The following recipe, prepared by Chef Rossella Rago, appears on CookingWithNonna.com.
Ingredients
The Cheeses:
- 3 pounds ricotta
- 1/4 pound provolone
- 1/2 large mozzarella
- 3 large eggs slightly beaten
- 3 tablespoons grated parmesan
The Meats:
- 1/4 pound pepperoni
- 1/4 pound prosciutto
- 1/2 pound genoa salami
- 1/2 pound sweet sausage browned and crumbled
The Dough:
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/2 pound butter, lard or Crisco cut into cubes, then put in the freezer to get ice cold
- 2 large eggs
Directions
- Stir flour, salt & sugar together. Work shortening of choice into flour, mix the eggs in and add as much additional ice water as needed so that the dough comes together.
- Divide part ¾ of the dough into a flat disc, do the same with the other ¼, wrap in saran and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Use an 9 or 10 inch inch springform pan, using the larger amount of dough for bottom & sides, ¼ for the top.
- Fill with the cheese/meat mixture, but don’t pack or compress it, nevertheless making sure that there are no air bubbles in the filling.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 1½ hours.
Serves: 8
Note: To simplify making the pastry, try this method: Freeze two sticks of butter, and grate them using the largest holes of a box grater, or a large holed Microplane paddle grater. Make sure you flour both sides of the grater, and frequently fluff the flour and the butter to keep it from clumping. I make this in a 10 inch springform pan, but you can make two regular pies with this amount of filling, though you might have to make 1 1/2 times the recipe for the crust. You will have to use additional liquid in the crust, and you can use either wine or water for the additional liquid.
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