Subject: RECIPE: Pizza rustica
From: petolino@chronon (Joe Petolino)
Date: 11 Jul 86 03:37:26 GMT
Newsgroups: mod.recipes

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.RH MOD.RECIPES-SOURCE PIZZA-RUSTICA M "17 Apr 86" 1986
.RZ "PIZZA RUSTICA" "San Felese Easter pie"
This dish is traditional in my family at Easter time.  I don't know how to
spell the Italian name of this pie, but it sounds something like ``Pizza
Gain''\(emmy father translates it as ``full pie'' 
This recipe originated in the town of San Fele, east of Naples.
.IH "serves 12"
.SH		CHEESE FILLING
.IG "2 lb" "ricotta cheese" "1 kg"
.IG "3" "large eggs"
.IG "\(14 lb" "mozzarella cheese," "100 g"
shredded or chopped
.IG "6 Tbsp" "romano cheese," "25 g"
grated
.IG "6 Tbsp" "fresh parsley," "5 g"
chopped
.IG "1\(12 Tbsp" "dried mint leaves" "25 ml"
(do not use peppermint)
.IG "\(12 tsp" "black pepper" "2.5 ml"
.IG "" "salt"
to taste\(emdepends on salt content of cheeses.
.SH 		MEAT FILLING
.IG "1 lb" "Italian sausage" "500 g"
(``mild'' or ``sweet'')
.IG "2 oz" "Italian dry salami," "60 g"
thinly sliced
.IG "2 oz" "prosciutto," "60 g"
thinly sliced (or any other ham)
.SH		PIZZA
.IG "1\(12 lb" "pizza dough" "700 g"
(if you make your own dough, use about 
.AB "3 cups" "300 g"
of flour)
.IG "" "flour"
.IG "1" "egg,"
separated
.PH
.SK 1
Put ricotta and eggs into a large bowl and stir until well mixed.
Blend in all other ingredients.
.SK 2
Slice the sausage into rounds about 
.AB "3/8 inch" "7 mm"
thick.  Brown in a 
little oil until cooked through.  Drain, and discard grease.
Cut the salami and ham slices into strips about
.AB "1\(mu\(14 inches" "2\(mu\(12cm"
.SK 3
Make or thaw or unwrap the pizza dough.
.SK 4
Mix the meats into the cheese filling.  Roll the dough into two disks,
one large enough to line a 
.AB "10-inch" "25-cm"
round cake pan, the other large enough to
cover it.  Put the larger piece into the lightly-floured cake pan, molding it
so that it completely lines the pan, with at least 
.AB "\(12 inch" "1 cm"
hanging over the edge.
Fill with the cheese-meat mixture.  To allow for expansion, fill to about 
.AB "\(12 inch" "1 cm"
below the top of the pan.  Wet the exposed dough edge with
egg white, place the other piece of dough on top, and pinch the two pieces
together.  Trim neatly to make a seal.  Brush egg yolk over the
top of the pie (this will brown during baking).  Puncture the top
of pie in several places with a knife (make sure the holes are large
enough not to close up during baking).  Bake at
.TE 350 175
for about an
hour, until the top is browned but not burned.  Remove from pan and cool on
a wire rack.  Serve at room temperature.
.NX
This recipe makes a very large pie.  I couldn't find a big enough cake pan,
so I used a cast-iron frying pan.  You might try using
half the quantity of ingredients in
.AB "a 7-inch" "an 18-cm"
pan (make a little extra dough).
.PP
If possible, grate your own romano cheese.  Some of the romano sold
pre-grated in cardboard cylinders looks and tastes more like sawdust
than cheese.  ``Romano'' and ``parmesan'' are American names; the main
difference is that romano is sharper. 
The mint you want to use is spearmint. It is sold as just plain ``mint''
in the spice section of supermarkets.  Peppermint is entirely the wrong
flavor.
.PP
Italian sausage is a 'fresh' sausage, \fIi.e.\fR uncured and uncooked.
It must be cooked before eating.  Depending upon where you live, the
less-spicy version of it is called either ``sweet'' or ``mild''.
When I'm really ambitious I make my own (that doesn't happen often!). 
The only ingredients are pork (about 20% fat), fennel seeds, salt,
and a small amount of red pepper flakes, all coarsely ground and stuffed
into natural hog casings.  If you can't find Italian sausage, you might
try a mixture of ground pork with the above seasonings, rolled into little
patties.  To adjust seasonings, just pan-fry a little bit of the mixture
and taste.
.PP
The cheese filling given above (without the meats) is my standard filling
for lasagna, manicotti, ravioli, etc.
.PP
This same recipe can be used to make calzone.  Roll out a small disk of
pizza dough, put a blob of cheese/meat mixture in the middle, fold it over,
seal, and bake.  This is a good way to use up any filling that doesn't fit
into the pie.
.SH RATING
.I Difficulty:
moderate.
.I Time:
30 minutes preparation, 1 hour cooking.
.I Precision:
approximate measurement OK.
.WR
Joe Petolino
Chronon Computer Co., Mountain View CA
sun!chronon!petolino