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Tourte de blettes
Nice's sweet Swiss chard pie with raisins, pine nuts and apple (tourta de bleda)
Visitors to Vieux-Nice are often surprised to find a pie of green chard leaves sold as a dessert, by the slice, in the old-town bakeries. The sweet tourte de blettes mixes chard with raisins, pine nuts, apple and a little cheese inside a sugared pastry, and Niçois families set it out on Christmas Eve as one of the thirteen desserts. The raisins are traditionally plumped in rum or marc; warm orange juice is used here, so it is alcohol-free. Parmesan is made with animal rennet, so pick a vegetarian hard cheese if you need to. Chef's tip: use only the green leaves; the white ribs make the filling watery, but keep them for a gratin.
- Total time
- 100 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 8
Ingredients
For the pastry
For the filling
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Method
0/8 doneStep 1: For the pastry, rub 6 oz cold butter into 12 ½ oz plain flour, 2 ⅞ oz caster sugar and ¼ tsp salt with your fingertips until it looks like breadcrumbs. Add 1 egg and 2 tbsp cold water and press together into a smooth dough. Wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
30 minStep 2: Soak 2 ⅛ oz raisins in ¼ cup orange juice for 20 minutes, until plump.
20 minStep 3: Wash 1 ⅛ lb Swiss chard leaves and shake it dry, then shred it very finely. Squeeze it hard in a clean tea towel, a handful at a time, until no more liquid runs out. Common mistake: skipping the squeeze; wet chard gives a soggy base and a grassy taste.
Step 4: In a large bowl beat 2 eggs with 2 ⅞ oz soft light brown sugar, 1 oz Parmesan and 1 tsp lemon zest. Stir in the chard, drained raisins and 1 ⅜ oz pine nuts until every shred is coated.
Step 5: Heat the oven to 350°F (325°F fan). Roll out two-thirds of the pastry and line a 24 cm loose-based tin. Spread in the filling and lay 2 eating apples over it in an even layer.
Step 6: Roll out the rest of the pastry as a lid, lay it over, press the edges to seal and trim. Prick the top all over with a fork.
Step 7: Bake for 35–40 minutes, until the pastry is golden and a skewer pushed into the middle comes out hot, with no runny egg on it.
40 minStep 8: Cool in the tin to room temperature, then dust with 1 tbsp icing sugar. Serve in slices; it is even better the next day.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 400 kcal
- Protein
- 9 g
- Carbs
- 50 g
- Fat
- 19 g
- Fibre
- 3 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does tourte de blettes take?
- About 100 minutes in total: 60 minutes to prepare and 40 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 8 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- Can I make it ahead?
- Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
- What can I use instead of plain flour?
- Self-raising flour, same amount (then leave out the baking powder).
- What can I use instead of caster sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
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