide the dough into quarters, and leave three of the quarters covered while you work with the first one. Roll it out on a floured surface until you get a very very very thin sheet. This takes some time and effort, but keep going until the dough is as thin as you can possibly make it - the thinner the dough, the flakier your pastries will be. If the dough rips a bit in places that's okay, because you'll be rolling it all up on itself anyways, so another layer will cover the tear.

Once your dough is a big thin sheet, brush the whole sheet with olive oil and, with a sharp knife or other cutting implement, cut the sheet into strips about the width of your thumb. Spoon a dollop of filling into the center of the bottom end of one of the strips.


Fold the bottom edge of the strip over to the side to form a triangle over the filling. Then fold that triangle over its top edge into another triangle.


Continue folding the triangle over itself all the way down the strip, until you reach the end. Tuck any last bits of dough in, and place the triangle on the baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the strips, and then roll the next quarter of dough out and continue making triangles until all the dough has been used.


Bake the triangles until the edges start to brown, about 10-15 minutes. Let cool and then serve.

Penne with Spinach and Feta

It seems I post quite a few pasta recipes that involve penne. This is a bit odd, since I'm sure I eat far more spaghetti than penne. And besides spaghetti I actually have three favorite types of pasta asciutta - literally "dry pasta" (this is as opposed to pasta fresca, or "fresh pasta" which includes things like fettucine and also stuffed pasta - pasta ripiena - like ravioli and tortellini). Anyways, my three favorite types of pasta asciutta after spaghetti are penne, fusilli, and farfalle, so I'm not sure why only penne have made it up here so far, though I will try to correct this error in the future!


However, this particular recipe comes from a little cookbook I picked up in Italy called "Primi piatti di verdure" (vegetable entrées), and that recipe actually calls for sedanini, which are closer to penne than they are to fusilli or farfalle, so I consider myself justified in posting yet another penne recipe, though of course you can substitute other types of pasta if you prefer. Though I found the cookbook rather disappointing overall, there are a few stand-out recipes hidden in it, and this is definitely one of them. Though feta isn't normally a feature of Italian cooking, it works really well with this pasta dish, and I highly recommend you try it out!

You will need:
Penne - 75-100 g per person
About 250 g spinach
A small block of feta
A handful of hazelnuts
One medium-sized shallot
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Nutmeg

Though you can also use ricotta instead of feta, I really like the saltier addition of feta, which contrasts nicely with the hazelnut and nutmeg. Please also use real hazelnuts if you can, and not filberts, which I've found don't have anywhere near the same flavor. It's true that hazelnuts are absurdly expensive around here, but in my opinion it's worth it for the taste!

Wash and dry the spinach, removing any hard stem parts, and tear the leaves up, setting them aside in a large bowl. Chop/grind the hazelnuts into little bits and chop up the shallot.

In a large pot, bring some water to a boil. When it's boiling, salt it and add the penne. Heat some olive oil (butter in the original recipe) in a fairly large sauté pan. When the oil is hot add the shallot. After a minute or so, add the ground-up hazelnut. After another minute or so, add the spinach, in parts if necessary so that there's only one layer covering the pan. The recipe also says to add some of the cooking water from the pasta, which I invariably forget to do. I think it just makes everything more sauce-like, but I forgot this time and it was still fine.

Add salt, pepper, and nutmeg to the spinach and let cook, stirring frequently. After the spinach is fairly well-cooked, chop or crumble the feta and stir it in. Turn the heat to low and let everything cook another few minutes so that the feta melts, not forgetting to stir.

Drain the penne and add them to the spinach-feta mixture, mixing everything up until the penne are well coated with sauce. Turn off the heat and spoon the penne into your serving bowl. Serve warm!

Spinach Erbazzone

Erbazzone is a savory pastry typical of the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. I first discovered it while I was living in Milan (even though Milan is in Lombardy and not Emilia-Romagna). It was on display at my favorite bakery, and after the first time I tried it, I came back for more pretty much every week!


When I decided to finally try to make my own, I started looking up recipes online trying to find the right way to do it, but the recipes varied quite a bit. So, after reading through to get a general idea, I decided to just sort of make my own version, and it worked out wonderfully - almost as good as the one from my favorite Milanese bakery, though I don't think I could ever beat theirs!

