Rustic with chard and Easter mozzarella, a homey savory prepared with love and top-quality ingredients. Fresh chard, farm eggs, and buffalo mozzarella combine in a light, flaky puff pastry to create a wholesome single dish. Perfect for a family dinner or an outdoor picnic, and with Easter coming it’s also excellent as a tasty appetizer or for Easter Monday. You can also make it in convenient single portions using muffin tins. A savory that captivates at first sight and convinces at first bite! It’s traditional at Easter to prepare torta pasqualina; this isn’t meant to resemble it, but to offer you a valid, simpler and quicker alternative using ready-made puff pastry. After blind-baking the pastry without any seasoning, finish assembling it for the final bake just long enough to brown it well and melt the mozzarella so it becomes stringy and the filling turns into a creamy, cohesive mixture that is even richer and more wholesome with the addition of the eggs, which will cook directly in the oven.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Budget-friendly
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 6
- Cooking methods: Stovetop, Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons, Easter
Ingredients for rustic with chard and Easter mozzarella
- 1 sheet rectangular puff pastry
- 1.1 lb Swiss chard (chard), washed
- to taste salt
- 5.3 oz buffalo mozzarella, diced
- 6 quail eggs (or 3 small chicken eggs)
Tools for preparing the rustic with chard and mozzarella
- 1 Frying pan (skillet)
- 1 Baking pan
- 1 Spatula
Steps to prepare the rustic with chard, mozzarella and Easter eggs
Start by preheating the oven to 356°F (convection). Then take the puff pastry, unroll it on the baking paper, and place it in a rectangular baking pan, sized to the pastry, actually a bit smaller, about 8 x 14 in, so you can fold the edges over on all sides and create a small rim that will hold the filling.
Prick the base of the pastry with the tines of a fork and bake blind for 15 minutes in the hot oven.
Meanwhile, cook the chard in a pan: clean and wash it, add very little salt, and cook covered, as you would for spinach, without adding water; no oil or other fats are needed here. Cook until the vegetables are tender and well dried.
Let the vegetables cool on a wide tray. Drain the diced mozzarella.
When the pastry has baked for 15 minutes, remove it from the oven and finish assembling with the chard alternated with the mozzarella; then make small wells and add the eggs—use as many as you like: 6 small quail eggs, or 3 small chicken eggs, or adjust as needed. Return immediately to the oven for another 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve; excellent hot, slightly cooled, or even cold for our special-occasion picnics.
Store leftovers in the refrigerator and you can reheat them in the oven.
