Torta Verde (Green Pie)

Finally the green pie! This recipe belongs to my summers at the seaside, belongs to lunches on the beach or in a little café where they keep baking no stop amazing focaccia and various kind of high dough pizzas.

It also belongs to the region Liguria, in northern Italy, where it is easy to find little shops that sell green pies whole or in slices and you can buy one for your dinner, for your picnic for your car trip or maybe a couple or more to bring home to your relatives and friends when the holidays are over.

They bake this pie all year long, the classic version is with Swiss chard but very common are also courgettes (using a particular type mainly cultivated in this region: trombetta) and artichokes, depending on the season.

Courgettes and artichokes can be found also together with chard but in all the green pies the other main ingredient is rice.

Lately in our organic vegetable box from Juliasdale Organic Farm we are getting the ruby chard which I find gorgeous to look at and also very tasty.

Ingredients for Torta Verde (Green Pie)

1 dose of pasta matta

For the filling:

• 600- 800 gr chard or spinach
• 5 fistful of rice or barley
• 1 big red onion
• 1 egg (you can avoid it or use flaxseed if you are vegan)
• 40 gr or more of grated Parmesan (you can avoid it if you are vegan)
• Ground almonds (this is an optional ingredient that I have added lately and that I like but it is not part of the original recipe so it is totally optional)

Instructions for Torta Verde (Green Pie)

Slice the onion and sauté it in a large frying pan together with a dash of extra virgin olive oil. When the onions are a bit tender but not soft add the washed and chopped chard or spinach and cover.

Let it simmer until the vegetable are cooked.

In the meantime bring a little pot with water to the boil and add the rice, when it is cooked drain it and add it to the vegetables. At this point if the filling is not too hot you can ad the egg and the cheese, salt and pepper. Mix well.

Take 2/3 of your crazy dough and roll it thin in a round shape big enough to overlap a pie dish already brushed with a good bit of olive oil.

Place the dough in the dish leaving some to overlap the sides  dust the dough with some ground almond and pour the filling in.

Roll the remaining dough in a circle and cover the filling. Now with the overlapping dough close the pie making little plies with your finger.

If you have little leftover of the dough you can decorate the pie or bake some homemade cracker.

The pie needs 40 minutes baking in a pre-heated 180° oven.

P.S. I have tried substituting rice with brown rice or with barley and the result is still great. My kids love it so give it a try it is sooo worth it!!!