Sophie’s Torta Rustica
During our downtime for tours – December through February – both Sophie and I try to travel. This year Sophie went off to Ghana for few weeks, but in past years she stayed closer to home. And closer to goats. If you know Sophie then you already know about her love for precious goaties. She spent several winters on this farm, helping out while the baby goats were being born. Besides learning how to be a mid-wife, goat style, she took charge in the kitchen as well. One of her favorite things to make for the family was a torta rustica.
Torta Rustica translates into ‘rustic tart’, but in Italy this always means something savory. It’s often quiche-like, but can also be variations that focus on vegetables and/or cheese. Whenever I make one it usually tends towards a quiche. Sophie’s version, not surprisingly, is all about the cheese.
And while I might sometimes make the effort to make my own crust, Sophie is all about store-bought puff pastry. “It’s lighter,’ she says “And when you have to run out to birth baby goats, who has time to roll out pastry?”
Sophie has infinite variations when it comes to the filling in terms of vegetables, so feel free to experiment. Her main ingredient though, is always fresh ricotta. “I love the way the ricotta cooks up, and the tart is even better at room temperature, once the ricotta sets a bit.’
Needless to say, during this time of staying home and stocking up, we’ve made sure we have a couple of pre-made crusts in the fridge, ready to go. I made one last week with leeks and Swiss chard. Sophie’s today was mushrooms and a handful of wild asparagus we picked yesterday. It’s a very forgiving recipe so feel free to play around with whatever vegetables you happen to have. And you can use this recipe if you feel like making your own crust. But with flour and eggs at such short supply these days, it might just be easier to buy a few pre-made crusts to stick in the freezer. And they’ll also come in handy if you have to run out to birth some baby goats.
Torta Rustica
Although this recipe calls for mushrooms and asparagus, feel free to sub in any other vegetable, as long as it’s cooked. I often use frozen spinach or Swiss chard. And it works great with left over roasted vegetables. While I prefer ricotta, you can also use goat cheese if you’d like (if it seems too thick thin it out with a bit of milk).
Ingredients
1 store bought puff pastry crust (Pasta Sfoglia)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 pound / 500 grams mushrooms (sliced)
1/4 pound asparagus (chopped)
salt
pepper
1 cup fresh ricotta
3/4 plus 1/4 cup grated parmigiano reggiano or pecorino
1 egg
Instructions
Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the onions. Season with salt and pepper, and once they are softened, about 5 minutes, add the sliced mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms are completely cooked. Let cool for 10 minutes.
In the meantime, mix the ricotta, 3/4 cup of grated cheese and egg in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper and mix well. Add the cooled vegetables and mix.
Spread the mixture on top of the crust, smoothing it out with a spoon. It will be quite thick. Pinch up the edges of the crust to form a rim around the edge. Sprinkle the rest of the grated cheese on top.
Place in pre-heated oven and cook for about 25 to 30 minutes.
Let cool a bit before eating. It’s best at room temperature.
For more menu ideas and recipes see my book The Italian Table.
The dinner plates are part of an old set I bought about 25 years ago in Grottaglie from Nicola Fasano. I’m pretty sure they still make them. Instead, the lovely scalloped edged bowl that is holding the roasted vegetables is from Sberna. Neither company has a good website, but both do ship. So if you’d like to order these just send them the link and they should get back to you.
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