I'll write below what I did, along with some of the ideas I gathered from other recipes, so that you can experiment and come up with your own special type of erbazzone.

For the pastry:
100 g pastry flour
A small spoonful of salt
A couple largish spoonfuls of extra-virgin olive oil
Water (room temperature), as much as necessary

For the filling:
250 g spinach - the traditional version is actually made with swiss chard, but I only had spinach on hand, and some recipes now use only spinach or a combination of spinach and chard
1 egg
A few cloves of garlic
1 large shallot or 3-4 small ones (many recipes don't use garlic and use onions or onions and shallots or even leeks - take your pick!)
A couple slices of sausage (again, traditional recipes call for pancetta which is similar to bacon, but I had sausage and no pancetta)
Parmesan (or alternatively grana padano)
Hard pecorino (my addition - didn't see this in any recipes)
Fresh parsley
Olive oil
Butter (for the pan)
Salt
Pepper

To make the pastry, mix together the flour, salt, olive oil, and water until you get a smooth ball of dough. Place the dough in some sort of covered bowl and let it sit in a warm, undrafty place while you prepare the filling.

Wash the spinach (or chard) thoroughly and tear the leaves up, discarding any hard stems and squeezing out the excess water. Crush the garlic and chop up the shallots and sausage.

Heat some olive oil in a large pan and when the oil is hot, add the garlic. After a short time (maybe 20 seconds), add the shallots or onions or whatever you chose to use. After a couple more minutes, add the spinach, in parts if necessary, so that you only add as much as can cover the surface of the pan at any one time. Once the spinach has all been added, throw in the sausage and let everything cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often.

When everything has cooked, turn the stove off and let it cool for a bit. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to about 180º C / 355º F. Butter a tart pan on the bottom and sides. Roll out the dough on a floured surface until it is fairly thin and then place the dough into the pan, poking holes in the bottom and sides with a fork. There should be a good amount of excess dough, which you should use for the top crust. Most recipes I saw actually have you cover the filling entirely with a second circle of dough and they also have you place the pancetta/sausage in strips on the top instead of mixing it in with the filling, but I liked the pretty lattice pattern I got doing it this way!

Beat the egg and then add in the spinach mixture. Grate generous amounts of parmesan and pecorino over the mixture and then add salt and pepper. Finally, wash the parsley, tear or chop it up, and add that in too. Stir everything together until it's well-mixed and then spoon it over the bottom crust.


Roll out the remaining dough into thin strips and lay these over the top. Place in the oven and let bake for about 30 minutes. Let cool and then eat up!

Spinach and Ricotta Tart

Another yearning-for-Italy dish...


Spinach is one of many foods I never realized I liked until I lived in Italy. And little wonder! As with many perfectly yummy vegetables, American culture gives spinach an unjustly bad rap, following the logic that anything that's "good for you" can't possibly be enjoyable. Perhaps this logic stems from our Puritan heritage, or perhaps people just didn't know how to cook spinach well, but in any case, Italian attitudes toward food tend to be about as anti-Puritan as you can get! The prevailing attitude there is that delicious food should be celebrated and enjoyed with no guilt or worrying involved (how can you enjoy something if you're busy worrying about its caloric content?), and spinach has been rightly recognized as a delicious food.

In fact, spinach dishes are just about everywhere in Italy, and they almost always involve a pairing with that wonderful spinach partner, ricotta. Spinach and ricotta on pizza, spinach and ricotta pastries, spinach and ricotta piadine, and on and on. In honor of that tradition, I'm posting here the recipe for a lovely spinach and ricotta tart that I made the other day. Enjoy!

Spinach and Ricotta Tart
For the pastry you will need:
200 g pastry flour (as always, I used whole wheat)
50 g sweet butter
1 egg
A pinch of salt
Cold water, as much as necessary

For the filling:
500 g spinach
200 g ricotta
1-2 shallots
A pat of butter
Salt
Pepper
Nutmeg

Begin by making the pastry a couple of hours before you want to eat the tart. In a bowl, sift the flour and salt together and then add in the butter, mixing well. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the egg, and then add it to the flour-butter mixture. Stir well, adding cold water as necessary to get a nice sticky little ball of pastry dough. Wrap the ball in plastic wrap and let sit in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour.

