Puff Pastry Easter Egg filled: a savory tart with ricotta and spinach shaped like an Egg, perfect to be part of many Easter and Easter Monday appetizers, easy, quick and theatrical. If you are still trying to complete the Easter menu, this delicious and theatrical savory tart shaped like an Egg will surprise all your guests. To make it I used a ready-made pizza dough base, which you can also make at home with the pizza dough recipe, and a sheet of puff pastry, which you can make at home with the homemade puff pastry recipe. You can still use only puff pastry or only the pizza base. For the filling I chose ricotta and spinach, as in the Ragusana scaccia with ricotta and spinach. If you don’t like spinach, you can replace it with broccoli, as in the Broccoli and ricotta savory tart, or with any other vegetable you prefer. The Puff Pastry Easter Egg savory tart is easy to make, delicious and fun, but let’s get to the kitchen and prepare it together. Before that, as always, if you want to stay updated on all my recipes, you can follow my Facebook page (here) and my Instagram profile (here).
Do you like savory tarts? Take a look at these too:
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Inexpensive
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Easter
Ingredients to make the Puff Pastry Easter Egg
- 1 sheet puff pastry (rectangular)
- 1 sheet ready-made focaccia or pizza base (or pizza)
- 1 oz breadcrumbs (about 1/3 cup)
- 9 oz spinach (fresh leaves (about 8–10 cups packed))
- 11 oz ricotta (drained and well dried (about 1 1/4 cups))
- as needed extra virgin olive oil
- 1 oz Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated (about 1/3 cup)
- 1 pinch garlic (for convenience I use garlic powder)
- to taste salt
- to taste olives (for garnish)
- to taste sun-dried tomatoes in oil (for garnish)
- as needed egg (beaten)
- to taste sesame seeds (for garnish)
- to taste salami (sliced, to use leftover pieces)
- to taste spreadable cheese (to use leftover pieces)
- to taste salt
- to taste black pepper
- to taste nutmeg
Tools
- Baking pan
- Cookie cutter
- Oven
Steps to make the Puff Pastry Easter Egg
To prepare this recipe I recommend using pre-washed whole spinach leaves. Rinse and drain them. Sauté a pinch of garlic with a drizzle of oil, add the spinach, season lightly with salt and let them wilt for 5 minutes.
Drain them, gather them in a bowl, chop them with kitchen scissors, add the ricotta,
salt, pepper, nutmeg, grated cheese, breadcrumbs and mix everything together. Unroll the pizza base,
using a egg-shaped cardboard template, cut the base and fill it with the ricotta-and-spinach mixture, keeping about 1 cm (about 1/2 inch) from the edges. Cut the puff pastry the same way and place it over the filling.
Seal the edges and then fold them inward to create a rim. Make cuts on the surface of the pastry without cutting all the way through,
Brush with beaten egg, decorate with an olive or a small piece of sun-dried tomato, sprinkle with seeds and bake in a preheated oven at 392°F (static mode) for 20–25 minutes or until golden brown.
While the tart is baking, take the trimmings, spread a little cream cheese on them and place the salami slices on top; roll each trimming to form something similar to a flower.
Place them on a baking sheet, brush with egg, sprinkle with seeds and bake in a static oven at 392°F for 15 minutes. Once the egg and the flowers are out of the oven, all that remains is to assemble everything.
Transfer the puff pastry egg to a serving plate, place the flowers on top to form the tuft and decorate with a ribbon. Serve immediately while still warm.
You can assemble the egg in advance, even the day before, and bake it just before serving, or you can finish it and reheat it shortly before serving. I prefer the first option so the pastry stays crisp. Store leftovers in the fridge and consume within 24 hours.
Variations and tips
You can use only the pizza base or only the puff pastry; you can replace the spinach with broccoli, chard, asparagus, cauliflower and any other vegetables you like. You can also use frozen spinach.
