Pizza Rustica (Easter Pie) Recipe (2024)

Sarah... how would you know it was delicious when you didn't even make the recipe ...SMDH

This was delicious. I ended up halving the recipe since it was only for my boyfriend and myself. And in an effort to be somewhat healthy, we subbed a lot of the meat for vegetables: spinach and mushrooms. I also added garlic and oregano because I thought the subtraction of most of the meats would detract from the flavors.

This is almost exactly my grandmother's recipe. She got it from her mother-in-law who was from Italy. Two big diffs, we use "pot cheese" instead of ricotta and hard salami and sausage instead of pepperoni. Pot cheese is basically fresher, smoother ricotta and used to come in little baskets from our local deli. I've substituted ricotta in the lean years where I didn't have a good Italian deli, but lately our Shop-Rite deli has been supplying! Happy Easter!

My Neapolitan grandmother made this every Easter,but it was always with leftovers from the Easter feast. The story was that Easter Monday was an Italian holiday and families spent the day picnicking. This was was picnic fare. The only constant is the ricotta.. Chopped meats, cheeses, finely chopped vegetables, hard boiled eggs were added as available I’m not sure how much of the backstory is true, but it’s my story and the pie is delicious, so I’m sticking to it!

A half recipe will leave some extra filling since a 10"x15" pie is 150 sq inches and a 9" pie is about 63.5 sq inches (3.14x4.5"x4.5" aka pi "r" squared). But half (or a tad more) should work for the crust since a 9" pie has more relative surface area than a square pan of that size. I used 3 1/3 cups flour, 3 eggs and a 1/2 lb butter with just dashes of salt. It worked out perfectly!

Pizza Chiena for the rest of us.

Ricotta is key to this Easter Pie. It’s not about easy. It’s about tradition.

You basically made a quiche. Lol

We make with Hard Sausage, Hard Salami and Ham and basket cheese instead of provolone. I've tried with pepperoni and it really didn't taste good, it has an overwhelming flavor.

Wow! level of deliciousness. This one is definitely going into my rotation. I made it in a 9x9 pan, used 1/2 of the ingredients (a fine ratio for the smaller pan). Made the crust gluten-free, because I must not eat gluten. I would advise to follow the instructions, use the egg wash on the crust part way through the baking as in the instructions, keep it for the 3 days in the fridge and serve cold/room temp.

Made this yesterday for Easter and I used a springform pan instead of a rectangular baking dish. It looked gorgeous and tasted amazing, although the filling in the middle immediately fell out when I cut into the pie. If I make this again, I might add more eggs and substitute some of the ricotta. I might also make this the day before so the filling has more time to firm up. I ended up serving it about 4 hours after taking it out of the oven, but that was definitely not enough time.

Oh, the memories. Pizza Chiena, as my family called it. My mom used thinly sliced meats and cheese from the Italian deli and layered them, with an egg mixture in between. It was about 4” high when she was done with it. We had it for dinner on Holy Saturday, then for the entire next week. Breakfast, snacks, any time we opened the refrigerator. Her concoction was somewhat different than this, but I’m sure this is wonderful. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

All of your suggestions are good except for the single crust part which would make this a quiche and not an traditional Easter pie. For the ricotta, find a real Italian deli that stocks the good stuff like Liuzzi Cheese made in New Haven and available at many locations in the NY, MA and CT area. Liuzzi is, if not the best, one of the top 3 best Italian-style cheese makers in the country.

ALTERNATIVE only: Make a big "Stromboli" with pizza dough (ie 2cups flour)fav-meats, any combination of meats chopped. and 1 lb provolone, real easy on the eggs, 1 pound of ricotta. Add grated cheeses. Mix together and spread mixture in center of dough. Stretch and warp the dough around the ingredients, it will look like a giant blimp, pinch together at the top, brush liberal amount of olive oil, bake at 420 for about 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Bada-Bing-Bada-Boom!

I hate to say it but, I use the refrigerated Pillsbury Pie Crusts and they do the trick! ;)

Made as directed but halved the recipe and glad I did because it makes a ton! I was able to find basket cheese as mentioned by others. Added hardboiled egg and some sautéed Swiss chard for some green. All in all, this recipe is not for me. Too much meat and too salty but I’d still try it again, as long as someone else made it!

I like it right out of the fridge.

I used two pans for this recipe, a 9x13 and a large glass loaf pan. It worked perfectly. Also, I used nowhere near the 1 1/4 cups of water... More like 1/4 to 1/2 cup, and the dough was perfectly smooth. The kneading made the dough incredibly easy to handle. It was delicious and flew off the church potluck table between Easter services.

My aunt and mom put black pepper in the dough.

With intention of serving after Vigil of Easter Mass, prepared crust and custard Thursday and refrigerated separately. Assembled Friday, and baked. Refrigerated until Saturday afternoon.I used 1/2 recipe for a 9” deep dish pie crockery (sprayed first with Pam). Used food processor for dough, though a full recipe would not have fit.Labor intensive, though once ingredients assembled, wasn’t onerous.Worth the effort for this special occasion. Baked up beautifully and quite tasty with Prosecco!

Can you prepare it ahead of time and bake it later?

Every year of my life, until she could no longer stand and cook, my mother made this for Easter. But she never, ever diced up the meat and cheese, but arranged them in layers. Not only is this preferable for me, it’s also way less work.You will have to cut several spots into the layers to make sure the egg gets evenly distributed, but believe me when I say everyone loves this version.

substituted Mortadella for the ham. Made two regular sized pies instead of one big one. Delicious.

My 85 year old father STILL insists on making this every Easter, complaining about the rising cost of ingredients each year. His recipe which was handed down on a hand written piece of paper from his grandmother, includes sugar in the crust. I always felt like it was a mistake, and personally never liked it. Has anyone else come across this with a sweet crust?

I'm afraid it won't be truly authentic without basket cheese (formaggio fresca). It adds a kind of tangy edge to the pie which would be just too rich and too bland without it. I can't get it in North Carolina, but where I grew up in New Jersey it was everywhere for Easter.

Also, Nonna believed less was more, so the only meat was a lot of finely diced prosciutto. It was so good.

My mother and Grandmother before her make this Easter pie every year. It is a family tradition. The only difference is that they make the crust sweet so there is a sweet/savory element. It definitely is an acquired taste. Just wondering if anyone else as made this with a pasta frolo dough?

My grandmother from Hazleton, Pa made these every Easter. Her receipt was for a dozen pies and included 80 eggs including an addition dozen that were hard boiled and placed on the top under the crust!

I make the recipe handed down to me by my Naples born grandmother. I use hard dry sausage, salami, sopperassata, basket cheese, ricotta, eggs. I also make the pizza de grana, which includes the soaking of grains for a week before baking.

My Aunt from Apulia, where it meets Molise and Abrruzo, made Pizzagain (Pizza Rustica) every Easter forever. It was outstanding. She never made it in a pie crust! It's a big difference. She mad 4-6 9x12 pies to share with family and friends at Easter. We ate it on Holy Saturday and Easter morning.I learned her recipe and continue the tradition. It's the same as this filling, with less ricotta and more dry cheeses. Add 1/4 -1/2 cp of bread crumbs and 1/4 tsp of bking pwdr. Then the pie will set.