What is a torta salata, and what can go in it?

In Italian homes the torta salata is the dish that turns up at picnics, on buffet tables, in lunchboxes and on the counter on a Sunday evening, cut into squares. It is not a fixed recipe so much as a format, a little like a frittata in a pastry jacket, and it is very good at turning a fridge full of odds and ends into something that looks deliberate.

What it is

The Italian Wikipedia entry describes a torta salata as something shaped like a cake but with a taste that isn't sweet, and notes that the name covers tarts made with puff pastry, shortcrust, brisée and sometimes even pizza dough. It is eaten as a main, a starter or part of a buffet, and the same entry mentions it as handy when there is little time to cook.

Regions have their own famous versions. The best known is probably Liguria's torta pasqualina, an Easter tart that Wikipedia describes as chard, fresh cheese and eggs under many thin layers of oil-brushed dough, with whole eggs set into the filling so they cook inside it. The same source lists Emilia's erbazzone among the regional examples of savoury tarts.

Choosing the pastry

• Puff pastry is the everyday choice: shop-bought, rolled, ready in minutes, light and flaky. Most home torte salate start here and there is nothing second-best about it.
• Shortcrust or brisée is sturdier and crumblier, better for a deeper filling and for slices that travel.
• A simple oil dough (flour, water, olive oil, salt) rolled very thin gives the Ligurian feel: crisp, slightly chewy layers.
• Filo works too, brushed with oil, for something crackly.

The filling: a base plus vegetables

Most fillings combine three things.

The binder

Eggs set the filling. Ricotta makes it creamy and soft; a mix of ricotta and eggs is the classic. Grated Parmesan or pecorino adds salt and savour. For a richer filling, a little cream or crème fraîche.

The vegetables

Pick by season, and always cook them first:

• Spring: asparagus, peas, broad beans, spring onions, wild garlic.
• Summer: courgettes, peppers, cherry tomatoes, aubergines.
• Autumn: mushrooms, squash, leeks.
• Winter: chard, spinach, cavolo nero, broccoli, radicchio. See our guide to greens for telling them apart.

The extras

Fresh herbs (marjoram, as in the Ligurian pasqualina, or basil, thyme, parsley), lemon zest, black pepper, nutmeg with greens, a few olives or capers, a handful of a melting cheese such as fontina or scamorza.

Avoiding a soggy base

The enemy of a torta salata is water, and vegetables are full of it.

• Cook the vegetables first, until they have given up their liquid and the pan is dry. Greens should be wilted, cooled, squeezed hard in your hands and chopped.
• Drain the ricotta if it looks wet: tip it into a sieve for a while before mixing. What to do with the rest of the tub is another page.
• Let the filling cool before it goes into the pastry, so the butter in the pastry stays cold.
• Bake on a hot tray placed in the oven while it preheats. The heat from below sets the base before the filling soaks in.
• Bake low in the oven and for long enough. The base needs time.
• Blind-bake shortcrust for deep, wet fillings: line, weigh down, bake until pale golden, then fill.

It is done when the filling has puffed slightly and only just wobbles in the centre, the pastry is deep golden and the base sounds crisp. Let it cool a little before slicing; it firms up as it rests.

Three directions to try

• Spinach and ricotta with Parmesan, nutmeg and lemon zest, in puff pastry.
• Courgette, mint and pecorino with a few eggs, topped with thin courgette slices.
• Leek and potato with fontina, in shortcrust, for a winter lunch.