Italian Rustic Spinach Pie: I'm in trouble already

Rustic Spinach Pie Recipe

I can declare that this recipe was a great success.  I painstakingly translated Italian to English to get it right and then served it to 7 willing guests last night.  Today, I have two small pieces left...YUM.....LUNCH.  

This recipe isn't hard.  It takes a little time to do the puff pastry but the rest of it is easy.  I highly recommend making the pastry dough vs. buying it.  It's worth the effort.  I have a blog post dedicated to making this puff pastry and it's fullproof.  You can make it in advance, freeze it and then thaw it in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight.  

The history on spinach pie for our family is all about summer vacations.  When I was little, working class Italian families didn't take extravagant vacations.  We went to visit relatives.  Our family of 7 would pile in the car for a 9 hour drive to Waterbury, Connecticut.  We'd get up at 3AM, take our pillows to the car and fight for sleeping space.  2 kids would take the floor of the backseat, 2 would grab the bench seat and the third would lay on the coveted window ledge. When fumes from sleeping on the floor of the back seat would make one of us nauseous (and you had to prove it), we'd rotate positions and eventually end up in the premier spot...the single birth window ledge.  You didn't want this ledge in the heat of the summer when the sun came up but you'd race to grab it on the first rotation at 3AM.  Being in the back meant giving up the best donut selection at 6AM but it was worth the price.   And....who needed seat-belts back in those days when you were packed in like sardines.  You just prayed that you'd bounce off another sibling's head instead of out the window in the event of an accident.

  

Our mom and dad each had seven brothers and sisters who took turns with basic feast preparation and we descended on them like vultures to show our appreciation.  Every Aunt worked for a week on their assigned meal day.  It was coordinated like a ballet so that menus didn't get repetitious.  We chowed down on some of the best food on the planet.

Those were magical summer vacations with all the cousins, aunts and uncles.   During the day we'd run in sprinklers to cool off and only took breaks to gorge ourselves on the constant platters of food coming out of the kitchens.  At night, we'd have a contest to count the number of award winning Connecticut mosquito bites before painting our bodies in calamine lotion.   The second wave of dessert would come out with the adult coffee at about 9PM and then, with another full belly of sweets, you'd head to bed and wait for the sun to rise again.  If you were lucky enough to be one of the chosen few, you'd get a bed to sleep in.  Otherwise you'd claim your spot on the floor.  At the end of two weeks we went home more tired, fatter and happier....the test of a real vacation. 

One of the almighty food highlights of that two week period was Aunt Vienna's Spinach Pie.  The recipe for that perfect pie was lost when my Aunt Vienna passed away.  Not surprisingly, every one of my siblings has attempted to replicate the recipe.  This spinach pie battle continues today.  Every single attempt has been noteworthy but not quite like the original.  Call it divine intervention but when I saw an Italian cookbook in Italy that had a photo of a Spinach torte/pie, I thought...."this might be the one".  

The reality of the situation is that we'll never find the 'right one'.  Part of the magic of that pie was Aunt Vienna herself.  She can't be replicated.   But, in her memory, I continue to look for the Spinach Pie that would do her proud. 

As I've mentioned in another blog post, the cookbook that I'm working from was purchased during a wonderful vacation in Italy with my mom and dad.  It was written in Italian with a commitment from my dad that he would help me translate.  Unfortunately, I waited too long and dad has passed away but I would think of him every time I picked up that book so I decided that he would be happy if I tried to figure it all out.  It's the first of many that I will painstakingly translate and execute.  

So, step one was to complete the translation.  That was easy with Google Translator.  It works pretty well if you spell things correctly (which is easier than it sounds as you're typing words with an unusual amount of vowels.  Still, better than Russian).  Step two was about finding the right ingredients in Nashville.  This actually took more effort.  Three grocery stores later, I was armed with what I needed.  There were some tense moments when I thought I would have to make my own 'whole milk ricotta cheese' without all that nasty carrageenan gum stuff (which gets watery when baked and is just not good for you).  Fortunately, I found it at one of the decent local Kroger grocery stores....definitely not Wegmans but they came through.  As my fallback position, I had looked up recipes for making fresh ricotta cheese and it's surprisingly easy so I'll save that for another day to give it a shot.   There's pancetta/prosciutto in this pie.  I don't think my aunt used any meat.  However, I'm always willing to improve on perfection so this will be a test. 

