(Easter pie, Genoa style - Traditional recipe)

For the pastry
200 g (7 oz) white flour
Salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
Warm water
For the filling
1/2 Kg (1,1 lb) cleaned, boiled and drained Swiss chard, finely chopped
125 g (4 1/2 oz) single cream
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
2 tablespoons grated "Parmesan"
3 eggs
300 g (10 1/2 oz) "ricotta" cheese
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons white flour
Salt
Pepper
30 g (1 oz) unsalted butter

Time:
preparation: 1 hour
cooking: 1 hour
Difficulty:
difficult recipe
Nutrition Facts (amount per serving):
Calories: 439 (kCal) - 1835 (kJ)
Protein: 15.2 (g)
Total fat: 27.8 (g)
Total carbohydrate: 34.1 (g)
Sugars: 5.1 (g)

Prepare the dough. Put the flour and salt in a bowl or on a work surface. Stir to blend. Make a well in the centre and add the olive oil. With your fingertips gradually incorporate the flour into the oil. Then add, gradually, some tablespoons water till a soft dough forms. Cover with a napkin and allow to rest for about 20-30 minutes.
Mix the single cream with the white flour and ricotta cheese in a bowl stirring with a wooden spoon; add the Swiss chard, 1 tablespoon Parmesan and marjoram. Stir accurately and season to taste with salt and pepper if you like. The mixture should be thick and creamy.
Divide the dough into 4 portions and flour them.
Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F). Oil a round shallow oven dish, 10 inches in diameter.
Take a portion of dough and roll it out on a floured pastry board to a quarter-inch thickness. Lay the pastry on the oven dish, allowing it to flow over the edges. Oil it lightly.
Repeat the operation with another pastry sheet and don't oil it.
Spoon the filling on top; level off the top and leave an inch space free all round. Hollow out 3 cavities in the filling into each of which you will break an egg. Season each egg with salt, pepper, a dot of butter and the remaining Parmesan.
Cover the whole lot with the same number of pastry sheets, even thinner than the previous ones. Make sure they do not stick one to the other. Brush some olive oil on the first and then on the second sheet.
Cut off the pastry overlapping the dish. Roll the pieces up to make a cord to put around the edges of the pie, forming a rim. With the prongs of a fork, mark out notches in it.
Bake the pie for an hour or when the pastry is golden.

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