Once upon a time, this savory pie was made with wild herbs and seasoned with lard. These days? The characteristic dough for ‘erbazzone’ is now made with chards, egg and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese – all folded into two layers of delicious, handmade pie dough. This is a savory pie recipe that started out as a traditional peasant’s dish in Italian cuisine – made from once-discarded ingredients. Now the recipe has become a traditional specialty from the province of Emilia-Romagna, where the dish is called ‘scarpazzone’ in dialect. In the past, lard was used to make the dough softer. These days, we use butter (and sometimes extra virgin olive oil).
Alternatives to diets and Parmigiano Reggiano
Although the original recipe for erbazzone calls for chards, this pie is often prepared with spinach. (Dandelion or even borage can also be used instead of chards – the latter being a wild plant originally from Liguria.) In reality, you can also use a mix of all these; the taste for this rustic recipe will be all the richer!
When it comes to cheese, tradition calls for the use of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, the typical product of the areas between the provinces of Parma and Reggio, though there are versions of traditional ‘erbazzone’ made with Grana Padano cheese or using other mature cheeses instead, with varying intensity of flavor. Ricotta cheese, on the other hand, is a more recent option, though it alters the taste and texture of the traditional version of this savory pie just a little too much – making it more similar to the Italian ‘Torta Pasqualina.’
The Recipe: ‘Erbazzone’ Savory Pie
Ingredients:
2 cups flour, ½ stick butter (or lard), 1 egg, 4 oz Parmigiano Reggiano, 4 oz bacon, ⅔ cup cold milk, 2 lb chards, 2 fresh green onions (with the bulbs), 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, Pepper, Salt, 1 clove of garlic, Chopped parsley
Method:
Mix softened butter, flour, a pinch of salt and milk in a bowl. Once mixed, knead with your hands until you get the mixture is smooth and elastic. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Separately, clean the chards, removing the top part of the stem. Cutchards into cubes, even tearing apart with your hands. In a pan, brown the garlic clove in a little olive oil. Add sliced onions, bacon and let cook for a few minutes. Then add the chards and stir well. Let mixture cook for 10 minutes. Remove vegetables from the pan and drain. Let the vegetables cool and add the cheese, parsley and egg. Stir and season with salt and pepper. Remove the dough from the fridge, divide it into two parts and roll it out with a rolling pin onto a floured pastry board. Transfer a disc of dough to a baking tray covered with baking parchment and spread the vegetable filling on the surface. Roll out well and cover with the second disc of dough. Close the sides well, using your hands and pinching the sides. Brush the surface with a little extra virgin olive oil. Then make small holes in the surface with the prongs of a fork and bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 400°F. Before serving, leave the ‘erbazzone’ on a cooling rack for a few minutes.