Erbazzone: My famous spinach pie

I was lying in bed this morning thinking about which café I’d take my out-of-town cousin and her cousin to when we met today, when it dawned on me to actually invite them home to lunch. I knew instantly that I would serve my go-to Italian spinach pie that I have been making for years. Almost everyone I have made this pie for has asked me for the recipe, and today was no different.

My spinach pie was a regular for our bookclub, it has provided comfort for a friend and her family, it works as an hors d’oeuvres with drinks, it’s the perfect lunch recipe with a salad (my favourite with this pie is a cherry tomato, roast pepper and mozzarella salad), can be eaten hot or cold, and so is great for a picnic or for making ahead.

Erbazzone – isn’t it fun to say? – hails from Emilia-Romagna in Italy (a part of Italy I’ve not yet visited) and, as with any traditional recipe, the ingredients vary; some recipes use eggs (I just use one), some add bacon or pancetta, and the vegetables in it need to be green and leafy, but don’t have to be spinach. I always cheat and use pre-made flaky puff pastry sheets and a 500g bag of frozen spinach, and if I’m feeling lazy (90% of the time) I’ll throw in a 100g packet of grated parmesan, but I do always make fresh breadcrumbs with four or five slices of bread. The recipe is very forgiving, and so it doesn’t matter if I have more spinach, or accidentally make more breadcrumbs that I need, and if I end up with more filling than expected, I treat it as a bonus, and add an extra pastry sheet for another, smaller pie.

So, because I wanted to do something different on my blog today, I thought I’d share it with you by providing a link to Julie Biuso’s food blog, as I use her recipe (though there are many others on the internet) from her Long Italian Lunch cookbook, and feel that I owe her many thanks for this fantastic recipe.