Ligurian butternut torta salata

Butternut torta salata is a seasonal take on the Ligurian dish more often served as a starter, lunch or aperitivo. Better known under its quiche-like guise, made with spinach and flaky pastry, this is the more filling autumnal version.

I spy, with my little pie...

Torta salata is a traditional Ligurian dish I learned from a woman from Chiavari with a doctorate in philosophy while she was working in a high-end Italian restaurant in Belgravia in London. Needless to say her recipe came with taxing questions...

More traditionally made with a light, flaky pastry and fresh spring and summer vegetables—such as asparagus or spinach—it's usually served in slices as a lunch, starter or aperitivo. This is a chunkier, more autumnal version with shortcrust pasty. Nonetheless, here it's also a starter, in this case for the most recent iteration of Pasta Club! (sic)

There, as here, I'm approaching it as a starter. And, yes, Chrys' recipe for rigatoni with ragù will be published here in due course... However, it also makes a delicious vegetarian—or not—main course and can be cooked, like a quiche, in a single larger pie dish rather than in individual ramekins. The quantities here are for generous starter portions for 4 people. If making it as a main course, add roughly 30% to the quantities of all ingredients.

I've made my ragingly Ligurian shortcrust pastry from scratch using the recipe below. But, honestly, I'm not convinced it's any better than using one of those chilled, readymade shortcrust pastries from a decent supermarket. Your call.

Please note that this pastry recipe uses polenta flour. Don't confuse this with the very fine "cornflour" used as a thickener in many recipes, particularly in Asian cooking.

You want the coarser version such as Dunn's River Cornmeal Coarse. In the UK and Europe I think African and Caribbean stores are often your best bet to get the right thing. It's confusing, I know. No, it's not "polenta", beloved as a carb in the northern parts of Italy. It's effectively the flour thats "one step down" in terms of how finely it's ground, but nowhere as fine as "cornflour".

Similarly, while the recipe usually uses an aged Italian cheese—such as Grana Padano or parmesan—for this iteration of Pasta Club!, I used a veritably stinky piece of "boeren belegen kaas"; quite literally a chunk of excellent "aged farmers' cheese" that a good friend had brought back for me from the northern Netherlands and that I wrapped in wax paper and stored in my fridge, waiting for exactly this occasion.

FYI, this recipe also works well with cashews or shelled pistachios as an alternative to the walnuts, taking it in a sweeter or less sweet direction, respectively.

Shopping list

for the Ligurian butternut torta salata

• ½ a large butternut squash; cut into quarters, skin-on

• A generous clutch of fresh sage; roughly chopped

• 2 medium onions, chopped

• Approx. 100g ricotta cheese

• ½ a cup of grated, aged Italian cheese such as Grana Padano (or parmesan)

• 4 cloves of garlic; chopped or grated

• 2 tbspns small capers, chopped

• ½ a cup of walnut halves, roughly broken with a pestle and mortar

• 250ml red wine (optional)

• 3 tspns golden breadcrumbs

• ⅓ tspn baking powder

• Approx. 5 tbspns olive oil

• 1 tspn dried oregano

• salt and pepper to taste

for the Ligurian shortcrust pastry

These quantities will produce more pastry than you need—I don't generally make it in smaller quantities. No problem: work what you don't use into a ball, seal in a ziplock bag and freeze. It will last for months in the freezer.

• 200g plain flour

• 50g coarse polenta flour

• 125g unsalted butter, cubed and kept cool in the fridge

• 1-3 tbsp water (definitely NOT milk!)

