Figures wearing goggles cut knee-high grass in the park the other day. Like a wasp crossed with a revving motorbike, strimming is a strangely soothing sound. It also takes me back to double chemistry lessons on a June afternoon, the sound and lush smell of the playing field being tamed, drifting in through the window and making my eyes itch.
While it’s closely associated with grass, the Italian word erba is a generic word for a great number of leaf plants and herbs that don’t develop a woody stem. One of those is wild bietola, or chard, and its cultivated cousins, which provide the dense green filling for l’erbazzone reggiano, a savoury pie typical of Reggio Emilia, eponymous city of parmigiano reggiano and one of nine provinces in Emilia-Romagna.
Modern and ancient, some trace erbazzone back to the ancient breakfast habit of moretum, a pounded herb sauce baked between two discs of unleavened bread. While others find similarities in descriptions of chopped herbs crushed between bread in De re coquinaria, a collection of Roman recipes compiled sometime around the fifth century AD. Then there are the numerous mentions – torta de herbe, erbata, herbolata, torta de bieda (from 15th-century manuscripts) – and emotive collective memory of countless homemade variations that were never written down.
One thing is certain, however: erbazzone is now a pillar in the gastronomic culture of Reggio Emilia, and in 2006 a traditional recipe was somehow decided upon and written down – a soft flour and lard pastry around a filling of chard and spinach cooked in a mix of lardo, parsley, garlic and parmigiano reggiano (of course) with breadcrumbs, and topped with lardons, is the recipe protected and promoted by the Consorzio dell’Erbazzone Reggiano.
Lard – both lard and lardons – makes a flaky pastry and full flavour; great if you eat pork (there is also a version that swaps baking for frying in pork fat). There are also alternative versions, many with no pork at all, such as the one from the reliable Slow Food book Ricette di Osterie d’Italia, which also includes eggs. My version is a mixture of all the above.
While my version owes lots to l’erbazzone, I haven’t called it that, because it also owes something to expert strimmers everywhere, reducing waist-high erba to a green baize ideal for 1,500m-running or a picnic.
Picnic pie with greens and parmesan
Makes 1 large square pie
375g plain flour
6 tbsp olive oil, or 75g lard
10g fine salt
200ml water
1.2kg greens – chard, spinach, rocket, or other greens, trimmed and damaged leaves discarded
50g butter
1 bunch spring onions, trimmed, finely sliced
100g pancetta, cut into lardons (optional – if you use it, reduce the amount of butter to 20g)
100g parmesan, grated
2 tbsp fine breadcrumbs (optional)
2 eggs or 100g ricotta (optional)
Salt and black pepper
1 egg, beaten, to egg wash
You will need a 30cm x 30cm baking tray. Make the pastry by mixing the flour, fat, salt and water until it forms a soft ball of dough. Put the ball in a clean bowl, cover with a clean cloth and leave to rest for 40 minutes.
Wash the greens, then, without draining them and with the residual water clinging to the leaves, lift them into a big pan set over a low flame and cook until they wilt completely. Drain, chop and set aside.
In a frying pan, melt the butter, then soften the onion and pancetta, if you are using it. Add the greens, stir for a minute or two, then tip the lot into a bowl. Mix with the parmesan and, if you are adding them, the breadcrumbs and eggs or ricotta. Stir well, then season to taste.
Break off two-thirds of the dough and, working on a lightly floured surface, roll it into a thin, roughly 30cm x 30cm square – you can help shape it by tugging the corners, and remember, while it does need to be thin, it doesn’t need to be perfect.
Lift the dough on to the baking tray, then spoon the filling on top, leaving a generous, 3cm border all around the edges. Roll the remaining dough into a square that will cover the filing, lay it on top, then lift the flap of exposed pastry at the bottom up and over the filling, to make a hem, and press to seal.
Prick or slash the surface of the pie, then brush with beaten egg and bake at 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6 for 35-40 minutes, or until the top is golden and the base firm. Leave to cool before cutting into squares or lozenges, and serve warm or cold.
