Manuela's aunt's torta verde

Description

This is a recipe my Ligurian friend Manuela makes often, varying it with the seasons, replacing courgettes with artichoke hearts and Swiss chard in spring (no rice needed for this version, she says), and pumpkin or butternut squash in the winter.

Ingredients

For the pastry
400g/14oz strong plain flour
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for greasing
pinch salt
120-150ml/4-5fl oz warm water
For the filling
500g/1lb 2oz small courgettes, trimmed and roughly chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 small bunch fresh parsley, roughly torn
60g/2oz arborio or carnaroli risotto rice
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
75g/2½oz parmesan, freshly grated
2 free-range eggs, beaten
pinch salt

Method

1. For the pastry, sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the olive oil and salt and mix well, adding warm water a little at a time to form a soft, but not sticky, dough. Wrap in cling film and leave the dough to rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and oil a 23cm/9in tart tin.
3. For the filling, place the courgettes, onion, garlic and parsley into a food processor and blend until smooth. Pour the mixture into a bowl and add the rice and olive oil.
4. Cut the dough into two pieces, one part slightly bigger than the other. Roll the larger piece of the pastry out thinly and use it to line the tart tin, letting the edges overhang the sides.
5. Add the parmesan, eggs and salt to the courgette mixture and pour into the lined tin.
6. Roll out the second portion of pastry and lay over the pie. Using a sharp knife, cut off any excess pastry up to about 1cm/½in away from the edges of the tin. Fold in the pastry edges to seal in the filling and crimp all around the edges with a fork. Brush the pastry all over with a little more oil. Make three holes in the top to let steam escape.
7. Transfer to the oven and bake the pie for 45-50 minutes, checking with a skewer that the rice is cooked through.
8. Let the pastry cool a little then turn the pie out of the tart tin and serve warm or cold.