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My father in-law recently gave my husband Jack a priceless treasure – an envelope full of hand-written recipes from his grandmother that are over 100 years old! Among those recipes, was a recipe for an Italian Easter Pie.
As a child, Jack has distinct memories being served Easter pie at his Nanna and Grampa’s house. It’s full of eggs, cheeses, and Italian cold cuts and has a firm crust. This delicious pie is traditionally served at Easter in Italian households as a way to ‘break Lent’ – hence the name – Easter Pie!
There are actually many different variations of Easter Pie – some with 33 layers of crust (one for each year that Christ lived) called Torte Pasqualina and that is made with greens, ham, cheese and hard boiled eggs inside. Ours is a meat and cheese version called Pizza Giana (Giana means “God is gracious” in Italian) – and in fact, there are actually a number of names and variations for this type of meat and cheese Easter pie – all depending on what region of the country your Italian family comes from. There are even some dessert Easter pies!
Our Easter pie is dense, filling, savory and delicious! It’s made with Italian meats and cheeses – all of which are easily found at your local supermarket. You can make a pattern on the crust (we did a cross) for the holiday, or leave it plain – completely your choice!
Sadly, Jack’s grandmother’s old handwritten recipe was battered and yellowed to the point of not being fully-legible. So this recipe also draws inspiration from one of our favorite Italian cookbooks, The North End Italian Cookbook
, as well as what Jack could read in the handwritten recipe and his memories of the dish his grandparents made for their family growing up.
You may also enjoy:
- Italian Ricotta Pie
- Italian Easter Bread (Pane di Pasqua)
- Grandma Gennaco’s Beef Braciole
- Italian Tomato Sauce
We love seeing what you made! Tag us on Instagram at @afamilyfeast or hashtag #afamilyfeast so we can see your creations!
Easter Pie
Ingredients
For the Crust:
- 2 ½ cups flour
- 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper (yes I said 1 tablespoon)
- ¼ cup vegetable shortening
- 2 eggs, beaten
- ½ cup or less warm water
- 1 egg and one tablespoon milk for egg wash
For the Filling:
- 1 pound whole milk ricotta
- ½ pound pepperoni, cut into small cubes (don’t use pre-sliced)
- ¼ pound double Abbruzese, cut into small cubes
- ½ pound sopressata, cut into small cubes
- 1/8 pound Genoa salami, cut into small cubes
- ¼ pound fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into small cubes
- 6 hard boiled eggs
- ¼ cup freshly grated Romano cheese
- ½ tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 pound fresh cheese (such as formaggio, queso fresco, or other similar fresh uncultured cheese)
- ½ pound thinly sliced prosciutto
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix flour and black pepper together with a fork. Cut in shortening and mix to pea sized crumbs. Make a well in the center and add beaten eggs and half the water. Mix by hand and keep adding water until a dough forms. (I should note that the traditional crust for this sort of savory pie is a stiff hard crust, not a flaky crust so the next step is contrary to the usual way to make a pie crust but is needed for the crust to be stiff). Knead the dough on the counter for 5-7 minutes, wrap in plastic and let rest for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- While dough is resting, in a large bowl, mix all filling ingredients except fresh cheese and prosciutto. Break fresh cheese apart with your hands and gently work it into mixture without over mixing. Set mixture aside.
- Take 2/3 of the dough and roll out to fit your dish or pan, having it cover the bottom and sides, spilling over the top. Lay half the sliced prosciutto on the bottom right over the dough, then cover with the filling. Lay the second half of the prosciutto over the filling.
- Roll out the other 1/3 portion of the dough and cover the top of the pie, trimming excess. Crimp the edges together tight using a fork to press the two edges together. For the traditional Easter pie, take the excess dough, roll out and cut two dough strips and form a cross on the top of the pie. (Or any other decoration you feel that fits your needs)
- Make egg wash with the egg and milk and brush all over pie top including the cross and the edges.
- Make four slits through pie top to let steam escapes.
- Place in the center of the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Lower heat to 350 and bake for 30 more minutes. Lower heat to 300 and bake for 30 more minutes. If not browned enough, bake for 10 more minutes.
- Cool to room temperature, chill for six hours and serve cold wedges.
- Will last for up to five days refrigerated.
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Hi Martha. My grandparents were born in Italy and every year at this time my grandmother would make “Easter Pizza”. It has become a family tradition and the recipe is passed down from one generation to the next. My mother taught me and I taught my daughter and sons. and now my granddaughters. Everyone looks forward to it and it is shared with family and friends. <3
What a wonderful tradition Brenda and great family memories!! As I get older, more and more I appreciate our old family recipes and I hope someday my own daughter will enjoy making them too! Thank you for writing to us today. Happy Easter!
can this be frozen?
Hi Therese – I suppose any foods can be frozen but it won’t be as good as freshly baked. I probably would not choose myself to freeze this pie…. Hope that helps!
It can be frozen. Wrap it very well and don’t keep it in the freezer for too long.
Thanks Alice!
If we have leftovers we freeze and reheat in the toaster oven for breakfast. I’ve also frozen a whole cooked pie for family that couldn’t attend the celebration so we could bring it next time we saw them.
Thanks for the suggestions Lisa!
This looks delicious, very similar to Timpano! Can’t wait to try this. I’ve made Timpano in my dutch oven before and highly suggest that!
Great idea Rachael! Thanks for the suggestion!
Much easier than timpano!
I’m not sure of the spelling, but my husbands family is from Naples, and they always called this a (phonetically spelled ). Shy-own
Thanks Karen! We haven’t heard of that name ourselves from our family recipes and the cookbooks we looked at before making this pie. Very interesting!
This looks so good I really want to try it. I’m a little confused though – are the “whole eggs” hard cooked or are they fresh?
Hi Dianna – Sorry for the confusion. It’s regular, uncooked eggs. I will update the recipe so it’s less confusing. Thanks for writing to us and I hope you enjoy the recipe!
What a great story. I love old hand written recipes. I am trying to collect some from my family to frame as kitchen art. You might try photocopying the recipes that are so faded. Sometimes the copies come out darker than the originals and you can actually read them.
Thanks Sherry – great suggestion! And – I love your idea of framing the recipes as art! Thanks for writing to us today!
This pie looks amazing! My husband would go crazy for all the meats inside it. I’m curious what type of pan you baked it in. It looks like a deep dish pie pan, but what diameter? Do you think I could get away with making it in a cake pan as I only have the more shallow style pie pans?
Hi – We made this in 9-inch round casserole with 2 1/4-inch high sides. I think a cake pan would definitely work – you can really mound the meats and cheeses up in the pan before putting the crust on top. Hope you enjoy the recipe!
I may have to try this for my husband this Easter. He is Italian but does not have any of this type of tradition. Usually we get invited to our neighbors on Holy Saturday for a pasta dish from his Italian traditions.
I found you through your smoothies, and then you got me with that oatmeal cranberry cheesecake square. I too am from southeast MA and love cranberry season.
We’re so glad you found us and I hope you enjoy all of the recipes! Thanks for writing to us this evening!
Thank you so much! My Italian friend thought it was a type of cheese so glad I asked:)
Hi – what is Abbruzese that is called for in Easter Pie? I have searched the web and it just says it is a region in Italy?? Please help. – Dana
Hi Dana – We found it at our local supermarket – and it’s basically a variation of sopressata. If you can’t find either, any hard salami made from ham will work in the Easter Pie. I hope that helps!
I use procuto salami and pepperoni! u have to use cured meats!