Scappi's Renaissance Herb Torte

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LINKS TO INGREDIENTS & EQUIPMENT**
Canon EOS M50 Camera: amzn.to/3amjvwu
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10 Inch Cake Pan with removable bottom: amzn.to/2FOcyJZ
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LINKS TO SOURCES**
The Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi: amzn.to/2FRaeBY
The Renaissance in Italy by Kenneth Bartlett: amzn.to/3crTLA1
Absolute Monarchs: A History of the Papacy by John Norwich: amzn.to/3i1rzVB
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MENTIONED LINKS
Making Hippocras at Home: • Making Hippocras at Ho...
Medieval Lenten Foods: • Cooking Medieval Desse...
TORTA D'HERBE COMMUNI
ORIGINAL 1570 RECIPE (From Opera dell’arte del cucinare)
To prepare common herb pie.
Get tender chard greens, spinach tops, mint and marjoram, cut them up small, wash them and let them drain by themselves. Then get two pounds of fresh ricotta, a pound and a half of grated Parmesan cheese, six ounces of a fat cheese, six ounces of fresh butter, half an ounce of pepper, three-quarters of an ounce of cinnamon, a quarter-ounce of cloves, six fresh eggs, beaten, and six ounces of sugar; with all those things make up a filling. Have a tourte pan ready, lined with a sheet of royal dough and with its flaky-pastry twist around it. Put the filling into it and cover it with a rippled sheet of pastry. Bake it in an oven or braise it. Serve it hot. It is optional whether you make it deep or shallow.
MODERN RECIPE
INGREDIENTS
Chard
Spinach
Mint
Marjoram
1 lb (450g) Ricotta
¾ lb (340g) Parmesan
3oz (85g) of High Fat Cheese
6 Tablespoons (85g) Butter Softened
1 Tablespoons Pepper
4 ½ Teaspoons Cinnamon
1 ½ Teaspoons Cloves
3 Medium Eggs
½ Cup Sugar
2 Portions of Flaky Pastry Dough
METHOD
1. Line a large pie tin or cake pan with pastry dough and blind bake it in a 450°F/230°C oven for 12-15 minutes, or until cooked. Remove from the oven and let cool.
2. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F/180°C.
3. Finely Chop all of your herbs/greens.
4. Mix the cheeses in a large bowl until somewhat smooth. Add the eggs and beat until incorporated. Then add the butter, sugar, and spices and mix until combined. Finally, add in the greens and mix them by hand so as not to bruise the greens.
5. Once the filling is well mixed, pour into the cooled pastry shell and smooth the top. Then top it with the other piece of pastry and press the edges into the bottom dough. Leave some ripples on the top crust to give room for the filling to expand during baking. Brush the top with an egg wash, then set on the bottom rack of the oven and bake for 1 hour.
6. Once baked remove from the oven and serve warm.
PHOTO CREDITS
Pages from Scappi’s Opera - The Wellcome Library: bit.ly/3mLPRGF
Turkey and cockerel etching - The Wellcome Library: bit.ly/3hUXGpX
Roast Duck - Image by RitaE from Pixabay: bit.ly/363Hd0f
Hedgehog - The Wellcome Library: bit.ly/3j01BD9
Iron - By Alchemist-hp (talk) (www.pse-mendelejew.de): bit.ly/2RTp6lA
Horseshoe - By Fonzy, CC BY-SA 3.0, bit.ly/3cxklrl
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