Shortly before you take the dough out of the refrigerator, prepare the filling. First, wash and dry all your spinach leaves and set aside. Chop up the shallot(s) and then heat the butter in a pan until it starts to sizzle. When the butter starts to sizzle, add the shallot and let cook until tender. Add the spinach leaves, in stages if necessary, and then sprinkle everything with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and let cook for about 10 minutes.

Once the spinach is cooked, take the pan off the heat and let cool. Preheat the oven to about 355º F/180º C and take the dough out of the refrigerator. Transfer the dough to a well-floured surface and roll it out to a thin but uniform thickness. Place the dough into a buttered tart pan (or non-buttered if it's non-stick), adding and cutting off dough where necessary to cover the pan with an even amount of dough. If there's any extra dough, wrap it up in plastic and put it in the freezer to use for a future tart!

Poke holes in the bottom and sides of the dough with a fork and then heat in the oven for 10 minutes. While the crust is heating, combine the cooked spinach with the ricotta and stir well. After 10 minutes, take the crust out of the oven, fill it with the filling, and place back in the oven for another 15 minutes or so.

Remove from oven and let cool a bit, then eat up!!

Spinach Frittata

Given the title of this blog, I thought my first recipe should be something that includes cheese and garlic. This spinach frittata meets that requirement and, even more importantly, it is delicious (and very easy to make)!


The recipe was given to me by a woman I taught English to in Milan. She was moving to Zanzibar to help her son and son's fiancée open an Italian restaurant, so many of our lessons centered on culinary vocabulary. One day I mentioned that I had recently made a Turkish omelette, and she told me about a wonderful spinach frittata she liked to make. As a little exercise, I had her explain the recipe for this frittata to me in English, and then I tried it out that weekend and it was indeed wonderful!

So, without further ado, Sra. Bellagamba's Spinach Frittata:

You will need:
200-300 grams of spinach
A few cloves of garlic, with the peel still on
2 medium-sized eggs
a couple spoonfuls of freshly grated grana padano*
olive oil
salt
pepper

*grana padano is a Lombardian (is that a word?) cheese that is very similar to parmesan but milder. You can easily substitute regular parmesan here if you do not have any grana on hand or if you prefer more of a bite to your frittata.

The first thing to do is to wash and dry your spinach leaves. If you are like me and like to buy your produce from farmer's markets, your spinach will probably require a very thorough washing. When I want to make this frittata for a Sunday breakfast I will sometimes even wash the spinach the night before, dry them, and then refrigerate them so that I do not have to deal with a bunch of dirty spinach first thing in the morning before I've even had my coffee!

In any case, once the spinach leaves have been washed, tear them into smaller pieces and put them aside in a dish. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and while the oil is heating, crush the cloves of garlic gently with the palm of your hand, keeping the peels intact. Once the oil is hot enough to make a water droplet sizzle, add the garlic. After another minute or two, add the spinach. I suggest adding the spinach in stages - add enough to cover the whole pan and once that has wilted a bit, add some more, and so on until you have added it all. Sauté the spinach for about 15 minutes.


While the spinach is sautéing away, break the eggs into a bowl and beat them, then stir in the salt, pepper, and grated grana.

When the spinach are done, add them to the egg mixture and stir everything well. Pour the mixture into the same pan the spinach were in (or a different one if you like to do dishes) and let it cook for a couple minutes, using a spatula to shape it and keep the bottom from sticking to the pan. When the bottom is a goldeny-brown, take a plate or a lid that will cover the entire pan, and place it over the pan. Remove the pan from the heat, flip it over so the frittata lands face down on the plate/lid, and carefully slide the frittata back onto the pan. Return the pan to the stove and let the other side cook for another minute or two, and voilà! A delicious breakfast, lunch, or dinner is ready (I think I've made the frittata for breakfast and dinner although not yet for lunch). Buon appetito!