For the week leading to Easter, all most every post on my Facebook Newsfeed was of my friends Italian Easter Pies. What was more interesting to me, was that no one showed a picture of the inside and no one mentioned what meats or cheese they used. Why are some square, some round, some rectangle? This secrecy led me on a journey to learn all I could about the recipes used for this holiday treat. Since it was also Passover, I couldnt eat any part of this dish, but I still needed to know more! Why did all these people that usually post 100 pictures of their dinner preperations only show one finished picture of their pizzagaina? Why did no one share their recipe? How have I never seen these before or tried it? Do I need to join some secret society I do not know of?
What I learned is that Pizzagaina is not a calzone and it is not a quiche. It is also not pizza.
So what is it? It is like a high class calzone and a fancy quiche married and had a more sophisticated baby. It is made with the best cuts of meat and the best of cheeses into something that is just magical! I also learned that depending on where you lived, what meats were available and what one could afford also came into play in creating ones beloved family recipe. Once I asked my friends, they were more than happy to share what made theirs special and who was the pizzagaina maker in the family. I loved hearing and reading each story. One friend, who does not have her grandfathers recipe, I am going to try and recreate her childhood taste memory before Easter next year!
Once I had an idea of what a pizzagiana was, I needed to of course make one to try myself! Since it was Passover I had a few days to research and prepare. As I mentioned, I started asking my friends for their recipes, or what they would share with me. Some friends families staple in the pie was ham, others didn't use ham and only pepperoni and mortadella, another friend says no to pepperoni and another no to mortadella and another yes to all and more .... Well thank you for all the help friends! I imagine if I listened to everyone my call to the Italian deli would have sounded like 'Hi, I am making a pizzagaina, can you please thick slice 1lb of every Italian meat/sausage/pork product you have? Thank you.' If you are wondering what I did decide to use to make mine, I just decided to go with what I like. So I got proscuitto, pepperoni, hot capicola and soppressata. For cheeses I used ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan and my homemade fresh cheese.
I decided to use a recipe out of one of my mothers cookbooks. I inherited her 4 editions of The North End Union Cookbook, most signed. Since I found my favorite pizza dough recipe in the book, I figured it would be the perfect place to start.
Pizzagaina is definitely decadent and delicious. The recipe for the dough that I used reminds me of what a traditional early American meat pie crust would be. First, it was the easiest dough I have ever worked with. It is very strong and forgiving. It is not a yeast dough and I did see that some friends dough was more pizza doughy and indeed some did admit to also using store bought pizza dough. This dough was perfect to hold in the grease from the various meats used and not get mushy one bit. As I tasted the finished product my first thought was that my mom would LOVE this. She loved eggs, she loved pizza crust and loved italian cured meats. The combination together, well I imagine she would be asking for seconds and thirds! That thought alone makes this a success!!!!
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