Snow Day Cooking -Torta

 

 

This is the Torta that my grandmother taught me to make! It is good hot out of the oven or the next day right out of the fridge.When I was pregnant with Jack, I craved this. I remember calling her for the recipe and she laughed as she did not really have a recipe. "Well you add some spinach to cooked rice and add a little bit o' onion, some milk and cheese" This is what I came up with and my kids love it. She made it with all freshly grated parmesan cheese but I use different kinds. When the kids were little they liked just eating the rice mixed with spinach and cheese and they never ate the crust. As they got older, they began to enjoy the crust so I added it to the recipe.

Here it is!!!

2 cups uncooked rice (cooked according to package directions) (sometimes I cook it with chicken broth and some garlic)
10 oz box of frozen spinach, cooked, squeeze out all the extra water and chop even finer (use a food processor if you have one.
1 small onion, chopped fine and cooked until softened with 1 tablespoon butter or olive oil.
Mix all these ingredients together

Add about 1/2 cup milk
1-2 eggs ( see how dry it looks and add the second egg if you think it needs it)
4 cups shredded cheese - it can be a mixture of mozzerella, provolone, cheddar and/or parmesan

add these to the rice mixture, add more milk if it looks dry

Crust:
2/3 cup flour,
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon olive oil

Mix these ingredients together until blended
cover with bowl and let rest- you can actually make this first and let it rest while you are cooking the other ingredients

Knead the dough after it has rested about 15 minutes, after you knead it, roll it out with a rolling pin so it will cover the bottom and up the sides of your 13 by 9 baking dish.

butter or oil a 13 by 9 inch baking dish (I like using olive oil)

Lay the thin crust into the baking dish
Add the rice and cheese mixture, spreading it out evenly. Fold over any extra crust.(you can oil the top of the crust that you folded over to help it brown nicely.

You can sprinkle fresh grated parmesan over the top, layer some tomato slices over it even mushrooms if you would like (This was not part of the "original" recipe but Kate likes the tomato on it and so do I, Jack doesn't like it.

Bake in 400 degree oven for 30 minutes until the top gets browned.

Let rest about 10 minutes, cut, eat and ENJOY an authentic Northern Italian meal.