Easter egg pie
This pie - pasqualina - comes from Italy. Previously, it was baked only at Easter from thirty-three layers of dough - according to the number of years of Christ, but now, in a simplified version, it has become one of the most popular types of savory pastries.
Ingredients
Servings 8- 500 g flour, plus more for rolling
- 2 tbsp. l. extra virgin olive oil, plus for the mold
- 10 eggs
- freshly ground black pepper
- salt
- 1 kg fresh spinach
- 1-2 tsp marjoram (fresh or dried)
- 1 toasted bun or 2 slices of white bread
- 100 ml milk
- 80 g grated hard aged cheese, preferably parmesan
- 500 g ricotta cheese
- 50 g butter
Cooking
Step 1
For the dough, mix flour with salt, add olive oil, pour in about 220 ml of water and knead a smooth elastic dough. Stir vigorously for about 10 minutes. Divide the dough into 12 equal portions, shape into balls, place on a floured board and cover with a damp towel. Leave for 1 hour.
Step 2
Put the spinach in a pot with a minimum amount of boiling water for 2 minutes, transfer to cold water, squeeze well and chop finely. Season with salt, pepper and marjoram.
Step 3
Cut off the crust from the bun or bread, cut the crumb into pieces and soak in milk, then squeeze lightly. Mix 2 raw eggs with 2-3 tbsp. l. grated Parmesan and add to the soaked breadcrumbs. Add ricotta and spinach there, salt and pepper.
Step 4
Roll out the dough ball as thinly as possible on a floured surface, then stretch with your hands until almost translucent. Grease a springform pan with a diameter of 26 cm with olive oil, put a sheet of dough in it - the edges of the dough should hang over the side by about 1 cm. Lightly oil the dough. Roll out, stretch and stack 5 more sheets of dough on top of each other in this way, brushing each with butter.
Step 5
Boil eggs in a bag, peel. Distribute the prepared filling on the dough, smooth, sprinkle with oil. With a tablespoon, make 8 indentations in the filling at an equal distance from each other, put a small piece of butter in each and place a whole egg. Salt and pepper the eggs and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
Step 6
With the remaining portions of the dough, proceed as described above, and lay them on the filling, spreading each layer with oil. Turn inward the hanging edges of the dough, cutting off the excess, and press lightly. Brush the surface of the pie with olive oil and carefully pierce in several places with a wooden stick, without touching the eggs.
Step 7
Bake the cake in a preheated oven at 200°C until golden brown, 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool down. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.