How to Prepare a Lombard Herb Tourte

From Bartolomeo Scappi's Opera, 1570, translated by Terence Scully:

Chop chard greens small with knives and wash them in several changes of water, letting them drain by themselves in a colander because if you press them their juice will come out and that is their goodness. Then get a pound of grated fresh Parmesan cheese or else Ligurian cheese, an ounce of pepper and cinnamon combined, a quarter-ounce of cloves and nutmeg combined, four ounces of fresh butter and six eggs. When everything is mixed together, get a tourte pan, greased with butter and lined with a shell of dough made of wheat flour, rosewater, sugar, butter, egg yolks and warm water. Put the mixture into the pan, covering it with a rippled sheet of dough. Bake it in an oven or braise it, and serve it hot. It is optional whether you put sugar into the filling or over the top.

My Redaction:

1 bundle chard, stems removed

6-7 oz. parmesan, grated

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp nutmeg

2 oz butter

3 eggs, beaten

2 pie shells (dough of your choice)

pinch salt

sprinkling of rosewater

Rinse the chard greens well and drain thoroughly in a colander. Chop them finely. Mix in eggs, parmesan, butter, and spices. Sprinkle rosewater on bottom layer of pie (or incorporate rosewater when preparing dough, if made for this purpose). Fill and cover pie. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until appropriately browned.

Notes:

Normally I would prefer to blind bake a pie with such a wet filling, but following Scappi's instructions I did not do so here, and the bottom crust does not seem to suffer the sogginess that can result. Your mileage may vary.