The green pie is a typical Ligurian recipe, famous, highly appreciated and delicious.
It’s impossible to visit Liguria and not taste it, indeed those who come usually stock up and take it home. Its origins date back to the peasant traditions of the region, where it was common to prepare savory pies using simple, seasonal ingredients, often gathered directly from the garden.
It was originally created as a standalone dish or to be taken to the fields during workdays. The green pie was also consumed on festive days or on the occasion of local fairs and festivals. The recipe, like many in Ligurian cuisine, varies slightly from one family to another and from one village to another, with the addition or not of ingredients such as pumpkin and Swiss chard.
This version I’ve prepared with the Albenga zucchinis called Trombette, and with homemade pasta matta. Don’t worry if you don’t have this type of zucchini, it can be made just as well with those available on the market.
Pasta matta is a dough made with only flour, water, oil, and salt. Easy to prepare if you have the right measurements, as I will give you, making it will be very simple.
The green pie can be enjoyed at any time of the day, it’s very convenient to take on outings, as a snack at the beach, or even as a sole dinner as it serves as a complete meal. Very often in the summer, I prepare it in the morning for the evening and then serve it with a good tomato salad that we call condiglione, which I will soon present to you, so in the evening, I have dinner ready in no time.
My children have always loved it even when they were younger. And my nephew, who is only 9 years old, the only way to make him eat vegetables is to make him this pie.
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- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 40 Minutes
- Portions: 6
- Cooking methods: Electric oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer
Ingredients for preparing the green pie
- 2.2 1 lbs zucchini
- 3.2 oz rice
- 4.3 oz grated Parmigiano
- 2 eggs
- to taste salt
- 1/2 onion
- 1.75 cups type 1 flour
- 3.4 fl oz white wine
- 2.1 oz seed oil
- 1.1 tsp salt
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
Tools for preparing the green pie
- 1 Food processor
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Fork
- 1 Spoon
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Work surface
- 1 Rolling pin
- 1 Pastry wheel
- 1 Baking pan
Steps for preparing the pasta matta
Let’s start by taking a bowl.
Then add the flour, salt, white wine, and seed oil. Then with a spoon, mix roughly and then pour the dough onto a work surface. Begin kneading energetically with your hands for a few minutes until you obtain a smooth and compact dough ball. Then wrap it with plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for about half an hour.
After the resting time, place it back on the work surface, flour it well, and divide it into two, but not two equal parts. One should be 1/3 of the other, as the base needs to be larger than the cover.
Next, take the rolling pin and roll out the dough until you obtain a fairly thin sheet for the base, while for the cover, roll it out as thin as possible. Make sure to keep the dough well-floured, otherwise, you won’t be able to roll it out.
Once the sheets are rolled out, take the measure of the baking pan by turning it upside down on them and cut them to size. The base, of course, will need to be larger because we need to form the edges.
Then line a round baking pan d. 13 inches with parchment paper, or grease it well, and lay the base over it and set aside.
Meanwhile, wash the zucchinis and the onion thoroughly and dry them with paper towels. Cut or chop them with a food processor to a medium level, not too fine or too coarse, and place them in a large bowl. After chopping all the zucchinis, add the salt and mix. If water forms, as zucchinis are very watery, it should be removed so that you can then add the eggs, rice, and grated Parmigiano. At this point, use a fork to mix the eggs and with the help of a spoon combine all the ingredients.
Finally, pour the filling into our base, level it, and cover with the remaining sheet.
Finish by creating the edges, that is, rolling the dough that protrudes inside.
Generously oil the surface with extra virgin olive oil and bake at 356°F for about 40 minutes or until golden. Cooking in an air fryer at 338°F for 30 minutes or until golden.
Once the cooking time is over, remove from the oven, let cool, and serve… enjoy your tasting!
Advice and Notes
In my recipe, I put everything raw, even the rice, which cooks perfectly thanks to the water that zucchinis release during cooking. If you want it even more flavorful, however, you can sauté the onion with some olive oil and add it to the filling like that.
Once cooked and allowed to cool at room temperature, the green pie can be stored in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Wrap it in plastic wrap or store it in an airtight container to prevent it from absorbing odors or drying out.
Before consuming, you can reheat it in the oven at 302°F for about 10-15 minutes or enjoy it at room temperature.
It can be frozen.
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