Pizza Rustica
*makes one 11x7.5” rectangular casserole

Pizza Rustica translates to rustic pie. It’s a southern Italian savory Easter pie comprised of mixed cured meats and cheeses that are lovingly encased in buttery pie shell.

If there’s anything that takes me back to the Easter Sunday’s of my past, it’s Pizza Rustica. Imagine Quiche Lorraine on crack and with a crust on top. Or as, Mindy Saraco, pork and cheese aficionado of Canarsie, once said during our childhood friedship: “Pizza Rustica is like Lard Bread on steroids.” Lard Bread is a meat and cheese stuffed bread that is typically eaten at Christmastime and I suppose pizza rustica could be considered its very large and heavy baked pie counterpart.

For a brief moment, let yourself get lost and imagine a cured meat and cheese cornucopia which includes: prosciutto, soppressata, boiled ham, pancetta, provolone, ricotta salata, Locatelli, mozzarella, and ricotta – all baked into a buttery homemade pastry shell (with 6 eggs to bind all of the goodness together – in the pie and to your arteries). There are many variations on the meat combinations (and the cheese too), ranging from the use of Italian pork sausage to mortadella and hot soppressata — but I used the meats and cheese I remembered from taste memory and my own family tradition of making this decadent Easter pie.

Taste Memory: When I sit in silence, stare into space, then close my eyes until I can picture the food of my childhood. After about 10 minutes, taste memory kicks in - wherein I start tasting the food, sometimes salivating, and recalling ingredients. This is my life.

So, after a very Holy Thursday of preparing two Pastiera di Grano for Easter Sunday to be celebrated at my aunt and uncle’s house, I took the better part of the afternoon on Good Friday to make this savory treat. I’ve made Pizza Rustica in the past, but I’ve reimagined the recipe to a slightly smaller size and tweaked the dough based on a conversation with guess who? Mom. She’s the dough researching wizard. And though we had a great filling debate (she went with mortadella), we used similar proportions of meats and cheese to make our respective pies. Though we’re not together this Easter, we compared many food notes along the way, making me appreciative and grateful for our family food traditions and what I’ve been taught and learned over the years.

This version of pizza rustica did not disappoint, and I suspect my mother and grandmother would have been proud. As my aunt, uncle and I cut into deep, thick slices of this traditional marbled and meaty miracle of Easter — we enjoyed every ceremonious bite and followed it with sips of red wine. Our time together, gathered around the table, was heart warming and the pie equally so. Now I have a new memory of making this epic pie and sharing it with them.

Pizza Rustica can easily be made days ahead of Easter and eaten days ahead of Easter if you wish. We like to eat it the night before with a salad. On Easter there is so much food that the tradition of eating it ahead of the holiday has stayed with us for years now. I hope that you’ll make this rustic pie and give it a story of your own.

Happy Easter.

You’ll want to begin by making the dough for the pizza rustica. A quick whirl through the Kitchen Aid mixer and this dough comes together easily and without a mess. Starting with mixing the salt, butter and shortening into the flour, followed by the eggs and ice water.

The dough will form a smooth ball that’s not tacky or sticky. You can remove the ball from the mixer and cut it into two pieces, keeping in mind one piece will be larger because that will make the base / shell of the pizza rustica. The smaller piece will be rolled to cover the top. After you’ve cut the dough, you’ll wrap each in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

While the dough is in the refrigerator, you can get started on the filling.

To make the filling, begin by adding the ricotta, eggs, salt and freshly ground pepper to a standing mixer. You can easily do this by hand, but since the mixer was out and ready to be used, I saved my arm and shoulder energy for dough rolling instead.

After the ricotta and eggs have been whipped, add the cheeses and then the meats one by one. Once this is done, you can set the mixture aside.

Now the dough rolling fun begins! Butter a baking dish and put it aside. Roll dough on a floured surface until it’s large enough to cover the bottom and sides of your baking dish.

Fill the shell with the ricotta, cheese and meat mixture. Yum.

Next, you’ll roll the top piece of dough that will cover the filling.

Seal the edges of the pie using your fingertips and a little bit of water, then make a few slits in the top of the dough. The slits help with baking time and process.

Brush the egg wash on top of the dough and place in the oven to bake until golden brown and the filling is set.

Pizza Rustica
*makes one 11x7.5” rectangular casserole

Ingredients for the dough
*dough recipe courtesy of Giada DeLaurentis
3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, plus more to flour your rolling surface
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 of a cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/4 of a cup of vegetable shortening, aka Crisco, cut into pieces
3 large eggs, beaten
Ice water to be added by the tablespoon; I needed between 5-6 for the dough to adhere

Instructions for the dough
–In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add the flour, cubed cold butter and shortening, mixing until the butter and shortening are well distributed throughout the dry ingredients and there are little pea sized bits of them running through the mixture
–Add the eggs and mix until the dough starts to come together
–With the mixer running, add in a tablespoon of ice water at a time until the dough starts coming together well
–Transfer the ball of dough onto a lightly floured surface and cut the dough into two pieces with one being larger than the other since one will be rolled for the larger pie shell and the other for the top of the pizza rustica
–Roll each piece of dough until smooth and disc shaped
–Wrap each ball of dough with plastic wrap and place them in the fridge for about 30 minutes

Instructions for the filling
1 x 2 pound container of whole milk ricotta
6 large eggs + 1 egg for the pastry egg wash before baking
1 1/4 teaspoon of salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup of grated Locatelli / Pecorino Romano cheese
4 oz. provolone, cubed
4 oz. ricotta salata, cubed
8 oz. fresh mozzarella, cubed
6 oz. prosciutto, cubed
8 oz. boiled ham, cubed
4 oz. pancetta, cubed
4 oz. soppressata, cubed

Instructions for the filling
—In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add the ricotta, eggs, salt and freshly ground pepper
—Add the Locatelli and then add the remaining cheeses to the mixer
—Add the meats, one at a time and continue to mix until all of the meat and cheese is immersed in the ricotta and egg mixture
—Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter a rectangular casserole or baking dish
—Flour a large surface or baking board and begin rolling the larger piece of dough
—Roll it out to a rectangle as long as the length of your pie dish - the dough should be a ¼ inch thick
—Using the rolling pin to gently lift the dough from your floured surface, lay the dough and pin on top of the pie dish and unfurl the rolling pin – there should be some dough hanging over the sides but a lot is not necessary
—Pour all of the filling into the prepared dish and set aside
—Begin rolling the smaller piece of dough on your floured surface, aiming to roll the dough to the length of the casserole/baking dish
—Using the rolling pin to gently lift the dough from your floured surface, lay the dough and pin on top of the dish with the filling and unfurl the rolling pin to cover the entire top of the dish
—Trim the excess dough from the edge of the dish
—Using your fingertips in a little bit of water, seal the dough
—Beat 1 egg and, using a pastry brush, coat the top of the dough
—Make slits in the dough snd bake until deep golden brown and filling is set, approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes
—Allow to slightly cool and serve

Reheating the pizza rustica
—After baking, you can cool the pizza rustica and refrigerate it overnight
—For reheating you should remove the pie from the refrigerator first thing in the morning so it gets to room temperature
—Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and cover the pie with foil
—Reheat for about 1 hour until pie is warm and ready to serve

Freezing the pizza rustica
—Pizza rustica can also be frozen for up to 6 months
—Wrap in slices and cover in plastic wrap, foil and then a ziplock bag for ultimate freshness and to avoid freezer burn on the pie
—Reheat according to the instructions above

Pizza Rustica: A Savory Easter Meat Pie