Cook and Drink

A sweet pie with vegetables, Parmesan cheese and black pepper? It does sound a bit odd but actually the pie is very tasty and the savoury ingredients support the sweet character of the pie.
The pie is made with Blette, also known as Swiss Chard, Leaf Beet, Silver Beet, Spinach Beet, Bietola (Italy), Bléa (France), Acelga (Spain), Krautsteil (Germany, Switzerland) and Snijbiet (the Netherlands). Once a popular vegetable, it can be hard to find or expensive. When preparing a savoury Tourte de Blettes we used Water Spinach (also known as Kang Koen or Ong Choy) which is a very popular vegetable in Asia. The leaves have lots of structure and the (hollow) stems are tasty and crunchy. 

As you would expect with a classic pie like this, recipes vary, Very often the tourte is made with sweet shortcrust pastry (butter, eggs, sugar and sometimes orange blossom water). The filling contains chard, Parmesan cheese, sugar, eau de vie, raisins, eggs, apples and pine nuts. We’re not keen on using pine nuts, so we didn’t add these to our filling. We thought it would be nice to add the orange blossom aroma to the filling, not to the pastry.

What You Need (Pastry)

• 50 grams of White Caster Sugar
• 100 grams of soft Unsalted Butter
• ½ Egg (beaten)
• 1 gram of Salt
• 150 grams of All Purpose Flour
• Cold Water (if the pastry is dry)

What You Do

Adding egg to the dough makes its flavour richer and easier to handle when lining the baking tin. Start by combining the sugar and the butter. Use a hand mixer with kneading hooks. When mixed, add halve of the beaten egg. Combine salt and flour. Pass through a sieve and add to the mixture. Use the kneading hooks to mix. When done, remove from the bowl and wrap in foil. Store in the refrigerator for at least two hours. The dough freezes well, so it’s a great idea to make a bit extra.

What You Need (Filling)

• 500 grams of Chard
• Handful of Raisins
• 25 grams of Parmesan Cheese
• 50 grams of Sugar
• 1 or 2 teaspoons of Orange Blossom Water
• Black Pepper
• 1 Egg
• Olive Oil
• ½ Sour Apple (Bramley, Goudrenet)

What You Do

1. Wash the chard, remove and discard the stems.
2. Coarsely slice the leaves.
3. Whisk the egg.
4. Soak the raisins for 15 minutes in water (or rum). Pat dry.
5. Peel and slice the apple into small cubes.
6. Combine chard, raisins, grated cheese, sugar, orange blossom water, black pepper and a splash of olive oil. Be generous with the black pepper and the cheese. Mix.
7. Add the beaten egg and mix.
8. Divide the pastry in two.
9. Line a baking tin with the pastry, prick holes in the pastry using a fork (docking).
10. Add the filling, sprinkle with apple cubes, top with the remaining pastry and close.
11. Prick holes in the pastry. Or apply the method of Cornish pasty, as we did.
12. Bake in the oven at 180 °C or 355 °F for 30 minutes.
13. Allow to rest on an oven rack.
14. Best to be enjoyed the next day, so you must be a little patient.
15. Dust with icing sugar.

PS

We must admit we took a short cut by using readymade Pâte Brisée. This is shortcrust pastry, without sugar. Perhaps it’s a good idea to reduce the amount of sugar in the pastry or skip it all together!