[Sca-cooks] Green tart (was Re: OK, this is weird ...)

[Christiane]

>So many of the little-known regional dishes seem to have medieval or Renaissance origins. The Italian food section of about.com had an interesting recipe for torta verde from the Piedmont. I have no idea where Kyle Phillips got it from though, he very well may have gotten it from a medieval source!
>
>INGREDIENTS:
>2 1/4 pounds (1 k) tender wild greens (poppy, nettles (handle with gloves until you've
>wilted them in the pot), spinach, collard greens, dandelion greens)
>2/3 cup (120 g) Vialone Nano or similar short-grained rice
>An onion, minced
>1/3 cup olive oil
>1/3 cup unsalted butter
>2 ounces (50 g) ground cured lard or pancetta
>1 clove garlic, minced
>3 eggs
>1/2 teaspoon mixed ground spices (nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, mace -- you might want to reduce this a bit)
>3/4 cup freshly ground Parmigiano
>Meat broth
>Bread crumbs
>Salt
>PREPARATION:
>Clean, wash, drain, and shred the greens. 
>
>Heat the oil and some of the butter in a pot and saut? the onion until it begins to turn gold but not so much that it browns, then add the garlic and cured ground lard and mix well.
>Now add the greens, check seasoning, cover, and cook them over a low flame until they're done, 10-15 minutes. When they are done add the rice and a ladle of broth, and keep cooking at a very low simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally lest the mixture stick down and burn. When 20 minutes are up, turn off the flame and let the mixture cool, then stir in the eggs, spices, and cheese, and check seasoning again. 
>
>Next, preheat your oven to 360 F (180 C). Butter a pan of a size such that the pie will be an inch or so high, dust it with bread crumbs, fill it with the mixture, dust the surface lightly with bread crumbs, and bake it for about 50 minutes. Slice it, and serve it cold. 
>
>Gianotta

Answering my own question, I found out that Kyle Phillips picked up this recipe from Alessandro Pradelli's "La Cucina Piemontese." Pradelli's "Il grande libro della cucina Italiana" is available as an e-book, but it's PC-format only. Bummer. Sounds like Pradelli collected a lot of regional specialty recipes, and I love going through those. It's amazing how much recipe variation occurred from village to village in the same region, nevermind different regions.

Gianotta