I love Easter. Of course I love getting together with my family and really enjoy spending time with them. However, I also love the food. My great aunt Jean would send these miraculous pies to my grandfather's house most Easters, and I always looked forward to them. Their mother, my great grandmother, passed the recipes down, and a few years ago I was able to get the recipes from Aunt Jean. Now I get to make what is potentially my favorite food. My family just calls them both Easter Pie, but they're quite different from each other.
The meat one is also known as pizzagaina and is essentially layers of Italian deli meats and cheese. It's only my second year trying this one out as I just got the recipe from Aunt Jean last year. I had trouble with the bottom crust last year in that it just didn't cook so I did things a little differently this year and pre-baked the bottom crust. It came out much better this time around. I even gave it an egg wash this year, and it really looked rustic and beautiful:
And just look at the inside! mmm salami...
And as much as I love that one, my absolute favorite is the cheese Easter Pie, which is an Italian ricotta cheesecake. It could be because I really only have it once a year, but it's something I really look forward to. I think it's that I have a weakness for ricotta cheese and almond flavoring. Something in me wants to make it more often, but then the real traditionalist in me wants to reserve this specific pie just for Easter and to make a different Italian cheesecake other times of the year. I've actually never made any other cheesecake than this. Hmm sounds like I need to get moving, eh? Anyway, here it is:
Mmm that delicious almond cookie-like crust and the cheese filling with flecks of lemon and orange rind. sigh...heaven in a pie plate.
I'm still on the fence as to whether or not to post the family recipes. I'm sure no one actually reads this thing anyway so it wouldn't really matter. But for now, I'll keep them as "available upon request."
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