Erbazzone recipe: an Italian swiss chard pie from Emilia Romagna.
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Now that we know how to cook basic swiss chard, we can have fun cooking it in many other different ways, starting with traditional dishes! The Erbazzone recipe is a swiss chard pie original of Reggio Emilia (Emilia Romagna).
The name originates from the word erba (= grass), referring to the green filling: chard that not too long ago was a spontaneous and wild herb. Between the quite vast regional range of Erbazzone recipes, I chose the vegetarian-slightly-healthier one, the Erbazzone recipe with ricotta cheese.
![Erbazzone recipe real Erbazzone recipe Italian](http://www.gourmetproject.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/erbazzone-recipe-authentic.jpg)
![Erbazzone recipe Italian authentic Erbazzone recipe with ricotta and Swiss chard #gourmetproject](http://www.gourmetproject.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/erbazzone-recipe-swiis-chard-pie.jpg)
Other Erbazzone recipes don’t include ricotta, only parmesan cheese, some add pancetta cubes and others lard stripes to cover the top… Something way further than piatto unico*, unless we are talking of a week-long calorie intake. Or, let’s be positive, a party dish instead of an everyday recipe.
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Erbazzone recipe
Ingredients
for the pie dough
- 5.3 oz 00 flour 150 gr
- 1 tablespoon of butter
- 1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon of white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 tablespoon of water if needed
for the chard filling
- 1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 shallot
- 1 garlic clove
- 7 oz chard 200 gr
- 7 oz ricotta 200 gr
- 3.5 tablespoons parmesan cheese 1.8 oz - 50 gr
- 1 egg
- Salt
- 7 inch pie or cake mold 18 cm
Instructions
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Knead the pie dough ingredients until you can form an elastic ball. Cover it in plastic and let it rest while you proceed with the other steps.
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Peel and thinly slice the shallot. Clean chard.
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Heat the olive oil in a large skillet, add the shallot and brown it a couple of minutes.
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Peel and crush the garlic clove. Add the chard and the garlic to the skillet, sprinkle in 1/2 teaspoon of salt, cover and cook 15-20 minutes.
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Pour the chard (eliminate the garlic clove) in a medium bowl and wait 5 minutes for temperature to decrease. Add ricotta, egg, and grate in the parmesan. Mix well.
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Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
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Roll out the dough and cut out two circles of 18 cm (7 inches) and 20 cm (8 inches) diameter circa.
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Brush a little oil in your mold and place the larger dough circle (it should line the stamp walls too). Pierce the bottom with a fork and fill it with the chard mixture. Cover with the second disc, pierce it with the fork, and brush the surface with olive oil.
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Bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
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Serve hot or room temperature.
*piatto unico
Erbazzone is considered a piatto unico (=single dish). The piatto unico is a widespread practice here in Italy: you cook one rich dish, containing carbs, proteins, fats and veggies, and dinner (or lunch) is done. Maybe a simple salad or a fruit plate to end the meal, but that’s it: efficiency :-).
torta salata
Another adjective to define the Erbazzone recipe is torta salata (=savory pie), something that, in innumerable variations, you can find on any party buffet in any part of the peninsula. At least one mom will make a torta salata, pre-slice it, and enjoy the hungry hands that seize it all in a few minutes. Prosciutto cotto and cheese, I believe, is the most popular. But of course, each region, each city, each tiny little town, has it’s traditional recipe, both for the pie dough and the filling.
enjoy your erbazzone
Claudia