torta pasqualina

When my father died one of the things I inherited was a folder containing my old report cards, a couple of poems I wrote when I was in grade school, and for some odd reason, my Sunday school notebook.

I flipped through the folder trying to piece together bits of my younger self. It wasn’t really all that satisfying. The picture wasn’t clear. The report cards were mixed – with a variety of comments that were alternately complimentary and disparaging. I was apparently somehow quiet and courteous and yet also chatty and disruptive. Several reports mentioned the word attitude. Only one teacher seemed to use the word with any kind of flattering connotation. That was my favourite teacher ever – my high school English teacher – Jim Barringer. His only comment on my final report was, “spunky attitude.” I think he may have been projecting; he was remarkably spunky himself.

The poems were dreadful. I threw them out immediately before anyone else caught wind of them. But my favourite thing was the Sunday School notebook. There, in fat grey lead, in my unsteady six-year-old printing, I had carefully copied the question, “What is the real meaning of Easter?”

Under the question, in great big letters, I had pencilled, “The Easter bunny brings us chocolate eggs.” The words were mostly erased but still visible. The page was scrunched from my attempts to erase the wrong answer.

I can remember my constant state of confusion in Sunday School. I never knew what was going on. The teacher read us a Bible story, then we hauled out our notebooks, copied down the question from the chalkboard and were assigned to print a one-sentence answer and draw a picture. Somehow I never managed to connect the Bible stories to the questions and answers. And I always got the questions wildly wrong.

I was stunned when the teacher chose an older boy to read his answer and he said that Easter was when Christ, who had been nailed to a cross, died, was buried, and then rose again. I remember feeling a little sick. Partly because of the concept. Mostly because I was so far wrong. I took the eraser out of my pencil-case and started rubbing out my answer. The boy had drawn a picture of Christ on the cross. I had drawn a shaky little rabbit with huge big ears, a lot of circular looking flowers on stick stems, and a scattering of brightly coloured eggs.

It’s only now that I think that I actually got the answer right in my own way. It seems fitting that as a six-year-old I believed Easter was about eggs.  I think we constantly underestimate the importance of both food and ritual. Eggs are a universal symbol of fertility and rebirth. And regardless of religious beliefs, spiritual and symbolic rebirth is the message of Easter.

This year, in honour of Easter, I’ll be celebrating with flowers and chocolate and plenty of eggs. For Easter dinner, I’m making Torta Pasqualina, a classic, incredibly tasty egg and spinach Italian pie often served at Easter. Typically the dish is made with phyllo pastry but this is my adaptation and I’ve used frozen puff pastry which is faster and easier to work with and equally tasty – plus it pays homage to my British heritage. Torta Pasqualina is a great stand-alone vegetarian dish or an excellent accompaniment to a traditional Easter ham.

• Servings: 4-6
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• 5 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut in half lengthwise
• 1 egg, uncooked and lightly beaten
• One large tub – 312 grams or 11 oz fresh (preferably organic) spinach, washed, dried and trimmed
• 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 400 grams (just less than 1 lb) of ricotta cheese
• 1 cup sharp cheddar, grated
• ⅓ cup parmesan, grated
• ½ tsp salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 397 grams (or closest equivalent including 1lb) ready-made puff pastry

Preheat the oven to 400F/200C. Lightly grease a deep dish pie plate.

In a large fry pan, cook the onion in the olive oil until the onion is lightly browned. Add the spinach and cook over medium-low heat 3-4 minutes or until the spinach is just wilted. Remove from the heat and add the ricotta, cheddar, parmesan, half of the beaten egg (reserve remainder for brushing the pastry) and seasonings.

Roll out half the puff pastry to about .5cm or ¼ inch thickness and line the pie dish. Fill with half the spinach mixture. Add the hard-boiled eggs, yolks down, evenly spaced. Top with remaining spinach mixture.

Roll out remaining pastry and top the pie, taking care to seal the edges of the pie.

Using a pastry brush, glaze the top of the pie with the remaining half beaten egg. Make several small incisions in the top of the pie to allow steam to vent.

Bake 25-30 minutes or until risen and golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool at least ten minutes before slicing and serving. Also good served at room temperature.

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