I am getting ready to make Pizza Rustica, an Italian Easter tradition.
Pizza Rustica is a deep dish egg pie with salami, proscuitto, provolone, ricotta, and many other cheeses and meats. It is a dense pie, somewhat like a quiche but loaded with cured meats and sharp cheese.
This year, I am trying a new recipe, courtesy of Carlo’s Bakery (Food TV’s The Cake Boss) via The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/30/dining/30feedrex.html
This is close to my family’s recipe. They use more flour and butter in the crust then I do; and we did not add boiled ham.
I’ll see how it comes out.
My guess is that there may be a few Berserkers making Pizza Rustica as well.
Happy Easter.
WOW. Sounds (and looks) great. I’ve got very little use for boiled ham so there’s no problemmo there. I’m doing a calzone that looks somewhat like that. I’ll put up the recipe latter. I’m waiting to walk out the door (wife situation). Eat well me friend.
OK. Start with slices of “steak sandwich” meat, usually slices of top inside round, run through the rolling jaccard.
Paint on a layer of simple pesto made w/ sun-dried tomatoes in oil, cover that w/ a slice or two of proscuitto, then a slice of provolone.
Next is a glob of squeezed-out sauteed spinach, then a dusting of seasoned bread crumbs.
Roll it up and tie.
Sear all sides in a screaming hot cast skillet, roll in, or paint with just melted but not liquid butter, roll in seasoned crumbs.
Into the oven @ 350* for 10-12 minutes, or until the cheese just starts to melt and squish out.
Serve w/ Kluski noodles in a drizzle of oil w/ chopped scallions and red sweet peppers, dusted w/ fresh ground black pepper (I know, this side is off the reservation, but it’s good).
4 servings, 1/2 hour kitchen to plate, +/- $4 each plate.
Mix up two(2) packages of Jiffy pizza crust mix, replacing liquid w/ soft butter and egg. Shape and separate into 2/3 - 1/3 balls for crust and top. Refrigerate.
Mix +/- 2# dry ricotta, 8oz. shredded pizza type cheese, 2-3 eggs, 1 cup parmesan/romano cheese, fistful fresh parsley, fistful minced sun-dried tomatoes, fresh cracked black pepper.
Sear up +/- 1# skinless Italian sausage (hot or mild, up to you). Mix w/ 1 sm. can Pastorelli pizza sauce. Let cool.
Line a basic large “cheesecake-size” spring-form w/ buttered parchment/wax paper and gently dust w/ flour.
Roll out base, lay in pan. Size just to come over edges. Pack in cheese mix, cover w/ meat/sauce. Roll out top and seal w/ edges using basic egg-wash. Cut vent slots in top.
Bake in 350* oven for 45-50 minutes, or until top just starts to brown. Paint top w/ egg wash, continue baking until top is glazed brown.
Let cool before cutting, serve warm. Extra pizza sauce on the side is nice.
Paul - I just serve it at room temp. It came out quite well (if I do say so myself).
The recipe made a fair amount of the pastry dough so I ended up making one additional small pizza.
The nice thing is that this keeps well and is great warmed up as a leftover.
Happy Easter to you and your family.
Francis - Never heard of Kluski noodles but the pepper combination sounds like a nice Hungarian touch. Sounds good with the Braciole. A different touch than what I grew up with but still sounds delicious.
T-Y.“Kluski” is both a style and a brand name. Some brands (little guys) are really good, others (major companies) kinda suck. The good kind is a heavy, thicker but not wide, not strait, noodle. Sorta like a linguini on steroids. They go great with a lotta dishes. First pick for me when making Stroganoff. It’s kinda pathetic, but I can sit and eat a whole bag with just butter and fresh ground black pepper.
The return of the Homemade Ricotta thread reminded me that it was time for a thread bump on the Pizza Rustica post.
Anyone making Pizza Rustica this Easter season?
I plan to make mine tonight.
Eggs, cured meats, cheese - what’s not to like? (Cardiologists on the board need not reply.)
As I can imagine, there many different recipes linked to the town or village in Italy in which a family has roots.
Buon Pasqua per tutti.
Buona Pasqua! My Calabrese dad makes something on Easter Sunday, when you can eat meat, sort of similar to your but without the pastry dough. It’s more like a frittata, ricotta or tuma, a slight firmer but also fresh cheese, lot’s of slices of sopressata, and eggs.
