Italian recipe from Genoa: artichoke quiche

Published on 22 Jan 2009 by Alison

torta bietole

We have often looked at recipes from Italy from Genoa, and with Liguria’s rich culinary tradition it’s easy to see why. Here is a recipe for a savoury cake, or quiche, made with chard, or artichoke.

Ingredients: 1 kg of chard, four to six eggs, 250 gr of ricotta, 250 gr of prescinseua cheese (or other curd cheese or greek yoghurt), 100 gr of grated parmesan, dried porcini mushrooms, onions, garlic, marjoram, extra virgin olive oil. For the dough: flour, olive oil, water and salt.

Method: start with the filling. Wash the artichokes and cut into strips, then in a wide pan fry the finely chopped garlic and onion. On the side, soften the mushrooms in hot water, and when soft, chop and brown in the fry pan.

Place the artichokes in the pan and cook for about 10 minutes, frequently salting and turning them. At the end of the cooking, add the blended marjoram. When ready, take off the heat and cool.

While the artichoke mix is cooling, start on the dough. In a large bowl, place two cups of water, ¾ of a cup of oil and a pinch of salt. Add the flour by sprinkling and mix quickly by hand. Add flour until the liquid is completely absorbed, then place on a board and knead. If necessary, add more flour until the dough is smooth.

Returning to the filling, place the artichoke mix, four eggs and the rest of the ingredients (ricotta and curd cheese), in a bowl and mix until smooth.

Oil a baking tin or use oven paper and place a first layer of dough in the tin. Add the filling mixture and place a second layer over the top. Cook for about 30-45 minutes at 180°.

Some versions include placing a couple of eggs in the mixture prior to baking in the oven, and there is usually a battle to find the slice with the egg when eating. The ligurian cheese prescinseua is difficult to find outside of Liguria, so the above options are included, otherwise use 500 grams of ricotta.

Photo | Flickr