“Torta Pasqualina” – Italian Easter Egg & Spinach Tart

a great pie that doesn’t need Easter as an excuse to be made

This is my take on the Italian Easter pie “torta pasqualina”. It involves that holy trinity of ingredients: Spinach, cheese and eggs and when they combine in a goodly (Godly?) ratio the result is divine indeed. The secret to any spinach recipe is to flavour it well (here nutmeg, fresh thyme, garlic and onions) else the result tastes like grass cuttings. If the truth be told this particular pie used up a load of leftovers and I added and combined until I liked the texture of the filling. After messing around with the eggs “popping” out of their little indents and a surfeit of egg white which then needed to be scooped off and combined with the rest of the mixture (tedious), I have “re-engineered” and come up with what i think is a faster and more idiot proof method that also guarantees a lighter fluffier filling.

For those of you who are still pastry averse fear not – Just buy filo pastry and let it flop over the edges, brush with a little olive oil between layers and tuck the overhang over the pie (to be continued…)

Traditionally the pie has a pastry lid and then lattice work but i have just put lattice pastry over the filling that i topped with cheese as its a little lighter. Continue reading ““Torta Pasqualina” – Italian Easter Egg & Spinach Tart”

Rabbit Terrine with Smoked Prunes

A terrine is a thing of beauty indeed

This week I got my hands on some absolutely beautiful rabbits properly raised on grain and lucerne at a small countryside farm – all fat and chubby with loads of meat on them (in fact I had never actually seen rabbit fat before) but with that wonderful slightly gamey flavour that to be honest I hadn’t experienced since growing up in the countryside and having to eat lead shot ridden rabbit stew from the rabbits the local farmers would give my mum, shot as vermin.

Terrines have that architectural quality that cakes do…a large part of the pleasure is in the design, the construction and achieving the final aesthetics. Fortunately with no rising agents to worry about they are in fact way simpler. The only things to remember are that you do need a good ratio of fat to lean meat (and rabbit meat is notoriously lean and prone to dryness) or else the result will be dry and have a horrible mouth feel. Seasoning should be liberal and cooking fairly slow and gentle.

Gadgets & Gizmos

I do have a favourite ceramic terrine dish but I also often use bread loaf or in Romania “cozonac” tins. If you have a meat thermometer you can check the internal temperature has reached 75C but I generally rely on piercing the terrine and checking the juices run clear. For weighting the terrine down I use tins of tomatoes or bags of sugar.

Ingredients

300 g boneless rabbit meat, diced
200 g rabbit livers, cleaned and diced or chicken livers- I like to leave them in fairly large pieces
500g fatty pork – I use the neck but pork belly would be great. Minced is fine or hand diced if you have a very nice butcher
20g salt
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp cognac
2 tbsp white wine
3 cloves garlic finely minced
zest of 1 orange
1 tsp nutmeg
100g smoked prunes preferably soaked in cognac/white wine mixture – glorious now outlawed Romanian smoked prunes – do try and find illicit ones if you can
1 egg
200-300g thin bacon/pancetta
50g pistachios if you are feeling flush

How To

Obtaining good rabbit can be difficult. For this recipe you do want that gamey flavour so i wouldnt use the frozen supermarket meat as it doesn’t have enough flavour. Duck meat substitutes in well.

Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl except the prunes and pistachios. If you have time it does help to marinate overnight but its not essential. Take care to keep all ingredients absolutely chilled as with all charcuterie and sausage making.

Neatly line your terrine/ bread tin with slices of bacon thinking about how this will look when turned out – those architectural aesthetics.

Press in until half way filled. Take care to really make sure no air pockets as oxidation is the enemy of pates and terrines.

Now make the pretty layer of prunes and pistachios.

Finish up with the rest of the mixture and neatly tuck over the bacon slices

Set the oven to 160C

I like to wrap my terrine in aluminium foil to emulate the effect of a terrine lid. You dont have to but I think it helps keep it moist.