For the record, look at the size of that pie in the original picture below from the book I'm translating.  The recipe indicates it's enough to serve 4 people.  I'm guessing that the rest of this book has to be tempered a little for the number of servings.  But then again, if this is as good as my Aunt's, one slice per person might not ever be enough.  Barring that, it looks like a serving for 8.  I can now say that after making it for a dinner party last night, it will serve 8 as an appetizer.   A quarter of that pie would be a great main course so the serving size is actually pretty accurate.  It goes down easy so in a moment of weakness...beware, you could consume half of this and then regret it later.

So...I'm in trouble.  Replicating these recipes will be a test of both endurance and will power.  I'm might need to add cross-fit training to my swimming routine as I continue to browse this cookbook for other recipes to try next.

This is from the cookbook but mine came out almost exactly the same...success!

Ingredients:

500 grams (1 pound) puff pastry (there is a recipe for this in another post in this blog that will get you there...fresh is best)

800 grams (28 ounces) fresh spinach 

400 grams (14 ounces) fresh ricotta strained to get out the water 

150 grams (5-6 ounces) fried pancetta 

100 grams (3.5 ounces) chopped prosciutto

80 grams (3 ounces) grated parmesan cheese

2 Tbs olive oil

1 Tbs butter

Salt 

Pepper

Buy pre-washed spinach or wash the spinach thoroughly.  Add the spinach to a large pan with about 1 cup of water and a pinch of salt (1/4 teaspoon).  Bring to a boil and cover for about 2 minutes.  The leaves will wilt quickly in the pan.  You can drain them to a colander when they reach this state. The color of the leaves should still be bright green.  They will continue to cook as they cool.   You might need to cook the volume of spinach in two batches.  Just add the second batch to the same colander to drain.  Let the spinach cool and then squeeze as much water out as possible.  Put the spinach between a couple layers of paper towels and continue to press water out until you get the spinach pretty dry. This will help prevent soggy crust issues later.

Fry the pancetta in a tablespoon of olive oil, when the pancetta is nicely browned, turn off the heat and mix the spinach directly in the pan with the pancetta.

Let this cool to room temperature.
Drain the ricotta to get out excess moisture and combine with the spinach mixture. 
Add the parmesan and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Putting it together:
Butter an 8 inch spring form pan.
Take the puff pastry dough and reserve one third of the dough  for the top.  Lightly dust a rolling surface and roll out the larger piece to form a disc that is about 1/8th inch thickness.

Place the dough disc evenly in an 8 inch spring-form pan.  Gently form the dough so that it completely touches the bottom and sides of the pan.

Pour the filling into the crust and smooth it with a spatula.  Cut some of the excess dough with a pastry cutter or knife that has been dusted with flour so that the top of the dough is evenly about 1 inch higher than the filling.  Reserve any strips of dough that you cut off.

Take the smaller piece of dough and roll it to the size of the pan.  The dough will be thicker than the bottom crust (about 1/4 inch instead of 1/8th inch).  Place it on top of the filling and turn the edges under so that fits neatly into the pan.
Then take the overhanging 1 inch of the bottom dough and flip it over to overlap the top dough.  Take the extra pieces of dough that you reserved and gently re-roll it into a 1/8th inch thick rectangle.  Cut a long 1 inch strip (or two if necessary).  Beat one egg in a bowl and brush the top of the pastry in the pan.  Place the strip that you just cut to cover the overlapping pastry.  This creates a little crown of dough along the edge that will puff up.
Use any extra pieces of dough to create decorative pieces and brush them with the egg to attach to the top.

Bake in a 375 degree preheated oven  for about 45 minutes until the top is golden.  Make sure you put a pan on a lower shelf or under the pan to catch the butter drips out.   Let it cool and then remove the side of the spring-form pan.  Let it cool a little before cutting so the filling has time to set.  The pie can be eaten warm or cold.

Holy Cow, get your fat pants on!!!!  This was absolutely wonderful.
The verdict on whether it was the same as my Aunt's......no.  Nevertheless, I will make this again...and again....and again.

Buona Mangiata!
Good Eating