{"id":41289,"date":"2024-05-02T15:29:06","date_gmt":"2024-05-02T13:29:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tortelliniandco.com\/?p=41289"},"modified":"2025-05-16T16:04:45","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T14:04:45","slug":"erbazzone-pie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tortelliniandco.com\/en\/erbazzone-pie\/","title":{"rendered":"Erbazzone pie (swiss chard pie). A treasure recipe from Emilia"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a land with indefinite borders, which is the South of the North and the North of the South: someone calls it Emilia (E. Berselli, Italian writer born and raised in Emilia)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The city of Reggio Emilia is the birthplace of one of the most satisfying Italian snacks:\u00a0erbazzone or scarpazzone<\/span><\/em><\/strong>,<\/span> a hearty, savory pie packed with tender greens.<\/p>\n

Once a staple of Po river-side snacks, erbazzone pie<\/strong> was an appetizer and a main course, often accompanied by the local wines Lambrusco and Fogarina. The latter, a native vine, produced a dark, sour wine now experiencing a well-deserved revival.<\/span><\/p>\n

From mountain to plain, a history of the great river (the Po)<\/span><\/h4>\n

Some people call it erbazzone<\/strong>, while others call it scarpazzone <\/strong>(from scarpa, <\/em>that means shoe but in this case has a different meaning).<\/span><\/p>\n

What is the difference? The two terms indicate the same preparation: erbazzone pie refers to the green herbs in the filling, which at one time were Swiss chard, spinach but also radicchio and other field herbs; scarpazzone indicates the white stem of the chard, called scarpa<\/em><\/strong>, which peasant families did not waste and used in the filling.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thanks to the stuffing, we know that erbazzone was typical from May to November when chard or other herbs were available.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is a homemade preparation originating in the countryside.<\/strong>
\nIt was a breakfast or dinner dish accompanied by radicchio or other wild herbs and hard-boiled eggs.<\/span><\/p>\n

The rezdora<\/em><\/strong> (housewife) would enrich the pastry with flour, water, and a little lard. The latter is the ingredient that makes the shell as crumbly as shortcrust pastry. Men carried that one dish of substance in their saddlebags to face the toil of working in the fields.<\/p>\n

The area of Reggio Emilia is quite large, and it develops from the Apennines to the Po River.
\nMany variations of this dish exist inside that area, such as the mountain version with rice. That recipe dates back to long ago when the rice was brought home by the women who worked as rice keepers (mondine<\/em> in Italian) from March to October to clear the rice fields of weeds. To their modest pay, the landowners would add a bag of rice, which the women would cook in milk until it was completely absorbed and then mix with whatever was available: chard or other herbs certainly, but also lard, Parmigiano, ricotta, and even eggs.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Erbazzone\"<\/p>\n

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\"Erbazzone\"<\/p>\n

The origin of erbazzone pie<\/span><\/h4>\n

An herb and cheese pie enclosed in two layers of unleavened bread dough is also mentioned in the country poem Moretum<\/em><\/strong>, written by Virgil. Although it is well known that the ancient Romans enjoyed herb pies, erbazzone, as we know it today, has ancient but more recent origins.<\/span><\/p>\n

The recipe almost certainly has nineteenth-century origins and originated in the home kitchen of a rezdora, as the women of the house were called in Reggio Emilia and throughout Emilia. The rezdora supervised people and things, governed the kitchen and the vegetable garden, arranged the daily to-do, and knew how to use everything the countryside put at her disposal.<\/span><\/p>\n

From recipe to recipe, from family to family, erbazzone<\/strong> is, together with cappelletti, the flagship of Reggio Emilia cuisine and one of the dishes of the traditional cucina povera of Emilia-Romagna<\/em><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Emilia and Romagna<\/h5>\n