For regular people, this is a wonderful dish. For artichoke aficionados this dish makes the earth move.
This torta has lots of meaty artichokes (two pounds of hearts) suspended in an airy parmesan cheese and egg custard.
Artichokes and egg custard. Wow.
This recipe is an adaptation of one from Cara Mangini’s wonderful cookbook, The Vegetable Butcher. (Amazon )
As you know if you read Blue Cayenne, I’m a patsy for a great lead into a recipe and Mangini caught my eye with this one: “Tortas are Italian sweet or savory cakes, tarts, or pies–they are made differently in each region of Italy. This one comes from my great-grandmother, who was Ligurian, although it is not traditional…It has a savory filling of baby artichokes, eggs and parmesan with a very unusual breadcrumb crust. It is one of my family’s most prized recipes and I’m telling you, it really is special. I am going to guess that you haven’t had anything like it.”
Ligurian food? I confess to being pretty uninformed about Ligurian cooking, but that is about to change after eating this artichoke torta.
Bathed by sea breezes and blessed with mineral-rich soils, Ligurians are known for the herbs they grow (especially basil and rosemary) and the cultivation of high quality wine grapes, olives (and olive oil), porcini mushrooms and pine nuts–crops often grown in picturesque terraced fields that overlook the sea. From what I read, we get all sorts of great dishes from the region– pesto alla Genovese, focaccia, minestrone and this succulent artichoke tart. (We have a lot of cooking to do, people.)
Liguria, by the way, is that crescent-shaped sliver land that makes up northwestern Italy. Located between Piedmont and Tuscany and sharing a border with France, Genoa is its capital and the region, sometimes called the Italian Riviera, overlooks the Ligurian Sea. But you already know about Liguria even if you don’t realize it. Liguria, with its rainbow-colored houses precariously perched atop a rocky outcropping on the edge of the sea, is the subject of that ubiquitous travel poster/photograph you see in just about every doctor’s office.
Give this recipe a try. If you enjoy it as much as I did, be sure to offer up a toast to Mangini’s Ligurian great-grandmother. She was some cook!
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