Ottolenghi’s Corsican Pie with Courgette Flowers
Corsican pie with courgette flowers from Yotam Ottolenghi. Taken from the book Plenty More, the pie uses puff pastry, feta, pecorino, pine nuts, brocciu cheese or ricotta
From the book
Plenty More
120 stunning recipes from Ottolenghi
Inspiring ideas for vegetarian cooking
Impressive puddings and desserts
Introduction
You can use a wide range of wild, cultivated or supermarket greens in this recipe. Consider nettles, beetroot tops, turnip tops, spinach or watercress in place of the chard. The combination is up to you so choose the ones you like most. The courgette flowers look wonderful but you can leave them out or substitute them with some long shaved strips of courgette, if you prefer. Brocciu, produced on the island of Corsica and considered a national food, is a fresh young white cheese made with goat’s or ewe’s milk – but the easier-to-find Italian ricotta can be used just as well instead.
Ingredients
| ½ | small red onion, thinly sliced (85g) |
| 3 | celery stalks with leaves, thinly sliced (220g) |
| 8 | large Swiss chard leaves, white stalks discarded, roughly chopped (175g) |
| 2 | garlic cloves, thinly sliced |
| 2 tbsp | torn mint leaves |
| 2 tbsp | chopped parsley |
| 2 tsp | chopped sage |
| 2 tbsp | olive oil, plus extra for brushing |
| 75g | feta, crumbled |
| 50g | pecorino, finely grated |
| 15g | pine nuts, lightly toasted |
| grated zest of 1 lemon | |
| 350g | all-butter puff pastry |
| plain flour, for dusting | |
| 100g | brocciu cheese or ricotta |
| 4-6 | courgette flowers, cut in half lengthways if large, or 6 long, shaved strips of raw courgette (optional) |
| 1 | egg, lightly beaten |
| salt and black pepper |
Method
Watch Ottolenghi prepare his gorgeous Corsican Pie in our video tutorial.
1. Place a large sauté pan on medium–high heat and sauté the onion, celery, chard, garlic, mint, parsley and sage in the olive oil. Cook, stirring continuously, for 15 minutes or until the greens have wilted and the celery has softened completely. Remove from the heat and stir through the feta, pecorino, pine nuts, lemon zest, ¼ teaspoon of salt and a hearty grind of black pepper. Leave aside to cool.
2. Preheat the oven to 220ºC/200ºC Fan/Gas Mark 7.
3. Roll out the pastry on a floured work surface until 3mm thick, then cut it into a circle, approximately 30cm in diameter. Place on an oven tray lined with baking parchment. Spread the filling out on the pastry leaving a 3cm border all the way around. Dot the filling with large chunks of brocciu or ricotta and top with courgette flowers or courgette strips, if using. Bring the pastry up around the sides of the filling and pinch the edges together firmly to form a secure, decorative lip over the edge of the tart. Alternatively, press with the end of a fork. Brush the pastry with egg and refrigerate for 10 minutes.
4. Bake the tart for 30 minutes, until the pastry is golden and cooked on the base. Remove from the oven and brush with a little olive oil. Serve warm or at room temperature.
