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Pizza Rustica - Easter Pie

pizza rustica - easter pieLike most Italian food, the ingredients for pizza rustica depend on what region the recipe is from. I've seen it cooked with a custard type filling mixing the eggs with ricotta cheese. Some regions use Swiss Chard and variations even use crab meat and lobster.

Traditionally, what makes this an Easter Pie is the meat. Lent was a time of fasting ending in a meatless Good Friday and Holy Saturday morning. The meat pie was a treat to celebrate the end of the season of penance. This is Great Aunt Vincenza'a recipe so it probably originated on the Amalfi Coast near Bari.

In our home the Easter Pie is served before the meal with the antipasto. Antipasto translates to before the pasta so any salads or premeal delicacies are set out before the real eating commences.

The way our family prepares the dish is an assembly line production. There is a lot of chopping, slicing and shredding before the pies get put together. Everyone wants their own pie to take home on Easter and there are the cousins who live in places where there is no basket cheese or prosciutto who get an Easter Pie shipped to them.

Making the pizza has become as much of a tradition as eating it!

You can use any pie or pizza dough for the crust, but we prefer to make it from scratch.

CRUST:

5 1/2 cups flour
1/4 lb. butter
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs, well beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 cup warm water

FILLING:

1 pepperoni, sliced thin
15 hard boiled eggs, sliced
1/4 lb. piece salami, cut in strips
1/4 lb. piece provolone, diced
1/4 lb. prosciutto, crumbled
1 small basket cheese (Formagetto), cubed

To prepare the dough, blend the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Work in the butter with a fork until the flour resembles coarse meal. Stir in the eggs and water gradually with a fork.

When just mixed, cover with foil and refrigerate for 4 hours.

Bring to room temperature and divide dough in half. On a lightly floured board, roll out half the dough to 1/8 inch thickness and 14 inches around. Place in a greased 12-inch pie plate.

Add the filling in the layers as follows: 5 sliced eggs, provolone, salami, 5 sliced eggs, basket cheese, pepperoni, prosciutto, 5 sliced eggs.

Roll out the remaining dough and cover pie. Seal around with a fork. Use a knife or scissors to cut off excess. Glaze with egg yolk and prick a few holes on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until golden brown. Serve slightly chilled.



also see -> Buona Pasqua! Traditional Italian Easter

 

Elsewhere on the Web:

Pizza Rustica Recipe ( Easter Pie )

Pizza Rustica Recipe

 

 

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