Italian Easter Pie Recipe
Italian Easter Pie tastes great. Italian Easter Pie must be tried by eggs lovers. Italian Easter Pie tastes better with olive oil
Ingredients
For the pie dough:
Generous 2 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
Scant 1/2 cup olive oil
For the filling:
1 lb spinach
1 Ib Swiss chard or silver beet
1 medium sized onion
1 1/2 tbsp butter + 1 1/2 tbsp oil
9 very fresh small eggs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 small clove garlic, finely chopped
1 1/2 tbsp finely chopped fresh marjoram
Generous 1 cup ricotta cheese
Extra oil for greasing
Salt and pepper
Directions
Begin by making the olive oil pie dough: sift the flour with a pinch of salt into a large mixing bowl.
Make a well in the center and pour 1 cup boiling water and the oil into it.
Gradually stir all this liquid into the flour then knead for about 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth.
Divide into 6 pieces of equal size and shape each into a ball; place these dough balls in a single layer in the mixing bowl and cover with a clean, damp cloth.
Leave to stand for 1 hour.
While the pie dough is resting, make the filling: remove the stalks, wash the spinach and Swiss chard or beet leaves well, and blanch both types of leaf vegetable in a large pot of boiling, salted water for 5 minutes.
Drain, leave to cool, then squeeze out all the moisture and chop finely.
Peel the onion and chop it very finely; sweat in the butter and 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil in a covered saucepan over low heat until wilted and tender.
Add the chopped spinach and chard leaves and cook, uncovered, for 5 minutes, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon.
Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
Break 5 of the eggs into a large mixing bowl and beat lightly, seasoning with a little salt and freshly ground pepper.
Stir in the Parmesan cheese, the garlic, marjoram, ricotta, and the spinach mixture.
Preheat the oven to 475°F.
Grease a 10 in fairly shallow cake pan with a little olive oil.
Have a couple of drinking straws handy to "inflate" the pie shell.
Take a dough ball out of the bowl and keep the rest covered.
Flatten it with the palms of your hands, carefully pushing and pulling it into a very large, thin circle and use this to line the base of the pan, allowing for an extra 3/4 in up the sides.
Press the dough against the lightly oiled surface and brush lightly with olive oil.
Repeat this operation with a second dough ball, placing the circle on top of the first one, pressing the spare pie dough against the sides of the cake pan, and brushing its surface with oil.
Do the same with a third ball, but do not brush the surface with oil.
Spread all the filling in a very thick, even layer on top of the third layer of pie dough.
Press the back of a large wooden spoon gently down into the filling to make 4 evenly spaced shallow hollows and break an egg into each one.
Season each egg with a little salt and freshly ground pepper.
Make another circle out of the fourth dough ball, place it carefully on top of the eggs and filling, and press the margin against the sides of the cake pan just as you did before but this time insert a drinking straw at one point as you do so.
Brush the surface lightly with oil.
Repeat this process with the last two portions of pie dough, but do not oil the surface of the last, topmost layer.
Blow gently down the straw to introduce as much air as possible between the filling and the layered pie lid.
Seal the little aperture by pressing it against the inside of the cake pan as you remove the straw.
Run a knife between the inside of the pan and the upper edges of the pastry layers, then roll these over, away from the edge of the tin; pinch them or press with the tines of a fork to seal.
Make a well in the center and pour 1 cup boiling water and the oil into it.
Gradually stir all this liquid into the flour then knead for about 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth.
Divide into 6 pieces of equal size and shape each into a ball; place these dough balls in a single layer in the mixing bowl and cover with a clean, damp cloth.
Leave to stand for 1 hour.
While the pie dough is resting, make the filling: remove the stalks, wash the spinach and Swiss chard or beet leaves well, and blanch both types of leaf vegetable in a large pot of boiling, salted water for 5 minutes.
Drain, leave to cool, then squeeze out all the moisture and chop finely.
Peel the onion and chop it very finely; sweat in the butter and 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil in a covered saucepan over low heat until wilted and tender.
Add the chopped spinach and chard leaves and cook, uncovered, for 5 minutes, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon.
Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
Break 5 of the eggs into a large mixing bowl and beat lightly, seasoning with a little salt and freshly ground pepper.
Stir in the Parmesan cheese, the garlic, marjoram, ricotta, and the spinach mixture.
Preheat the oven to 475°F.
Grease a 10 in fairly shallow cake pan with a little olive oil.
Have a couple of drinking straws handy to "inflate" the pie shell.
Take a dough ball out of the bowl and keep the rest covered.
Flatten it with the palms of your hands, carefully pushing and pulling it into a very large, thin circle and use this to line the base of the pan, allowing for an extra 3/4 in up the sides.
Press the dough against the lightly oiled surface and brush lightly with olive oil.
Repeat this operation with a second dough ball, placing the circle on top of the first one, pressing the spare pie dough against the sides of the cake pan, and brushing its surface with oil.
Do the same with a third ball, but do not brush the surface with oil.
Spread all the filling in a very thick, even layer on top of the third layer of pie dough.
Press the back of a large wooden spoon gently down into the filling to make 4 evenly spaced shallow hollows and break an egg into each one.
Season each egg with a little salt and freshly ground pepper.
Make another circle out of the fourth dough ball, place it carefully on top of the eggs and filling, and press the margin against the sides of the cake pan just as you did before but this time insert a drinking straw at one point as you do so.
Brush the surface lightly with oil.
Repeat this process with the last two portions of pie dough, but do not oil the surface of the last, topmost layer.
Blow gently down the straw to introduce as much air as possible between the filling and the layered pie lid.
Seal the little aperture by pressing it against the inside of the cake pan as you remove the straw.
Run a knife between the inside of the pan and the upper edges of the pastry layers, then roll these over, away from the edge of the tin; pinch them or press with the tines of a fork to seal.
