The “torta d’erbi” is the traditional cake of St. Zita, saint dear for Lucca, the patron saint of the same town, of housewives and bakers. It is celebrated in the city on April 25 with floral exhibitions and markets located in different squares of the historical center. In the streets the scent of flowers merges with that of “torta d’erbi”, prepared in homes.
Here we propose a recipe taught by Maura, a Lucchese doc and perfect cooker.
What It Takes For the pastry: Ingredients. 300 GR. flour – 150 gr. sugar – 2 whole eggs 1 egg yolk – 100 GR. butter – 1 envelope of yeast – 1 teaspoon vanilla – orange peel and grated lemon – 1 tablespoon olive oil – 2 tablespoons liqueur. For the filling: 200 gr. bread soaked in milk and then wrung out and passed to the strainer, 300 gr. chard and 100 grams of parsley fried in butter, 100 gr. pine nuts, 100g. of raisins, 100 g. of chopped candied, gr. 25 pecorino cheese, gr. 25 Parmesan cheese, 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk, gr. 50 vanilla sugar, 50 gr. normal sugar, liqueur 100 gr. (alchermes or sambuca or wet), salt, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg (to taste)
How to make Make a ball with the ingredients of the pastry and let it rest in the fridge for 1 hour or more. In the meanwhile boil the vegetables and drain well, than warm them in the pan with the parsley already fried in butter. Once ready, put all the filling ingredientsin a bowl, mix well, take the pastry out of the refrigerator and spread quickly, so as not to heat it up with your hands, into the pan, leaving a little overhang out the disc of dough and then tucking the filling once the job is done. If you are particularly skilled, you must take care to “top up” the dough over the filling, cutting on the bias with respect to the edge of the pan every 2 to 3 cm and rewindingthese pieces of pastry on themselves to form their beaks.
“It is a little laborious, but I assure you that the result is excellent. For any further details are available. Maura”
