Genovese Tart

Original Source:

Das Kuchbuch der Sabina Welserin, (1553)

30 Ain jenaweser torta zú machenn

Nempt 36 lott mangoldt oder spinetkraút, 6 lott geriben kesß, 5 lott bamel, 12 lott gerente milich, das keslin darúon, vnnd das kraút brien, aúch klainhacken vnnd als vnnderainanderrieren vnnd ain torta daraús machen mit ainer deckin.

 30 To Make Genovese Tart

Take eighteen ounces of chard or spinach, three ounces of grated cheese, two and one half ounces of olive oil and the fresh cheese from six ounces of curdled milk. And blanch the herbs and chop them small and stir it all together and make a good covered tart with it.

 

My Redaction
Allergens: dairy, gluten

300g        Australian Feta, diced into 1cm cubes
250g        Spinach, frozen
250g        Parmesan cheese, shaved
                1 sheet Puff Pastry

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Line a pie dish with puff pastry and weigh down with a parchment paper and either rice or baking beads. Blind bake the puff pastry for 15-20 minutes or until the pastry starts to go golden.

Meanwhile, defrost and drain the frozen spinach, getting out as much of the liquid as possible.

Combine the spinach and the two cheeses and fill the pastry base with the mix.

Bake in the oven (180°C) for 40 minutes or until the tops of the pie is slightly browned.

Serve warm.

 

Changes made:

1. The use of puff pastry instead of short crust pastry or even a handmade pastry. I prefer puff pastry as it is a lighter pastry, and this dish was adapted to be served in the full heat of an Australian summer where temperatures can hit over 40°C.

2. Having an open pie/tart instead of a closed tart. In medieval times, pies and tarts were almost always covered dishes. Again, this dish was adapted to the Australian summer.

3. Using frozen spinach instead of fresh. Frozen spinach is already blanched and chopped/shredded. It was also considerably cheaper at the time this dish was adapted to buy frozen spinach at $1/250g each than a massive pile and blanch and potentially get less then needed.

 4. The use of Feta cheese. Mostly this was a personal choice. I am not a fan of ricotta, and I’ve not attempted to make my own cheese yet, though it is something I would like to learn to do at some point. I also choose Australian Feta from the Woolworths Deli instead of the Danish, as the Australian Feta holds its cubes and is less creamy then the Danish Feta. Again, I wanted to keep this dish light for the Australian summer.

 

Other Comments:

The measurements were made to be simple, in case you didn’t have a scale. You could simply just go to the supermarket and buy:

-          1 box (250g) of frozen spinach

-          1 bag (250g) of shaved parmesan

-          Then go to the deli and buy 250-300g of Feta.

I normally have puff pastry in my freezer, so it is a simple as taking out a sheet and letting it defrost. This then makes a large pie (24cm) tart base.

It was supposed to be a simple dish. I blind bake puff pastry but you could potentially do this without blind-baking by cooking it longer. You could also do this with short crust pastry.

I do have plans on making this again as per the recipe and seeing the difference. Though this is a simple dish to make, it is an easy dish to take to a potluck that seems to go over well.