Take a large roasting tray. Place your parcelled up terrine in it. Place it in the oven. Using a jug now pour in water to be half way up the terrine dish (unless you are fine with balancing a large roasting tray half filled with water and a terrine inside it).

Bake until the internal temperature of the terrine reaches 75°C when tested with a meat thermometer (about 2½ hours) or when pierced with a skewer the juices run clear although now I know my oven and I know when it is done and I am loathe to lose any precious juices. Leave the terrine to cool. I leave mine overnight weighted down.

Refrigerate 24 hours before serving. I like to serve with toast and some kind of pickle to cut through the fat. In the photo at the start of this post I’ve served the terrine with toasted brioche and fresh radish pickle. Having a terrine around means instant light lunches, impressive starters and decadent sandwiches are minutes away.

Chick Pea, Lemon Confit & Nettle Soup/Stew

There is more to chick peas than hummus!

I love chick peas in any shape or form and I use them regularly as the basis for beetroot falafel burgers, falafel, hummus of course (also with some of those preserved lemons in), a wonderful Spanish Tuna and Chick Pea stew I first ate in the Basque country, tagines and a “straight from the tin” chick pea, tuna and red onion salad. I often use red lentils in soups but hadn’t used chick peas for a while so i dreamt up this soup.

This is one of those recipes where you can play a bit with the quantities and ingredients and use what is lurking at the back of your fridge up (because we all have days when we discover some wilted rucola or a sad dried up half lemon that was forgotten or baby spinach that isnt rotten but has kind of past its salad days) and make use of the tin of chick peas in your cupboard and those preserved lemons you made! Chick peas are protein and fibre rich and this dish can either be a veggie stew or thinned to be a soup.

Gadgets & Gizmos

None really just a good large saucepan. A stick blender helps but you can always mash the chick peas with a fork. Not having the “perfect” gizmos doesnt mean not cooking!

Ingredients – 4-6 servings depending on how hungry you are

300g of chick peas drained. One tin yields roughly 250g which is fine. Dried chick peas roughly double in weight when cooked but to be sure cook 200g dried. Place them overnight in water with a little bicarbonate of soda so that when you need to cook them they do not take long – 20-30mins. If you forget then cook them from dry very very slowly and gently making sure they do not dry out – 1.5-2 hrs.
200-300g of spinach leaves or chard or rucola or watercress or parsley or even nettles as I used here ie a does of chlorophyll
600ml stock (chicken or vegetable depending on your persuasion) if a thick hearty soup/stew or 1 litre for a soup. Chick peas are thirtsy creatures so dont be afraid to add more liquid if it seems a bit too thick.
1 lemon confit, skin chopped into very fine cubes and the pulp pulled out and pips removed. keep the pulp. If you don’t have preserved lemons use the juice and zest of 1 lemon.
1 large onion finely chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic roughly chopped
300g carrots (helps the colour but pumpkin would also work) chopped roughly
a little olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

How To

Method 1 -Greenery blended in

Place the onions and carrots in the pan with a little oil and gently fry until translucent. Add the garlic (it burns easier than onions due to its higher sugar content) and just fry a little.

Add 3/4 of the chickpeas,the spinach, the lemon pulp and your liquid.

Bring to the boil

Leave to simmer for just five minutes (the chick peas are already cooked)

By putting the spinach in with the chickpeas I am going to blend it all together.

Now blend. and now add the little cubes of lemon rind for texture and flavour. Serve with the reserved chickpeas in the soup as well. I garnish with coriander and a harissa oil but parsley works as does your favourite chilli oil. Its also great with a liberal sprinkling of dukkah on top and a good olive oil drizzled over.

Method 2: The green stuff separate.

Omit adding the spinach.

Blend.

Add the spinach with the cubed lemon rind. Switch off the heat. The spinach will cook in the retained heat of the soup. If using nettles which are slightly more needy in terms of cooking time, keep the heat going 2-3 minutes and then switch off and leave.

Serve with good bread for a nourishing and healthy light meal.