Today I continue an informal tradition I seem to have established in recent years: celebrating Earth Day with a recipe that uses dark leafy greens, which are nutritious and overall good for our bodies. In 2022, I argued in favor of consuming radish greens, overlooked in favor of the colorful, spicy roots and often discarded (“Eat Your (Radish) Greens,” April 14, 2022). Last year, I wrote about kuku sabzi, a kind of spinach and herb frittata traditionally prepared for Nowruz, the Iranian New Year celebrated on the spring equinox (“A Green Dish for Earth Day or Any Day,” April 18, 2024).
This year’s dish is my version of tortino di spinaci, described as an old Italian recipe in the book La Cucina Nella Tradizione Ebraica by Giuliana Ascoli Vitali-Norsa, a rich collection of Jewish recipes, succinctly described and without photos. The recipe uses a lot of spinach, raisins and pine nuts (a common combination in Italian recipes for cooked leafy vegetables), anchovies and capers (another beloved duo). The tortino is a sort of baked frittata, rich in vegetables and with fewer eggs (in this case one) binding the vegetables.
I make my version of the recipe with a combination of the dark leafy greens I happen to have (I tend to purchase them in large amounts): spinach for sure, as well as greens from root vegetables like beets, salad turnip, daikon and radishes; slender-stemmed chard, mustard greens, tatsoi and kale from my garden. A different combination of greens produces a dish with a slightly different flavor, which I consider a nice feature of a recipe, because it prevents boredom. Besides varying the vegetable component, as usual, I adjusted the quantities of the inspiring recipe to suit my taste. The result has always been excellent.
And I can attest that a slice of the tortino travels well in a sealed container. It provided welcome sustenance at the end of a recent trip to Los Angeles when my flight was repeatedly delayed, so when I finally reached the hotel, I was tired and in no mood to look for food. Enter my container with tortino plus some cooked vegetables and the day ended on a nice note. I was also reminded that the tortino is still excellent the day after it is baked and delicious both warm and at room temperature.
As anyone who has prepared a dish with dark leafy greens knows, washing, chopping and cooking them takes a bit of time and patience. However, once the greens are ready, the tortino takes only some assembly, then the oven does the rest. Raisins, pine nuts, anchovies and capers play subtle notes on the robust flavor of dark leafy greens, making each bite a small surprise.
Spinach and Dark Leafy Green Tortino
For a vegetarian version, omit the anchovy fillets and increase the amount of sea salt. Kale, slender-stemmed chard, tatsoi and mustard greens work well, as do the greens of root vegetables, such as beets, salad turnips, radishes and purple daikon. Serves 4-6.
Ingredients:
1 pound, 10 ounces spinach leaves and other dark leafy greens
¾ ounce raisins
1 tablespoon warm water
¾ ounce pine nuts
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus more to oil the pie plate
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
1 ½ anchovy fillets
½ ounce drained small capers
1 garlic clove
1 handful fine breadcrumbs
1 large egg from pastured poultry
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Thoroughly wash the spinach leaves and other dark leafy greens, and drain them, letting a small amount of water cling to them.
If you are using beet greens, chard or tatsoi, separate the stems and finely chop them. If you are using kale or salad turnip or daikon greens, cut off and discard the thicker end of the stems.
If the raisins are large, halve or quarter them. Place the raisins in a ramekin, pour the warm water on them and stir. Set aside.
Toast the pine nuts in a dry skillet. Do not walk away from the skillet and keep the pine nuts moving; they are small and delicate, and burn easily. Set aside.
A handful at a time, chop the leafy greens. I make a small pile and slice it at ½-inch intervals. Transfer the chopped greens into a large bowl.
Warm up a large skillet over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. If you have chopped stems, add them to the skillet. Stir well, cover and cook them for 5 minutes or until tender, stirring often. Add 1/3 of the chopped greens, stir well, cover and cook until the greens are tender (6-12 minutes, depending on the greens), stirring occasionally, making sure they don’t stick to the bottom. Transfer the greens into a bowl to cool.
Repeat the step above twice more, until all the greens are cooked.
Mince together the parsley, anchovy fillets, capers and garlic. (The curved blade of a mezzaluna works well for this.)
Warm a small skillet over medium heat, then add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the minced ingredients and cook for 1 minute or so, stirring to make sure the garlic does not brown. Remove the skillet from heat.
Roughly smash the pine nuts with a mortar and pestle.
Add the raisins, minced condiments and smashed pine nuts to the cooked greens and toss well to distribute.
Heat the oven to 350 F.
Oil the bottom of a 9 ½-inch glass pie plate. Dust it with fine breadcrumbs and shake out the excess.
Break the egg into a small bowl and whisk well with a fork. Pour egg onto the vegetables and stir well.
Sprinkle the salt and pepper on the vegetables, stir well, then empty the bowl into the prepared pie plate. Distribute into an even layer.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Remove the dish from the oven. Slice and serve. (Should a slice break while transferring onto a plate, do not fret: Breakage does not impact flavor.)
Simona Carini (she/her) also writes about her adventures in the kitchen on her blog pulcetta.com and shares photographs on Instagram @simonacarini. She particularly likes to create still lifes with produce from the farmers market.
This article appears in Portrait of a Prairie.