San Felese Easter Pie (Pizza Rustica)

[Jason Perlow]

San Felese Easter Pie (Pizza Rustica)

Serves 12 as Main Dish.

Mike's Deli Pizza Rustica pictured above. (click for link)

Reprinted with Permission from the USENET archives

CONTRIBUTOR

Joe Petolino

Chronon Computer Co., Mountain View CA

Date: 27 Mar 87 04:28:14 GMT

Sender: recipes@decwrl.DEC.COM

Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey, USA

This dish is traditional in my family at Easter time. I don't know how to spell the Italian name of this pie, but it sounds something like "Pizza Gain"-my father translates it as "full pie'' This recipe originated in the town of San Fele, east of Naples.

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CHEESE FILLING

• 2 lb ricotta cheese
  
• 3 large eggs
  
• 1/4 lb mozzarella cheese, shredded or chopped
  
• 6 T romano cheese, grated
  
• 6 T fresh parsley, chopped
  
• 1-1/2 T dried mint leaves (do not use peppermint)
  
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
  
• salt to taste-depends on salt content of cheeses.
  

MEAT FILLING

• 1 lb Italian sausage ("mild" or ``sweet'')
  
• 2 oz Italian dry salami, thinly sliced
  
• 2 oz prosciutto, thinly sliced (or any other ham)
  

PIZZA

• 1-1/2 lb pizza dough (if you make your own dough, use about 3 cups of flour)
  
• flour
  
• 1 egg, separated
  

(1) Put ricotta and eggs into a large bowl and stir until well mixed. Blend in all other ingredients.

(2) Slice the sausage into rounds about 3/8 inch thick. Brown in a little oil until cooked through. Drain, and discard grease. Cut the salami and ham slices into strips about 1x 1/4 inches

(3) Make or thaw or unwrap the pizza dough.

(4) Mix the meats into the cheese filling. Roll the dough into two disks, one large enough to line a 10-inch round cake pan, the other large enough to cover it. Put the larger piece into the lightly-floured cake pan, molding it so that it completely lines the pan, with at least 1/2 inch hanging over the edge. Fill with the cheese-meat mixture. To allow for expansion, fill to about 1/2 inch below the top of the pan. Wet the exposed dough edge with egg white, place the other piece of dough on top, and pinch the two pieces together. Trim neatly to make a seal. Brush egg yolk over the top of the pie (this will brown during baking). Puncture the top of pie in several places with a knife (make sure the holes are large enough not to close up during baking). Bake at 350 deg. F for about an hour, until the top is browned but not burned. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack. Serve at room temperature.

NOTES

This recipe makes a very large pie. I couldn't find a big enough cake pan, so I used a cast-iron frying pan. You might try using half the quantity of ingredients in a 7-inch pan (make a little extra dough).

If possible, grate your own romano cheese. Some of the romano sold pre-grated in cardboard cylinders looks and tastes more like sawdust than cheese. "Romano" and `parme-san'' are American names; the main difference is that romano is sharper. The mint you want to use is spearmint. It is sold as just plain "mint" in the spice section of supermarkets. Peppermint is entirely the wrong flavor.

Italian sausage is a 'fresh' sausage, i.e. uncured and uncooked. It must be cooked before eating. Depending upon where you live, the less-spicy version of it is called either "sweet" or ``mild''. When I'm really ambitious I make my own (that doesn't happen often!). The only ingredients are pork (about 20% fat), fennel seeds, salt, and a small amount of red pepper flakes, all coarsely ground and stuffed into natural hog casings. If you can't find Italian sausage, you might try a mixture of ground pork with the above seasonings, rolled into little patties. To adjust seasonings, just pan-fry a little bit of the mixture and taste.

The cheese filling given above (without the meats) is my standard filling for lasagna, manicotti, ravioli, etc.

This same recipe can be used to make calzone. Roll out a small disk of pizza dough, put a blob of cheese/meat mixture in the middle, fold it over, seal, and bake. This is a good way to use up any filling that doesn't fit into the pie.

Keywords: Italian, Cheese, Pork, Pie

( RG353 )