It's a torta but it's not: cabbage, onion and cheese "torta"

First, ragazzi, Annalena has to announce that she now has a facebook page.  Yes, indeed.  So if you want to see pictures of her dishes, and also have a more convenient place to check:  just head there.

So, what's with the "torta and it's not?"  Well, this very much has to do with the fluidity of language, and how words change.  If you ask for a torta in a Mexican restaurant, you will get a sandwich on a round roll, sort of like a round panino.  In Italy, torta is a cake.  Usually dessert.  Of course, Annalena thinks immediately of her "torta rustica," which she is preparing to make for Easter.  It LOOKS somewhat like a cake, but it is anything other than sweet.

The dish she made here was called a torta by Melissa Clark of the Times, and perhaps in the cultural context from which Ms. Clark writes (which seems decidedly middle European),  this is a torta.  Annalena does not know. Perhaps it could have been made in the form that, for example, Annalena's torta rustica is made. Again, Annalena does not know.

What she DOES know is that this is awfully good.  REALLY awfully good.  There's a bit of work here, but none of it is particularly hard, and you come away with a recipe for a dough which is multifaceted.  And here we go.

First, let's make dough.  And we're making a lot of it.  You need to mix up 4 cups of all purpose, unbleached flour, and half a cup of whole wheat flour.  Then add a tablespoon of salt.  That seems like a lot, on its own, but look at how much flour you have there.  Finalmente, a stick and a half of unsalted butter, cut into cubes.  Make sure the butter is cold.

You can get this worked by  hand, or with a pastry cutter, but Annalena did it in her food processor, pulsing it until you get something that looks like the crumbs you would put on a streussel.  Now, start adding REALLY cold water to this.  Probably, you should set your water in with some ice when you start.  Begin with a cup, and if you use a food processor, just keep the beast running.  You are looking for this dough to come together like a ball - hence, you are working this more than you would a pie crust.  You will probably need more water, so add it slowly,  up to another half cup.   Then, put this all on a countertop, work it to a  ball, wrap it  and refrigerate it.  A couple hours is fine.


Okay, let's get to our filling now.  You need to slice, into half moons, enough onions to measure a healthy two to three cups.  Annalena used plain old yellow onions, but you can use red ones, sweet Spanish onions, etc.  You could probably substitute some leeks for the onions, but using totally sweet ones, like vidalias, is not something that Annalena would recommend here. . Cook them, with two tablespoons of olive oil, at medium heat.  Stir them occasionally, until you get a bit of browning.  Five-ten minutes is about right, and since you're stirring only occasionally, you have time to move on to your next project.


And that next project is shredding some cabbage.  Savoy if you can get it, plain green if you can't.  Now, Ms Clark says  "one small head, about 1.5 pounds.'  This is the type of instruction that drives Annalena crazy.  Can you look at a head of cabbage and say it's 1.5 pounds?  Annalena cannot. She got the smallest one she could, and it was three pounds.  So, ragazzi, be prepared to have left overs.  You should have a scale in your kitchen, and if you don't, well, weigh the cabbage when you buy it, and estimate it.

When your onions have gone for that time to get a bit brown, add another tablespoon of olive oil, and start adding cabbage.  A pound and a half of cabbage is going to make quite a volume, raw, and not very much, cooked.  This is why you add it in sections, to the hot onions.  As it cooks down, add more.  And repeat, and repeat.  Until you have it all in.  Put in some salt and pepper.  The instructions called for cooking until all the liquid evaporated.  Annalena didn't have any.  At the end, stir in two tablespoons of cider vinegar, and stir it all together.  This helps to "fix" the cabbage and brighten it.    Now put all of this into a bowl, taste it, and correct seasoning as you like.

Ok, now we go to the next step which is toasting our breadcrumbs.  You need a third of a cup, together with a few tablespoons of chopped thyme, and a half dozen cloves of chopped garlic.  Put all of this into  a small pan, with a tablespoon of olive oil, and stir, stir, stir.  You will see the edges of the crumbs browning, and when that happens, pour it all into another bowl.

Still with Annalena  ?  Ok, final prep stage.  Now, you grate half a pound of fontina cheese.  Fontina is soft, so if you remember, at the start of the recipe, put your cheese in the freezer.  It will firm it up, and make it easier to grate. Cut the rind off, and don't worry very much about even grating.  You could probably also cut this into tiny chunks if you like.

Ok, carini, now as Stephen Sondheim suggests  "bit by bit" we're "putting it together."  Get that dough out of the fridge and, on a flowered surface, roll it out.  You want a rectangle, and you want it to be just a bit shorter than a 13x18 inch baking pan.  To make t hings easier, Annalena suggests that you keep a baking sheet at hand, and everytime you think you're close, put the pan over it, and see.  Don't be afraid to turn the dough over and /or to add more flour if there is sticking.  And if you're not quite at the right size, worry not.  The dough is resilient, and you can press it around to make it right.

And we go on. Now the part that Annalena likes the best.  Position the baking sheet so it is horizontal to you, and visualize a vertical line down the middle.  Leave the side to the left alone for now. Using the right side, spread out half the bread crumbs, but make sure you leave a border of about an inch where you spread nothing.  Now put on half the cheese.  And now, half the cabbage.  Repeat all of these steps.

Wet your hands, and lightly moisten the edges where you put nothing.  Now, dry those hands, take the left side and fold it up over the filling, and then, using your thumbs, a fork, whatever you like, press the thing together.  

Looks nice, doesn't it?  Final touch, which is optional but makes things so pretty:  beat an egg, and brush it over the top.

Now, put this in a preheated, 425 degree oven, and bake it for 45 minutes.  The recipe said to cut vent holes, but Annalena forgot and had no problem.

Let it cool for fifteen minutes, at the least, before you dig in.

Annalena swears:  this is so good, you will have problems not eating the whole thing in the kitchen.

Yes, ragazzi, this is work. But... look back at what we've done, recently.  You've saved SO much time, you should be able to use it here.  So go forward, make this.  Let Annalena know how it turns out.

We're going to be  going back to easy dishes in the next few entries, gang.  So take a breath, have a glass of white wine, and get set.