Torta Rustica

Torta Rustica is an Italian puffy pie that is filled with meat and vegetables and lots of cheese.. You can serve it as a main course dish in any party. Your friends and family will surely love the delicious taste of this spongy pie.  ]

You can choose any variety of meat and vegetable for this pie as per your preference. All of it just needs to come together as a perfect cake and your job is done!

Health Benefits

Torta rustica is a treat for your taste buds but it is a food filled with high calorie ingredients. Therefore, it should be eaten in moderation if you don’t want to inflict too much damage on your diet!

Ingredients

ricotta cheese: 1 pound

romano cheese: 1 cup

grated parmesan cheese: 1 cup

gruyere cheese: 2 ounces

provolone cheese: 1 1/2 pound

mozzarella cheese: 1 1/2 pound

ham: 5 ounces

salami: 1 and ¼ pound

salt to taste

Pepper powder to taste

Eggs: 4

flour: 400 grams

Sugar: 2/3 cups

clarified butter: 1 cup

Eggs: 2

white wine: 2 tbsp

eggs (For brushing the pie surface): 1

How To Make Torta Rustica

For Filling

1. Take a large mixing bowl.
2. Add ricotta cheese, romano cheese, gruyere cheese, provolone cheese, mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese in the bowl. Mix these well into a fine paste.
3. Now add ham and salami into the bowl and mix them with the cheese completely.
4. Once properly mixed, add 4 eggs into the bowl and again mix everything.
5. Next sprinkle the mixture with black pepper powder and salt and again mix well.
6. When you are done, set it aside until it is needed for assembling.

For Crust

1. Take a large mixing bowl.
2. Pour flour into it.
3. Add sugar, clarified butter, 2 eggs and white wine into the bowl.
4. Knead the mixture until it turns into dough.
5. Divide the dough into two pieces. One should be larger to cover the bottom while another should be smaller for covering the top.
6. Cover both the pieces of the dough in a parchment paper and refrigerate it for a few minutes.
7. After a few minutes, flatten out the bottom dough on a flat surface using dry flour so it doesn’t get too sticky.
8. Do the same with the upper dough.

For Assembling

1. Grease the baking pan with butter and stick parchment paper to the walls of the pan.
2. Now spread the bottom dough inside the baking pan. Make sure it sticks to the bottom and the walls of the pan.
3. Pour all the filling inside the pan.
4. Cover it up with the upper dough.
5. Brush the upper dough with egg yolk.
6. Bake the torta rustica in a pre-heated oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for at least 50 minutes.
7. Serve when it cools down!

Trivia

• Torta Rustica is also known as the Italian Easter pie.

It can be made with only vegetables as well, such as spinach. You can decide which ones to use according to your taste!