• 1 tspn freshly cracked black pepper

• a pinch salt

for the radish and cucumber side salad

• two handfuls of fresh radishes; washed and very finely sliced

• ⅓ of a fresh cucumber; washed, peeled and finely sliced

• the juice of ½ a fresh lemon

• Approx.6 tbspns extra virgin olive oil

• Approx 6 tbspns white wine vinegar

• 2 tspns creamed horsesradish

• salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Method

for the Ligurian shortcrust pastry

1. Do this some time before or defrost pastry you've already made. Obviously if you're using store-bought shortcrust pastry, you can skip this whole section

2. Sift the flour and coarse cornflour into a mixing bowl or food processor—I'm gonna focus on the manual method, because I prefer it. Work in the butter with clean fingers, combining the flours and butter until it looks something like breadcrumbs

3. Work in the salt and cracked pepper, so it's evenly distributed. Allow to rest for a few minutes

4. Very gradually, add the water, one tbspn at a time, working the mixture into a workable dough. There's no rule: stop when you have a viable dough

5. Tip the dough onto a pastry sheet or bread board and gently knead, roughly pressing out and returning to a ball shape for about 5 to 6mins (any ceramicists out there, think of the "bull's head kneading" technique used with clay). Flatten into a rough "cake" then cover in clingfilm—or a damp, clean tea towel if feeling old-school—and store in the fridge for at least 20mins

6. When appropriate in your cooking schedule, roll into a thin sheet and line ramekins or a larger pie dish, first basted with a little olive oil. These open-top "pies" don't require "lids"

7. Once you've prepared your filling (see below), add this to the pie shells. Place a walnut half in the centre, on top of the filling, and sprinkle with additional cheese

8. Bake at approx. 200°C in the middle of the oven until golden brown—adjust for fan assisted or halogen oven etc.

for the butternut torta salata

1. Add the large segments of the butternut squash to a pot of salted boiling water. You can actually do this some days before and store, sealed, in the fridge. When cooked—i.e. when a fork passes through the flesh without resistance (and generally about 15 to 20mins), remove from the heat and drain. Scoop the flesh out from the skin and remove any pips or sinews as appropriate

2. Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the garlic, sizzling it for a few minutes. Add the chopped onions and sauté for 5 or 6mins on a medium heat

3. Add the chopped capers and fresh sage and stir in. When the onions begin to turn transparent, add the red wine, incrementally

4. Once half of the red wine has cooked off, add the broken walnuts, allowing them to both toast and absorb the wine intermittently. Continue to add the remainder of the wine incrementally, cooking off

5. When cooked, remove from the heat. In a mixing bowl or pot, mash the butternut squash, gently folding in the ricotta cheese

6. Add the contents from the pan—onions, sage, garlic, etc.—and fold in. Finally, add most of the grated hard, aged cheese and fold in

7. Mix in the baking powder just before you spoon this mixture into the pastry cases i.e. shortly before baking

8. Sprinkle with a little additional hard cheese and and the golden breadcrumbs, then bake at 200°C in the middle of the oven until golden brown. If, like me on this occasion, you're preparing this dish to be taken to table at a later gathering, slightly "undercook" these tortas, returning to a fairly hot oven just before serving to appropriately brown them— 15 to 20mins in an oven preheated to approx. 175°C

9. Take to table and serve with the salad

for the radish and cucumber side salad

1. This one's really easy: you can do it while the the tortas are cooking, or you can do it a while before, dressing with only the lemon juice—a natural preservative that also prevents discolouration—and adding the rest of the dressing just before serving

2. Slice the radishes and cucumber and mix together.

3. Make your dressing by mixing the olive oil, vinegar, (and lemon juice), creamed horseradish and spices together in a small bottle or dressing shaker

4. Dress the salad and take to table

Alternatives

This is essentially a vegetarian dish, if you're selective about the cheeses you use, you can ensure the absence of animal rennet. Not really on my agenda here. I can't comment on vegan versions that use cheese alternatives: I've never tried them with this recipe.

But, it actually turns very easily into a lovely dish for carnivores. Lay thin slices of cooked ham or pancetta into the pastry cases before spooning in the butternut squash mix, and you have an amazing dish, especially if served as a main course.

Pairings

Precisely because it's autumnal, this really is one that you can call "white" or "red", according to mood. For me, my all-time fave pairing was a Franken Silvaner and Ahr Spätburgunder. But, no, I can't for the life of me remember any more detail than that. But, it's been equally great with a decent Sangiovese.