Eating My Greens

When I first sampled the sugary niçoise specialty tourte de blettes, I wasn’t sure what to think. The sweet butter pastry was clearly palatable, but the filling in-between was confusing. Perhaps I just wasn’t used to it: a mixture of Swiss chard (des blettes, in French), egg, pine nuts, apple, raisins, vanilla, rum and parmesan cheese. Upon re-reading those words, it still doesn’t make sense that such a blend of ingredients would taste good together. But the truth of the matter? It’s actually one heavenly combination. The cheese is barely noticeable, and as it melts in with the dense filling, it isn’t even visible or distinguishable by taste. The sweet apple slices complement the dense chard nicely, and overall the whole pastry has layers of flavor that don’t overwhelm each other. When I taught English in Nice, I’d buy a large square of the tourte for lunchtime from the bakery across the street from the high school. Nutritious? Well, there are some nutrients in there, sure. But first and foremost, this is a pastry! The Niçoise must be given credit for sneaking a highly nutritious vegetable (Swiss chard) into a delicious dessert.

Since I don't get back to Nice too often, I was determined to make the tourte here in San Francisco. Covered with a layer of powdered sugar, here was my homemade version.