Genoese Pasqualina cake

Pasqualina is a savory cake typical of the Genoa area: it is baked in the oven and filled with vegetables, eggs and prescinseua typical Genoese cheese. Its flavor has exceeded the boundaries of the city of Genoa and is well known throughout Liguria. The name already explains the occasion and the time when it was traditionally prepared. At Easter, the undisputed queen on our tables is the Genoese Pasqualina Cake. Genoese Pasqualina cake is even better if eaten cold, the day after preparing it. This is why, over time, it has become the symbolic food not only of Easter, but also of Easter Monday. In fact, it is used as a dish for picnics and trips out of town that take place on Easter Monday.

Genoese Pasqualina Cake is even better if eaten cold, the day after preparing it. This is why, over time, it has become the symbolic food not only of Easter, but also of Easter Monday. In fact, it is used as a dish for picnics and trips out of town that take place on Easter Monday.

Genoese Pasqualina Cake ingredients

For the pastry

  • 600 gr of flour
  • water to taste
  • half a glass of extra virgin olive oil

For the stuffing

  • 500 gr of chard + 1 handful of borage
  • 6 eggs
  • 1/2 onion
  • 300 gr of prescinsêua * or ricotta
  • 80 gr of grated Parmesan
  • marjoram (better fresh) to taste
  • Salt and Pepper To Taste.

The prescinsêua is a typical cheese of the Genoese province, a quail with a sour taste. Since it is not easy to find, especially outside the province of Genoa, it can be replaced with ricotta, with a more delicate flavor.

Let's start with the pastry
We mix the flour with the oil and enough water to obtain a soft dough. Let's divide it into bullets and arrange them on a floured shelf covered by a damp cloth. You have to let them rest for a couple of hours. The bullets, which once spread very thin, create the layers of the dough, should be well 33 (i.e. the years of Christ). Over the years, due to lack of time, their number has definitely decreased: 3 or 4 as a basis and another 3 or 4 as coverage. The important thing is that they are really super thin.

Preparation of the filling

We clean, wash and scald chard and borage. The important thing is to drain and squeeze them carefully. Water is the enemy of our recipe.

For the same reason, whether you use ricotta or prescinsêua, you must drain it very well and put it to drain in a tied napkin and kept hanging so that it drains all the whey.

We chop the onion and brown it in a pan with a little oil. We add chopped chard and borage and when they dry we withdraw them from the heat and let them cool.

In a holster, beat 2 eggs, add the grated Parmesan, the prescinsêua (or ricotta), the chard, the marjoram. Season with salt and pepper. We mix everything well.

Prepare the filling: chop the chard already cooked and well squeezed. Pour half a glass of extra virgin olive oil into a pan and add the chopped onion. Brown the onion, then add the chopped garlic, marjoram and chopped parsley. Remove the pan from the heat and add the chard, salt, pepper and an egg

Last phase for the Genoese Pasqualina Cake.

We grease a baking sheet and begin to roll out the first sheet. Let's grease it and overlap the others.

Once the base is made, we just have to pour the filling, creating 4 pits in which we will pour as many freshly shelled eggs. Be careful not to break them.

Let's not forget to put some salt and pepper on the eggs.

The Genoese Pasqualina Cake will be ready!

There are only 3 steps left before baking:

1- We lay on the pan the sheets that we had spread, lightly greased (attention to the eggs)

2- We cut the excess pasta and gently roll up the edges leaving a hole to blow the air

3- After blowing the air with a straw to inflate the sheet, we also tuck the last piece of the edge

After greasing the surface of the last sheet, bake at 180 ° C for 40/45 minutes, until the pasta takes on a beautiful golden color.

Put the cake in a preheated oven: it will have to cook for 45 minutes.
Place the first layer of pasta in the mold and grease it with extra virgin olive oil; continue in this way with three other pieces of dough.