My father’s mother may have made this a few times if I can remember. She died young and I was young when she died so my memory is not so vivid. There were a few Easter delicacies that I may have tasted when I was young, but didn’t know who made it, what it was called, or when I’d taste it again. There was the Italian Meat Pie, and the Wheat Pie.
Later in life, I heard people call it Pizza Geen, or Pizza Gain, or something….
I think our ancestors meant well, but their illiteracy has affected me for my whole life. You can google anything, as long as you can spell it. I could not interpret the utterings of my Italian ancestered friends let alone figure out how to spell it to look it up.
The internet makes this the best time to be alive, I hope the millennials don’t screw it all up. I’m rooting for you Gen Z.
Ok now please keep in mind that the ingredients I have listed below are at your discretion, you can add pepperoni or soppressata or any other meat you like. You can add other cheeses, it’s all up to you. That said, I love this dough because it is a little bit sweet and plays nicely with the savory filling. Also, whatever you do, don’t add too much nonsense to the filling and make it all greasy. Don't be making a "Golden Corral" Pizza Rustica, have a little class.....
I recall being at a friend’s house during Easter and asked about the wheat pie. I was told by one of the elders, that I simply could not make that. I hate people from the old country.
One final word on this. I used easily acquirable ingredients for this. If you can get your hands on chunks of the meats and cut them into cubes, you might produce a more traditional looking pizza rustica.
Equipment
Food Processor
Rolling Pin
Pastry wheel
False bottom pie pan or quiche pan
Dough:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 stick of butter in ¼ - ½ inch cubes chilled
2 large eggs lightly beaten
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
Filling:
The packaging at the store make this a challenge. Don’t sweat it.
15 or 16 oz Ricotta – If you can get it)
3 or 4 oz Prosciutto - shredded
3 or 4 oz Mortadella – cubed or shredded
4 oz dry sausage – ¼ inch or 1/8 inch cubes
4 oz shredded mozzarella
3 large eggs lightly beaten
¼ cup grated Romano cheese
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
Make the dough
Place the dry ingredients in a food processor. That is flour, salt, sugar, baking powder.
Pulse the food processor a couple of times to mix the dry ingredients
Add the butter. Pulse the food processor a few times to cut the butter into the flour. Make sure you only pulse a few times, you want to keep the butter in discrete chunks.
Turn the food processor on and pour the eggs in through the chute. Stop the food processor as soon as a ball of dough begins to form. You don’t want to over work this dough.
Empty the food processor onto a work surface so you can lightly knead the dough. Just knead it very little until it is smooth. Wrap it in plastic and put it in the fridge until you are ready to use it.
Preheat oven to 375°
Mix the filling ingredients in a bowl. When the filling ingredients are fully mixed, you are ready to roll out the dough.
Divide the dough in 2 parts with one part twice as big as the other, yes that is 2/3 and 1/3.
Roll the larger of the pieces out to just cover the pie pan. Fit the dough into to pie pan. You want to keep the dough as thick as you can so that you have a nice bit of sweet crust in every bite.
Smooth the filling into the pie pan
Roll out the smaller piece and cut it into strips so you can for the lattice on top.
Bake at 375° for 30 – 40 ---- maybe 45 minutes until it is golden brown
Let it cool on a wire rack.
Kiss yourself for making deliciousness.
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Ok now I did say that I saw ads for this online and a company is charging $90 for a pizza rustica
Here are my costs – April 8, 2022
My shopping list totaled $65.36, but the amount that I used from that shopping list was $28.06
For example, I purchased a 5 LB bag of flour for $8.99, but only used 2 cups, $0.90
I purchased a pound of un-salted butter for $4.39, but used 1 stick, $1.10
You get it.
I tried to paste the spread sheet here, but it was not so easy.
here is the ad from my feed
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