Ham And Egg Italian Easter Pie

[gracey1037]

!/2 basket of Fresh Italian cheese*(about 1/2 pound)

1 cup ham, boiled or baked or even some of the hot hams if you like)Cut into small dice.

6 eggs beaten

Salt and pepper to taste

.

* for those who are not familiar with basket cheese--It's a very moist bland cheese that is usually available only at easter time in most Italian markets and delis. Proper handling is to drain in refrigerator overnight '////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////,before cubing it in small pieces. IT sheds LOTS of milky water. IOf fresh, it has no smell or taste. I actually prefer to crumble rather than dice it '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''just a personal choice.!It is like farmer cheese but not interchangeable

Directions MIx crumbled cheese and diced ham, S&p to tastei nto well blended eggs. Pour into 9 or 10 inch pie plate

Bake in a 350 oven for about 45 minutes until set . Leave a dime size somewhat jiggly in the middle.leave to set up when out of oven.

Now for crust, For years used many bad pie crust recipes.this year I used one found on this site. Easy, simple and good!!!

Go to recipezaar.com and type in44487 in search. Make some minor changes inthis pizza crust recipe. Instead of Italian seasoning, I used Ground black peeper, to taste between 1/4 and 1/2 tsp. put in dough as you would seasoning.I also used brown rice flour. worked great. We make this for pizza every week.. I patted it out in pie plate and pre baked for 10-13 minutes. JUst keep it light in color. What a forgiving dough. Enjoy and Happy Holidays.

Fill, bake and eat!!

[Juliebove]

Interesting! I have seen reference to that type of cheese before but didn't know what it meant. I live in an area where there aren't a lot of Italian people. My husband is Italian though and his family makes an Easter pie. Theirs is different though including a variety of cheeses including tuma, but they seem to simply throw in whatever cheese they have around rather than follow the recipe to the letter. I think it also includes mozzarelly, ricotta and parmesan. And there is more meat in it than just ham. Also has sausage and pepperoni. And ditalini pasta. Some of his relatives make it with a crust but most do not. I can't say that I care for the stuff. Too rich and greasy for me.

[gracey1037]

sorry left out an ingredient. Recipe needs 2-3 Tablespoon of grated parm or romano cheese. Careful on adding salt to taste because of the cheeses. . You are so right, there are as many recipes for Easter Pie as there are Italians. The secret is the region the family came from originally. I have made it with sausage, and some use salami, abbruzzi and on and on. I think it's funny that it took me 20yrs + to find a recipe that was workable for my hubbie. Why? Because we owned an Italian deli for all those years and I made about 125 + each year to sell. Poor guy, the story of the cobblers kids who had no shoes? we also made rice Pie and 2 kinds of ricotta pie for sale. And this from a little irish girl who couldn't cook when she got married.