My friend from high school, Kristin, asked me if I had a pizza rustica recipe. I’m so glad she did. First of all, it made me feel special that she came to me for a recipe because she seems like an amazing cook on Facebook, and secondly, it hadn’t occurred to me to make an Easter pie for the blog until now. Pizza rustica, also known as ham pie, is a deep, flaky, buttery pastry filled with cheeses, meats, eggs, and spices. It is a delicious savory pie. I tried Nigella Lawson’s recipe a very long time ago and loved it. Back then I used pre-made pastry. This time around I would make the pastry from scratch.
Pizza rustica is very easy to make. The hardest part, I found, was locating all of the ingredients at the supermarket. Here’s my tip for the day: ask for help. It saves you time. If you are going to make your own pastry from scratch the recipe is provided below, and the photos from my Easy Pie Pastry post might be helpful also. You can use a deep dish pie plate, but I recommend using an 8-inch springform pan. Trust me, you’ll feel such a sense of accomplishment when you unmold this golden beauty from a springform pan that you wouldn’t get with a pie plate. No offense to pie plates.
To make the pastry, pulse flour, sugar, and butter in a food processor until it resembles large bread crumbs. Add two egg yolks and cold, salted water, and pulse until the dough begins to come together.
Pour the dough out on the counter and form into two disks. It may be a little crumbly, so don’t be afraid to really push it together. Make one disk a little bigger than the other. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Take the larger pastry disc out of the refrigerator and roll it out into a rough 9-inch circle. Carefully place it in a buttered 8-inch springform pan. Loosely wrap and refrigerate.
Time to make the filling. Saute the mild pork sausage for about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool. Mix the rest of the filling ingredients together (cheeses, chopped meats, eggs, parsley, you name it). Add the sauteed sausage and then pour it all into the pastry-lined springform pan.
Roll out the other pastry disc in a rough 8 and 1/2-inch circle, and then gently put it on top of the filling. Trim the edges and flute the pastry. Brush it with an egg wash and sprinkle with coarse salt.
Bake in a 400 degree F. oven for 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 45 minutes.
The pastry shrunk a little, but it was easy to remove from the pan. So what? Who cares?
- 2 cups (250 g) All-Purpose Flour (preferably Italian 00)
- 9 TBS (125 g) Cold Unsalted Butter (cut into 1cm / ½ inch cubes)
- 2 Egg Yolks
- 2 to 6 TBS Iced Water
- 1 heaping tsp. Salt (heaped teaspoon)
- 1 TBS Sugar
- *Or you can use double-crust, ready-made pie pastry
- 2 oz (58 g) Luganega or mild pure pork sausage, skinned,
- 1 TBS Olive Oil
- 1 cup (227 g) Ricotta Cheese
- 2 oz (58 g) Smoked Provolone, diced
- 4 oz (115 g) Mozzarella (crumbled)
- 1/4 cup (28 g) freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
- ½ clove Garlic (chopped)
- 2 TBS chopped fresh Italian Parsley
- 2 pinches of Red Pepper Flakes
- 4 oz (115 g) Prosciutto (cut into small pieces)
- 4 oz (115 g) Sopressata (cut into small pieces)
- 2 Eggs (lightly beaten)
- Black Pepper
- 1 heaping TBS dried Breadcrumbs
- 1 Egg Yolk
- 2 TBS Milk
- 1 tsp. coarse Salt
- Put the flour and butter in a dish, and put this dish in the freezer for 10 minutes. Stir together the yolks, water and salt in a cup, and put this cup in the refrigerator. Once chilled, put the flour and butter into the bowl of the processor, add the sugar and pulse to combine until it resembles large breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolks, 2 tablespoons of water and salt, and pulse until it starts to pull away from the sides and come together a little (about 15 one-second pulses). If it is still too crumbly then add a few more tablespoons until it sticks together when pinched. Dump pastry on to a clean work surface and press together.
- Divide into two discs, one a little larger than the other, wrap each in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes
- Grease an 8-inch springform pan. Roll out the larger disc of pastry to cover the bottom and sides of the pan, leaving an inch overhang. Sprinkle the bottom of the now pastry-lined pan with breadcrumbs, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF, and put in a baking sheet. Fry the sausage in the oil for about 5 minutes, breaking it up with a wooden spoon as it cooks, then transfer it to a bowl and let it cool. Stir all the other ingredients together, and add the cooled sausage.
- Pour the filling into the chilled pastry-lined springformpan. Roll out the smaller disc to make the lid, and place it on top of the filled pie. Turn over the edges of the overhang to form a border and crimp decoratively around.
- Just before baking, glaze the pie by brushing over the milk/egg wash. Sprinkle with coarse salt, and stab it here and there with the prongs of a fork to make steam holes. Place it on the hot baking sheet in the preheated oven. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn down the temperature to 350ºF and bake for an additional 45 minutes.
- Leave the pie to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving it, but it's at its best after about 25. You can also serve it at room temperature.
- Food processor
- Rolling pin
- Dough scraper
- 8-inch springform pan
- Frying pan
- Baking sheet
- Pastry brush
