When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, you’re probably envisioning a pizza rustica, which can certainly be defined as amore in my books.
Pizza rustica is a dish that hails from Naples and goes by various names including Pizza Ripiena, Pizza Chiena, and Torta Pasqualina. It translates to stuffed pizza but is more like a savoury pie (think quiche but thicker and heartier) that is traditionally prepared for Easter. It consists of a filling of cured meats (such as mortadella, prosciutto, capicollo, sopressata or salami), eggs and cheese; ingredients from which many abstain during religious fasting. As with many other popular recipes, it varies by region (and even by family) so the savoury interior enclosed in buttery pastry is based on what is available locally.
Pizza Rustica is typically prepared on Good Friday and enjoyed the following day as an indulgent dish to break the Lenten fast. It is also very common for this rustic pie to be packed up into a picnic basket for the scampagnata di Pasquetta (Easter Monday outing).
This Neapolitan recipe has ancient origins and can be traced back to the 18th century. A description of this pizza (which is in fact what this type of stuffed bread was originally referred to before it became the doughy disk we are familiar with today) was found in the writings of gastronome Vincenzo Corrado in the 1773 publication of “Il Cuoco Galante” (The Valiant Cook). In the chapter dedicated to cakes he details the pizza rustica, composed of mozzarella, ricotta, provola, ham, sausage, pancetta, eggs, pepper and cinnamon enclosed between two layers of puff pastry.
While this dish is closely associated to Easter, I think it’s a great brunch or picnic dish that can be enjoyed year-round. If you’ve never tried Pizza Rustica, I strongly recommend you do (recipe follows) because it’s a savoury pie that truly takes the cake! Buon Appetito!
Pizza Rustica
(recipe adapted from Memorie di Angelina)
Ingredients:
For the crust:
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 2 sticks of butter (1/2 pound)
- Salt, to taste
- 1/2 cup tepid water, or enough to form a ball
For the filling:
- 354g container of ricotta
- 5 eggs + additional egg for egg wash (optional)
- ½ cup cubed mozzarella
- ½ cup cubed provolone
- ½ cup chopped soppressata or prosciutto
- 1 cup of grated Parmigiano
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- Salt and pepper to taste
Making the Crust
(P.S. this also makes a great pie crust, I had some leftover and used it to make a cherry galette)
Place the flour and butter in the food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles sand. Slowly begin adding the water and continue to pulse until a dough ball forms. Note that this can also be done by hand in a bowl.
Once you have formed the dough ball, wrap it in plastic and chill it in the refrigerator for one hour.
Making the Filling:
In a large bowl, mix the ricotta and eggs together until smooth. Next add the remaining ingredients and mix with a spatula until well combined; the mixture will thicken up. If you’re still waiting for the dough to chill, place the filling in the fridge too, covered with plastic wrap to keep it moist. (Both dough and filling can wait for several hours, or even overnight, if you like.)
Assembling the Pizza Rustica:
Once the dough is well chilled, remove it from the fridge and lay it out on a floured surface. Take about 2/3 of the dough, flour it well on all sides and form it again into a ball, and flatten the dough ball out a bit with a rolling pin. Proceed to roll the dough out depending on the shape of your baking pan (I used a rectangle baking dish so I rolled my dough out into more of a sheet but if using a pie dish or spring form pan try to get the dough in a circular shape). Roll the dough out to a thickness of approximately half an inch.
Once you’ve achieved the desired shape and thickness roll up the dough on your rolling pin. Then, using your rolling pin, transfer the dough onto a pie plate and unfurl it on top of the plate, making sure it covers the entire plate by a good measure. Press the dough down into the plate to make a shell. Cut off the excess dough that hangs over the edges of the plate. Prick the dough with a fork before placing all the stuffing into the shell.
With the remaining dough you can either roll out a cover for the top of the pie or cut the dough into strips and create a lattice on top.
Finally, if you like, take one more egg, add a few drops of water and beat them together well with a fork. Then brush this egg wash all over the surface of the pie. This will help the surface to brown and develop an attractive sheen.
Place the pizza rustica into a preheated 375F degree oven and bake for an hour until the filling is cooked through and the pie is browned on top.
Let the pie cool for 20-30 minutes before eating (this makes it easier to cut into). The pie can also be eaten at room temperature.