My Barese mom makes calzone, which is like a quiche filling, eggs, ricotta, but it’s a little sweet and boozy. It’s baked in the oven. It can be served warm or cool, and is a dessert. Very nice with espresso actually!
Peter - Buona Pasqua.
Your mom’s calzone sounds good. My grandmother (on the Barese side) made an onion pie that had that sweet and savory combination.
It was made with cippollini onions, ricotta cheese and was somewhat sweet. Sugar was sprinkled on top. I did not like it as a kid but grew to enjoy it as I matured (college age).
Here’s the recipe I am using for this year’s Pizza Rustica.
We’ll see how it turns out.
(I may post a picture or two depending upon how it comes out).
Pizza Rustica –Easter Meat and Cheese Pie Buona Pasqua
Ingredients
6 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pound butter
16 large eggs
1 lb prosciutto
½ lb capocollo
½ lb soppressata
½ lb Genoa salami
1 lb mozzarella
2 pounds ricotta cheese
4 ounces pecorino Romano (Locatelli)
2 ounces Parmagiano Reggiano cheese
Ground pepper to taste
Pastry Dough
6 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pound chilled salted butter, cut into large pieces
5 large eggs, beaten
Ice water as needed
Mix the flour and salt.
Blend/cut the butter into the flour until it is like a coarse meal.
Add the eggs, onene table at a time.
Add ice water one Tablespoon at a time until the dough forms a cohesive ball.
Knead for 2 or 3 minutes until smooth.
Wrap in plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes. (Put the dough in the refrigerator if not rolling out the door within 30 minutes).
Filling
1 lb prosciutto, sliced thin and then diced
½ lb capocollo, sliced thin and then diced
½ lb soppressata, sliced thin and then diced
½ lb Genoa salami, sliced thin and then diced
1 lb mozzarella, cut into 1/4-inch dice
2 pounds ricotta cheese
4 ounces grated pecorino Romano (Locatelli)
2 ounces grated Parmagiano Reggiano cheese
10 large eggs, beaten
Slice/dice meats. Add all of the cheeses. Add fresh ground pepper to taste. (The meat and cheese has enough salt so there is no need to add any additional salt.)
In a large bowl, beat the eggs. Blend in the meat and cheese mixture.
Add fresh ground pepper to taste (about ½ to 1 tsp). To Bake:
Heat the oven to 350F degrees.
Divide the dough into two pieces: two-thirds for the bottom and one-third for the top crust.
Use bench flour and roll out the larger portion of the dough. Line a spring form pan with the dough, allowing some of the pastry dough to hang over the rim of the pan.
Add the meat/cheese/egg filling and smooth out.
Moisten the edges of the dough with a little water.
Roll out the remaining dough. Cover the top of the pie, allowing for some dough to hang over the edges of the pan.
Trim the excess dough and pinch the edges together.
Use a fork to poke holes in the top.
Bake for 45 Minutes. Remove the pie and brush with an egg wash (1 egg beaten with a tablespoon of water).
Return the pie to the oven and bake for another 40 to 45 minutes.
Allow the pie to cool before cutting.
Buon appetito.
Thank you Robert.
One recipe reminded me of an Easter cheese pie that my mom and my grandmother (on the Barese side) used to make that is similar. It uses ricotta as well as the lemon zest. It was called Pizza Dolce.
I will need to make one soon. Thanks for the link.
T.
Bumping this for Easter 2015.
I was doing a World Wide Web search (googling) for Pizza Rustica and came across this thread.
For this year’s Pizza Rustica, I followed, for the most part, a recipe from the Arthur Avenue Cookbook. For those not familiar with Arthur Avenue, it is a street in the Bronx that is full of old Italian stores, bakeries, butcher shops, and restaurants. A real treat for Italian foods.
So yesterday, I made the crust. It is an egg based dough with lemon zest and some sugar. The custard is ricotta cheese, eggs, and lots of cured meats (prosciutto, salami, soppresatta). Baked and then cooled overnight. Served today.
Here are pictures of this year’s version.
Delicious.
Happy Easter.
It is served both cold and warm. First, it has to cool to solidify. If you cut into it right out of the oven - as tempting as that might be - it would fall apart. The eggs and cheese need to set.
So it is chilled but I like to toast it a bit and serve it warm. It lets the cheese melt a bit.
It is a seasonal dish so you are unlikely to see it in a bakery until next Easter.
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