Do you have any childhood food memories? Well I have lots of them. Whenever my siblings and I get together we often end up reminiscing about food. Like the time dad made ox tongue and forgot to peel it first and how we all gagged and complained about the 'tongue texture' of the tongue. Or the time dad and Uncle Maurice brought a fully grown turtle home from the market and slaughtered it in my aunty Maryanne's marble bathroom in Floriana and then proceeded to stink the house out for the next six hours with the smell of their foul turtle stew.

And then there was the time dad decided to cook an entire pigs head one Sunday for lunch, brains and all I might add. He just seasoned that head with a little salt and pepper and banged it in the oven for a couple of hours and then expected us all to eat it without complaint!

One of the better or should I say more edible childhood food memories has to do with this ricotta pie. Traditionally in Gozo you would make this ricotta pie with fresh broad beans. Dad would lament whenever mum made this pie because he would compare it to his mother's ricotta pie. Apparently my Nanna Marija would add fresh sultanas to the ricotta and broad beans which is quite common in Gozo. Mum being Maltese refused to do so because her mum made it the proper way 'without' sultanas.

And so whenever we sat down to eat this pie, which was at least once a fortnight, my parents would squabble about the same thing - whose mum made the 'better' pie.

Torta tal - Rikkotta - Ricotta Pie

Typically you would make a ricotta pie with fresh broad beans. As they are not in season yet I used fresh peas instead.
 

Ingredients

1.5 kg fresh ricotta

3 organic eggs, beaten

2 cups of grana padano, grated

500g fresh peas, shelled & blanched

1 cup of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

sea salt & freshly ground pepper

2 x 375g packets of Carême all butter puff pastry



 
Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6

2. In a large bowl combine the ricotta, grana padano, peas, eggs and parsley. Season to taste and mix well.

3. Lightly oil a 40x26cm baking dish and then roll out half the puff pastry to fit the baking dish. Spoon the ricotta mixture into the baking dish. Cover with the remaining puff pastry and fold the edges. Glaze the top and edges with a beaten egg.
4. Bake at to 200C/400F/Gas 6  for 15 minutes and then reduce the oven to 180C/350F/Gas4 and bake for a further 20 minutes or until the pie is golden.