Pizza Rustica
Given the name of this recipe, I figured I was making some sort of variation of a deep-dish pizza. After looking through the ingredients and actually cooking the pie, I realized this wasn't a pizza at all. I'm doing my online research as I'm writing this, and I'm finding that this is a traditional Italian Easter dish which would make a lot of sense. It has a lot of cheese, flavorful Italian sausage, a fantastic crust, and no pizza sauce or anything like that. It was incredible as a dinner and I'm sure it would be awesome at Easter brunch as well.
Cooking Instructions
- 1
Blend the flour, the butter, the shortening and salt in a food processor until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
- 2
Blend in the eggs. With the machine running, add the water 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough forms.
- 3
Gather the dough into a ball. Divide the dough into 2 pieces, with 1 piece twice as large as the second piece.
- 4
Flatten the dough pieces into disks.
- 5
Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until the dough is firm enough to roll out, about 30 minutes.
- 6
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a heavy large frying pan over medium heat.
- 7
Add the sausages and saute until golden brown, breaking the sausage into pieces, about 5 minutes.
- 8
Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Transfer the mixture to a small bowl and set aside to cool.
- 9
Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of oil in the same frying pan over medium heat.
- 10
Add the spinach and cook until the spinach wilts and the juices evaporate, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Cool to room temperature.
- 11
Squeeze the spinach to drain as much liquid as possible.
- 12
Position the rack on the bottom of the oven, and preheat the oven to 375°F.
- 13
Into a large bowl, add egg yolks and beat lightly.
- 14
Stir in the ricotta, mozzarella, and 1/3 cup of Parmesan cheese./li> Add the sausage, the spinach and prosciutto to the mixture and stir to combine.
- 15
Roll out larger piece of dough on a lightly floured work surface to a 17-inch round.
- 16
Transfer the dough to a 9-inch springform pan. Trim the dough overhang to 1 inch.
- 17
Spoon the ricotta mixture into the dough-lined pan.
- 18
Roll out the remaining piece of dough into a 12-inch round. Place the dough over the filling. Pinch the edges of the doughs together to seal, then crimp the dough edges decoratively.
- 19
Brush the beaten 1 large egg over the entire pastry top. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan over the top.
- 20
Bake on the bottom shelf until the crust is golden brown, about 1 hour.
- 21
Let stand 15 minutes. Release the pan sides and transfer the pizza to a platter.
- 22
Cut into wedges and serve.