Erbazzone Reggiano

The recipe

Ingredients

for the filling

  • 1.5 kg of spinach or Swiss chard
  • 1 bunch of spring onions with fresh, green stalks
  • a handful of parsley
  • 60 g of ham lard or pancetta
  • 4 tablespoons of oil
  • 50 g of butter
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 4 or 5 handfuls of Parmigiano Reggiano
  • salt and pepper to taste

For the pasta

  • 200 g floura
  • knob of lard
  • 2 tablespoons oil
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • lukewarm water as required

For the ricotta pasta

  • 220 g flour
  • 50 g ricotta
  • a knob of lard
  • 2 tablespoons oil
  • lukewarm water as required
  • salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Melt the ham fat in a pan, adding the crushed garlic and the spring onions, which you will have chopped up, including the stalks.
Add oil and butter and, once the spring onions have softened without browning, stir in the spinach, which you will have previously blanched and squeezed dry.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Once the mixture has cooled, remove the garlic, then add the finely chopped parsley and the Parmigiano Reggiano.
Prepare the dough and, after leaving it to rest for half an hour, divide it into two equal parts.
Roll out one portion with a rolling pin, place it in an oiled baking tin and spread the pesto over it.
Roll out the other portion thinner than the first, dust it with flour and wrap it in the rolling pin (also dusted with flour): pinch the two ends of the pastry towards the centre of the rolling pin and let the crimped pastry slide onto the pesto.
After pricking it thoroughly with a fork, place the whole thing in the oven at 200°.
Leave it for about half an hour; a few moments before it is fully cooked, brush the surface with a piece of lard.
Return it to the oven and remove after a few minutes: the erbazzone is ready.

The Correggio version, the cousin without puff pastry: the Scarpasot

It has one fundamental difference: it is not enclosed in any pastry, neither puff pastry nor shortcrust.
The mixture is in fact cooked directly in the pan, a characteristic that gives it a unique texture and an even more intense flavour.
This distinctive feature makes it a wholesome and hearty dish, an authentic expression of Emilian peasant cuisine, where every ingredient was used to its full potential.
Precisely because of its deep connection to the local area, in 2012 the Scarpasot was awarded the Municipal Designation of Origin (De.Co.), a recognition that safeguards its identity and tradition.

Ingredients

1 kg of white chard
30 g of minced lard
Approx. 80 g of Parmigiano Reggiano
2 eggs
1 tablespoon of chopped parsley
4 tablespoons of flour
2 fresh spring onions, finely chopped
2 teaspoons of fine salt
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
A pinch of spices
Oil for frying (a little)