THE TORTA YOU ORTA MAKE.

Packed with greens, ricotta and eggs, it’s a boss move.

The train has just trundled through Genoa, the port city of Liguria, and it nearly killed me not to run off at the station and pick up a torta pasqualina and a packet of Fonzies for the rest of the trip to down to Rapallo, on the Portofino coast. (Yes, that’s right, I’m never coming home, and nobody can make me).

This stuff is heaven, with its dense green filling coddling hard-boiled eggs, encased in soft but firm golden pastry. It’s usually stuffed with wild greens, nettles and weeds, but for this version, I use silverbeet, spinach and spring onions, bound with ricotta and parmesan and scented with nutmeg and garlic.

I’m revisiting it now for the blog because it feels as right for a cold winter’s night in Australia, as for a devilishly steamy day in Italy. You can eat it warm from the oven, or at room temperature with a glass of wine. It’s happily meat-free and needs nothing else, but it can certainly take a bit of tomato sugo on the side.

The trick - there’s always a trick - is baking it in a high-sided cake tin, which gives a very pleasing height and depth. And the transfer of heat is so good that the pastry crisps not only on the top, but on the sides.

TIPS

Make it with bought puff pastry, such as the all-butter Careme, or use your preferred supermarket brand.

Start with around 1 kg greens, which will cook down to about four cups. I did 1 huge bunch of silverbeet and 2 bunches of spinach, but it could have been 2 silverbeet and one spinach; it doesn’t seem to mind.

To avoid a soggy bottom, pre-cook the greens in simmering salted water until wilted, allow them to cool, and squeeze out the excess liquid (I saved mine to add to a soup) before mixing with the ricotta. If you don’t, the liquid will drop to the bottom and sog up the pastry.

You will probably need three sheets of pastry. Thaw them first, but keep refrigerated until you are ready to go. Drape one sheet over half the base and sides of the tin, pressing gently to cover the base to the edges, and another slightly overlapping to cover the second half of the tin. Then just press-and-patch them together to completely line the base and sides, with some flopping over the top. Pastry is always more forgiving than you think it is going to be.

Trim off any much longer bits to even it up a bit. The final sheet will then go on top of the filling, to be pinched together with what’s there. It’s easier to work with fridge-cold pastry than room temperature, which won’t hold its shape.

Clever people will mark the exact locations of the eggs on the pastry lid, which will make it easy to know where to cut the very first slice to reveal a perfectly halved egg.

TORTA WITH RICOTTA AND GREENS

Serves 4 to 6

• 3 sheets of puff pastry, to line a 20 cm cake tin

• For the filling:

• 1 brown onion, chopped

• 2 garlic cloves, grated

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 1 large bunch silverbeet

• 2 large bunches spinach (real, not baby)

• 4 spring onions, trimmed and roughly chopped (white and green)

• 6 eggs (2 beaten, 4 whole)

• 375 g smooth ricotta (drain for 30 mins if runny)

• 1 tsp grated lemon zest

• Grated nutmeg (be generous)

• Half tsp dried oregano

• 1 tsp sea salt and black pepper to taste

• 100 g grated parmesan

• 1 extra egg, beaten, for egg wash

Thaw the pastry, and lay out on the bench. Spray or lightly brush the cake tin with olive oil. Trim the pastry to fit the cake-tin (see note above), and refrigerate until required, or it will soften too much.

To make the filling, heat the oil in a large fry pan and fry the onion over gentle heat, stirring occasionally, until softened but not browned.

Add the garlic, cook through for 1 minute, and set aside to cool.

Wash the silverbeet and spinach well to get rid of any grit, cut off the stalks (save for a soup), and roughly chop the leaves.

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil, add the silverbeet and spinach and cook for 3 minutes, then add the spring onions and cook for 1 minute.

Drain in a colander and leave to cool until you can handle them, then squeeze out excess moisture and roughly chop.

Heat the oven to 210C.

Now you’re ready to assemble everything: beat 2 eggs with the ricotta, lemon zest, oregano, nutmeg, sea salt and pepper until smooth, then beat in all but 2 tbsp of the grated parmesan.

Mix the chopped greens with the onion and garlic, and add to the ricotta mixture, tossing until well-mixed.

Prick the base of the pastry in the cake tin and scatter with 1 tbsp parmesan, then spoon in the greens and ricotta mixture.

Use a teaspoon to hollow out four egg-shaped holes in the filling, and crack an egg into each one (doesn’t matter if the egg white spills over). Scatter with remaining 1 tbsp parmesan.

Trim the final sheet of pastry to fit generously (it will shrink), and place over the top, pinching it together with the overlapping pastry until sealed. Prick the top with a fork, and brush with beaten egg.

Place in the oven on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes at 210C, then drop the temperature to 190C and bake for 45 minutes.

Remove to a wire cooling rack for 15 minutes, then run a knife around the rim to help separate the pastry from the tin.

Gently remove the tin, and allow the pie to sit for another 15 minutes or so before slicing, to give it time to settle.

Use a sharp knife to cut into wedges and serve.

Blimey, that recipe looks long. It’s much easier than it looks, however, and you can prep it all beforehand, then assemble before baking.

I did manage to find a very simple version of herb-stuffed torta in a lovely old pasticceria in the seaside town of Rapallo, further down the coast, where they sell it from huge trays, by the block.

Thanks for dropping by! And as always, thanks for your comments and suggestions. Special thanks to Terry for finding a pack of Fonzies for me later. They’re the Italian equivalent of Twisties, and great train fodder. I could write a book about training around Europe very happily, although all you really need to know is book your ticket ahead, take a carry-on and not a big heavy case, and treat the trip as a picnic on wheels. (For the train-spotters, I took this as we oozed out of the station at Bologna.)

I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and waters upon which I (usually) work, live, cook and play; the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. Thank you for sharing your culture, traditions, knowledge, spirit, art, music, humour and food traditions, allowing us all to experience a sense of belonging in this ancient land.