With “Kitchen Impossible”, Graciela Cucchiara caused a sensation with her extravagant manner, with her charm she wrapped the whole of television Germany around her finger – just as the guests of her shop for Italian specialties, the “Alimentari da Graciela”, know and love her . She looked in her recipe book for stern and selected a traditional Italian Easter dish: Torta Pasqualina, a Ligurian vegetable cake that is typical of the region around Genoa. And even in Buenos Aires, when she was little, she was very often on the table, Graciela Cucchiara recalls. The Pasqualina is not only incredibly delicious, but also has a great story that connects it with her:

“Many Italian immigrants left the port of Genoa in huge ships – in the footsteps of Columbus – to travel to America to discover the new continent. One of them was Andrea Cucchiara, my great-grandfather, who on October 26, 1888 launched the tanker ‘ Perseo’ entered with a suitcase full of recipes and dreams to seek his fortune in Argentina. Many other Italians came to Buenos Aires with him, so to this day it is quite normal to find Ligurian dishes on the tables and tables of Argentines. Oscar , my dad, cooked ‘Tallarin con Tuco’ every first Sunday of the month, which was similar to Italian ‘Tallarin with Tocco alla Genovese’, but he hand-sliced ??the very thin egg noodles and served them with a very, very long-simmered meat ragú served.

The ‘Pasqualina’ was Mamma Mima’s speciality, which she baked at least twice a month. She was so excited about the cake that she didn’t care if it was Easter or a normal day. And how I loved it back then to enjoy a slice of cold ‘Pasqualina’ a day later during school break. Already knew? The traditional ‘Torta Pasqualina’ is traditionally prepared with 33 layers of puff pastry. Namely as a symbol for the 33 completed years of life of Jesus Christ.

Of course, you can also buy ready-made puff pastry, but there is one ingredient that the ‘Torta Pasqualina’ must not be without: fresh marjoram. Freshly baked on the Easter table, this special dish with its golden color was the perfect decoration – between painted eggs and flowers from the garden. From that moment on, the hunt between my siblings and me for the boiled eggs hidden in the vegetable tart was on. What wonderful memories!”

ingredients for 4 persons

500 g flour 150 g butter 100 ml milk 100 ml water 1 tsp salt 3 small diced onions 3 tbsp vegetable oil 1 kg fresh chard or spinach 8 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp fresh marjoram 8 eggs 500 g ricotta 70 g grated Parmesan Salt and pepper from the mill 1 tbsp butter for greasingPreparation

Knead the flour, butter, milk and 1 tsp salt with 100 ml water to form a smooth dough. Shape the dough into a ball, wrap in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. Simmer the onions in vegetable oil at a low temperature for an hour so that the sugar content comes out and the onions caramelize. Pure UMAMI!

Thoroughly clean and wash the chard or spinach and blanch briefly in boiling water. Rinse with cold water, squeeze out, chop finely and mix in a bowl with salt, marjoram and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add 2 eggs, the ricotta and 40 g parmesan and mix. Also add the cooked onions to the vegetable mixture, mix in and season with salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 180° circulating air. Grease the springform pan. Roll out 2 sheets of dough on a floured work surface. One of them should be the same size as the springform pan, the other slightly larger. Place the larger one in the tin so that the dough sticks out over the edge.

Pour the filling into the mold. Using the back of a tablespoon, make 6 indentations in the vegetable mixture. The remaining 6 fresh eggs go into these. Then sprinkle with the remaining parmesan. Brush the second sheet of dough with a little oil, place it on top and roll the overlapping edges of the dough inwards and press them down. If there is too much dough, simply cut it off, cut out with shapes and decorate the Pasqualina.

Prick the dough several times with a needle and bake in the hot oven for about 60 minutes until golden brown. Take out and let cool down a bit. Serve cut into pieces.