[Recipe]: La tourte sucrée aux blettes de Jean-Paul Veziano (Sweet chard pie)

Jean-Paul Veziano, a baker in Antibes, shares his recipe for a classical Nicois disd: sweet chard pie. A real culinary trip on the Côte d’Azur. And what’s more, an opportunity to discover the history of a famous bakery and a baker with a difference.

The boulangerie Veziano

A family story

In Antibes, the Boulangerie Veziano is an institution. Since 1924, food-lovers have enjoyed their sweet and savoury specialities. At the time, Antoine and Aurélie, the grandparents of the current owner, Jean-Paul Veziano, opened the doors of the bakery and it has since become a symbol. The speciality of the house? Antoine’s pissaladière (onion tart) – the recipe has never changed. In the Boulangerie Veziano, there are also fougassettes à la fleur d’oranger (a typical type of bread flavoured with orange blossom), savoury chard pies and gressins à l’huile d’olive (breadsticks made with olive oil). “Over the years, we have kept all the best recipes. Everything is made following traditional and artisanal methods with the best ingredients and sold at a fair price“, Jean-Paul Veziano explained. In a few years’ time, his daughters will take over the bakery and continue this beautiful family story – the fourth generation of the Veziano family to delight the palates of the inhabitants of Antibes and visitors. But the baker from Antibes is always on the lookout for new savoir-faire: in 2015, he flew to Japan to meet a famous baker. The two artisans swopped their trade secrets: “He taught me to make croissants, and I taught him to make bread”.

Boulangerie Veziano
2, rue de la Pompe
06600 Antibes
04.93.34.05.46

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Le pain de la Paix

Kneading together

Jean-Paul Veziano is fond of symbols. “One day, I learned that Bethlehem, the town where Jesus was born, means ‘the house of bread’ in ancient Hebrew”, says the Christian baker. This gave him an idea: “Why not make bread with a Jewish and a Muslim baker?”. To develop his project, Jean-Paul Veziano made three trips to Israel. The event which was organised with the support of the town of Antibes and the French embassy in Israel was finally staged on 10th May 2019, at the Sheraton Hotel in Tel Aviv. The baker from Antibes kneaded a kilo of flour and 600 grammes of water with a Jewish baker and a Muslim baker. The bread of Peace was born. “We used our hands to transmit our philosophies and identities. But being a Christian, a Jew and a Muslim wasn’t important. We were simply three bakers. We created the link through our profession ». But that was not the end of the story. “I kept a piece of that dough”, said Jean-Paul Veziano. “When I got back to Antibes, I mixed it with flour and sent it to my fellow chefs. Since then, over 210 people have used it in 17 countries”.

Jean-Paul Veziano’s recipe

La tourte sucrée aux blettes (sweet chard pie)

Jean-Paul Veziano, who is happy to share the delicious specialities of the Côte d’Azur, gives us his recipe for sweet chard pie.

Ingrédients

For the pastry dough:

1 kg flour
400 g butter
100 g sugar
2 eggs

For the filling:

Around 600 g wild chard cut in small pieces
4 eggs
200 g sugar
1 handful of raisins in rum (put them to soak in the rum the day before)
1 small handful of dry pine nuts
3 peeled apples cut in small pieces½ glass of olive oil

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Preparation

Mix all the ingredients for the pastry dough and knead for 5 minutes
Separate the dough into 2 balls of different sizes (two thirds and one third of the dough)
Prepare the filling, mixing all the ingredients well
Butter the pie tin and line it with the largest ball of pastry. It should be drawn up over the edge of the pan by a few centimetres.
Add the filling
Cover with the second ball of pastry. Prick with a fork.
Seal the two layers of pastry together with water or egg yolk and fold back over the edge of the pastry
Bake in the oven for at least 35 minutes at 220 degrees, until the pie is golden on top.
Serve and eat warm.

Bon appétit !