Make mashed potatoes. Boil the peeled potatoes for 15 minutes.
Mash potatoes and add butter and cream. Use the mixer to make them smooth. (can have some lumps)
Cook the spinach in boiling water for 3-4 minutes. Squeeze out as much excess water as possible, then chop.
Mix the spinach, potato and chopped garlic, salt and pepper and grated nutmeg in a bowl and mush them all.
Cut pastry into circles.
Arrange the potato & spinach mixture across half of the circle leaving a little edge. Moisten the edge to make it stick better and flip the empty half over the top to close.
Brush with egg yolk. Make small holes so that steam can escape during the cooking.
Cook in the center of the oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until pasties are crisp and golden.
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg or ¼ ground nutmeg
Kosher salt
8 slices ½”-thick country-style bread
6 oz. smoked salmon-thin sheets
3 oz. Gruyère, grated (about 1½ cups)
1 teaspoon herbes de Provence
béchamel
Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until foamy. Add flour and cook, stirring, until mixture is pale and foamy, about 3 minutes. Gradually add milk, stirring until mixture is smooth. Cook, stirring, until sauce is thick and somewhat elastic, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in mustard and nutmeg; season with salt.
DO AHEAD: Béchamel can be made 1 day ahead. Let cool; press plastic wrap directly onto surface and chill.
assembly
Preheat oven to 425°. Spread bread slices with béchamel, dividing evenly and extending all the way to the edges. Place 4 slices of bread, béchamel side up, on a parchment-lined baking sheet; top with salmon and half of cheese. Top with remaining slices of bread, béchamel side up, then top with remaining cheese and sprinkle with herbes de Provence. Bake until cheese is brown and bubbling, 10–15 minutes.
DO AHEAD: Sandwiches can be made (but not baked) 1 day ahead. Cover; chill.
270 g fresh pastry (or see below for homemade pastry)
Preheat oven 180c
Cook the spinach in a pan with olive oil until wilted. Put in a colander and squeeze out as much water as you can. Set aside to cool.
Chop the onion and garlic and cook it with 2 table spoons of olive oil. Onion first 5 min and garlic 1 min. When it’s golden, chop the cooled spinach and add to the pan. Add the parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste. and stir well.
In a large bowl, whisk 4 eggs and add the ricotta and the nutmeg. Add the spinach mixture and stir together.
*note: you can drain the ricotta beforehand as well if it is watery.
Separate 2.3 of the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll it out as thin as possible. I used a deep springform pan (you can use a deep pie tin). Butter it generously and line the inside and sides with the dough. You can rollout the sides separately and then re-attach inside the pan but I did it in one piece….carefully.
Make 5 dents in the top of the spinach mixture, like little nests, and break the raw eggs (5) one into each indentation. Roll out the remaining 1/3 dough into a circle (a bit larger than the pan, wet the top edge of the dough and then lay the circle over the top, attaching to the wet edge.
Whisk the final egg and add a bit of water. Paint over the top. Bake for 45 minutes. Watch it and if the top seems to be browning a bit too fast, place a sheet of aluminum foil to keep it from burning.
Cool for at least 10 minutes.
With the back of the spoon, make 6 small caves around the surface of the stuffing. Put the 6 eggs on these small holes.
Cover with the 2 remaining sheets of dough (between the 2 sheets spread some olive oil). Close properly the cake with the dough.
To make the crust nicer to see, spread it with some olive oil.
Cook the torta pasqualina in the oven at 180°C for 1 hour.
FOR HOMEMADE CRUST:
500 g flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
300 g water (almost)
a pinch of salt
Prepare the crust, properly mixing flour, water, salt and olive oil. Split the dough into 4. Make 4 thin sheets.
