Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Cooking with Nonna (Part Two): Nonna's Rustic Pizza

I had good results with my first attempt at using Cooking With Nonna (see my post here). I made Nonna's Four-Cheese Lasagna, and the lasagna was...well, good. 


But I'm looking for spectacular.


So I had to give Nonna another chance.


Spectacular was what I got with Nonna's Pizza Rustica. Oh my goodness. Spectacular deep-dish pizza. Spectacular appearance. Spectacular flavor. 


Here's my (somewhat less spectacular) photo:


Results:  I've made a lot of homemade pizzas in the past, but this pizza was like no homemade pizza I've ever made before. It was a true pizza pie, thick and rich, with lots of cheese flavor. Instead of the suggested meats, I used ham for two pizzas and substituted peppers and onions for a veggie version in the other two pizzas. We loved these pizzas. I will make them again.

Here's the recipe I used:

Nonna's Pizza Rustica

For the Dough:

  • 1 pound all purpose flour
  • 2 large eggs
  •  pinch of salt
  • 1/2 pound butter, cold
  •  milk, as much as needed

For the Filling:

  • 1 pound basket cheese or ricotta cheese
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/4 pound provolone - sharp
  • 1/4 pound mozzarella
  • 4 tablespoons grated pecorino cheese
  • 1/4 pound prosciutto
  • 1/4 pound sopressata
  • 1/4 pound mortadella
  •  fresh black pepper, as desired
  • 1 large egg for the egg wash

Directions

  1. Prepare the Dough:
    1. In a stand mixer, add the flour, salt and the butter cut in cubes.
    2. Let the flour absorb all the butter. Add the eggs and let them mix well.
    3. Add enough milk (about 1/4 + Cups) until you have a firm ball of dough.
    4. Let it rest.
  2. Prepare the Filling:
    1. Cut all the meats and cheeses in small cubes and put in a large bowl.
    2. Add the grated Pecorino and mix.
    3. Add the eggs and mix.
    4. Add the basket cheese and mix well.  Add fresh black pepper as desired. Set aside.
  3. Assemble the Pizza Rustica:
    1. Preheat the oven at 350F
    2.  Butter and flour a 9" springform pan.
    3. Cut a little less than 1/3 of the dough and set aside.
    4. With a rolling pin, roll the large piece of dough in a thin circle.
    5. Place the dough over the springform pan so that it overflows the borders of the pan.
    6. Add the filing and spread it evenly.
    7. With a sharp knife, cut the excess dough from around the border of the pan.
    8. With the remaining dough, roll it thin and with a ravioli cutter, cut strips to make the criss-cross strips and arrange them on top of the filling.
    9. Wet the strips with egg wash and bake for about 1 hr and 15 mins.






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19 comments:

  1. Incredible results of your cooking with Nonna!
    Happy WW!

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  2. Looks yummy and I wish, I could eat it, but I have a celiac and an egg allergy, sigh!
    Seems, since I figured out this, have no moore eaten yummy things - to hell with all healthy foods!
    Greetings from Germany

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  3. Deb,

    I love pizza! These look good, too. I am going to bookmark this recipe to try at some future point. I'd like to do it now but have too much going on to attempt. Thanks for sharing!

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  4. Love these! And I love pizza.

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  5. Have never seen pizza made, with a lattice crust! Very interesting! And your pics do look spectacularly delicious. :-) Yummmmmm....

    Saw your comment, elsewhere. Always delightful to find the blog of a librarian. What better place, to find reading suggestions? :-)

    And I notice your name of course. I spell mine, with an "i"... :-)

    I'm in the upper NE, under the latest Winter Storm Warning. -sigh- Very happy to have library books, beside my chair!!!!!!!!

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  6. Those look amazing! How interesting to have a lattice crust, but I'll be that made them even more delicious. Yumm!

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  7. That looks yummy! What a clever take on pizza. Have a great week!

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  8. Thank you for recip <3
    Have a nice day!

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  9. looks absolutely mouthwateringly GOOD!!
    Thanks for your comment on my post too!

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  10. Very yummy ! My husband is Italian and of course loves the Italian kitchen me too !

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  11. All pizza is authentic. But not all pizza is scrumptious! And this really looks scrumptious, no matter where the recipe came from. I love the lattice top.

    best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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  12. Now I need that cookbook! Your pizza looks great, magazine photo worthy for sure!

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  13. What a unique way to make a true Pizza Pie.. looks delicious and sounds like a great cookbook to have

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  14. This looks amazing! And the addition of pecorino I bet really adds to it. I am definitely trying this; thanks for sharing it!

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  15. Your pizza photos made me hungry. I've never seen pizza with lattice crust, but I like the idea. The recipe sounds yummy.
    Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving a comment.
    Sandy @ Writing With a Texas Twang

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  16. hm, think I have to try it, IF I can figure out the recipy in Swedish :)

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  17. Yummy results of your cooking.

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  18. When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie...

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