This Traditional Italian Easter Pie is a crowd pleaser and makes 8 generous servings.
So it is a great choice for a family Lunch or Brunch dish. If you are serving an array of other dishes you would get even more servings. It ends up being about 3″ deep so even a slim piece packs a lot of protein.
It is also good served warm or at room temperature -so another bonus point if serving as part of a Brunch buffet.
The Ricotta and Mozzarella serve as a bit of a blank canvas in this dish so the flavour hits come from you choice of ham, salami and prosciutto. Cooked Italian sausage or even cooked bacon bits would be good too.
Choose spiced ham or a spicy salami if you want to add a bit of flavour. It is also good with some dried red pepper flakes on the side.
This is a sturdy dish. It keeps for a couple of days in the fridge and if handled gently, reheats well. I would not recommend freezing it…. too much ricotta that could get watery upon defrosting.
Wine Pairing for Traditional Italian Easter Pie
The occasion and Brunch/Lunch timing for this dish begs for a bright Prosecco to be served on the side!
Failing that a light crisp white wine like a Pinot Grigio or Muscadet Sèvre et Maine would also be good.
Traditional Italian Easter Pie
Equipment
- 9 " Spring form pan
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- 2 Tbsps olive oil
- 2 large eggs use 1 in the pastry and reserve one for brushing the crust before baking
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 Tbsps cold water
Ricotta Filling
- 15 oz ricotta cheese
- 8 oz mozzarella cheese, grated can substitute Fontina
- 2 oz grated Parmesan
- 4 large eggs beaten
- 6 oz ham cubed
- 2 oz salami chopped up
- 2 oz prosciutto chopped
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
Instructions
Crust
- Add flour, butter, olive oil, 1 egg (reserve the other for brushing the crust before baking) and salt to the food processor. Pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the cold water one Tbsp at a time through the spout with the processor running. Mix until the dough clumps together to form a ball.
- Turn dough out on to a piece of plastic wrap. Gather the dough with your hands and press into a disk. Wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. (Dough can be made the day before and held in the fridge 24 hours.)
Filling
- Add all filling ingredients in a bowl and mix till evenly combined. Refrigerate until ready pastry is ready.
Assembly
- Preheat the oven to 425°.
- Divide the dough 2/3 and 1 /3. (Make sure the 2/3 is not short since you will need it to go up the sides of your pan.
- Roll the dough out between two sheets of plastic wrap until you have an 11 " circle. Transfer dough to your spring form pan and press the dough up the edges of the pan. Make sure the dough is uniformly spread up the sides of the pan so the filling doesn't seep out over the edge of the dough.
- Add the filling to the spring form pan.
- Roll out the remaining dough to a 9" circle. Top the pie and fold the side down over the top layer to seal the pie.
- Whisk the remaining egg and brush over the top of the pie. Make a couple of small cuts in the center of the dough to allow the steam to escape
- Place the pie in the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 350°. Bake about 75 minutes. The crust should be golden brown. Allow pie to cool about 10 minutes before removing the side of the spring form pan. Transfer the pie carefully to a serving plate. Allow pie to cool at least another 10 minutes before cutting and serving.
Nutrition
