Italian Easter Pie

[chimpian]

Hello all,
Every Easter my grandfather makes a pizzagaina, as well as my grandmother in law. But both of them are getting older and its not the same. Both are good but since we have kids we dont get any of it, 2/3 of the kids are lactose intolerant and now the rest of us dont count when something has cheese/milk in it. SO.... I decided to try to make it this year, and suprise both side of the family with it. Problem with this is, I am flying solo and have to wing the recipe. Ive looked aorund online found a few recipes. And figured out what Im going to do and how.
Questions is
Do any of you have this wonderful dish this time of year? whats in it?
pizzagaina is kind of like a pie but HUGE you serve it in wedges.The filing is egg, cheese, and different meats. Its kind of like a heavy souffle. If you are friendly with a ltitle old italian lady chances are she's given you some.

My plan is to make 2 of them
one big one with a crust made of pizza dough with eggs, mozz cheese, ham, persutto(sp), pepperoni.

A smaller one with dough I will make with a filling of eggs, mozz cheese, sweet italian sasuage(cooked, drained cut into slices), ham, persutto(sp), pepperoni.

My hope is that it doesnt suck. I know it wont be like my grandfather makes it or my grandmother in law. But I am looking forward to giving it a shot and hope its a good first try.

Thanks for reading
wish me luck.

 

[ArthurDigbySellers]

Man, you just brought up great memories from my past. My Grandmother (Nonny to me as a kid) made this every Easter and it was amazing. Sadly I have no idea what was in it (besides a ton of eggs and cheese). She passed away in 1998 leaving absolutely no recipes behind just like many Italian grandmothers out there, she cooked by memory and taste.

I'll email my sister and see if she has anything although I doubt it.

As long as what you make isn't horrible, I'm sure your family will appreciate the attempt. I tried to make braciolle once and came sort of close, but never near what my Nonny used to make.

 

[Trollsmeesh]

That sounds amazing, tell us how it goes and if it's good maybe give us your recipe.

 

[Javery]

Wow - memories... My grandmother used to make this all the time (along with the round braided bread with the hard boiled eggs woven in). I bet my mom or sister know how it's done since they can replicate most of my grandmother's recipes. She's still alive but she's in a home and I don't think she'd remember.

 

[cochesecochese]

Prosciutto, not persutto

Never had this (my Nonni is second generation Sicilian) but it sounds a lot like a quiche with a lot of meat. I make frittatas all the time that are pretty close to the filling so it only looks like the crust is the hardest part.

The recipe is quite an undertaking so maybe you could go for a practice run a few days before Easter with cheaper ingredients (maybe just egg, bag cheese and ham/pepperoni) to make sure you grasp the technique. Otherwise you could be ruining a LOT of very expensive ingredients.

 

[chimpian]

ok well i made it on fri and tried it when it was done it is damn good, so says my wife and I.
i made one with pizza dough and one with a dough i made.
the dough I made is close to my grandfathers BUT I think I want it to be flakier next time. also unlike my grandfather's I used whole wheat flour, def different and tasty. The cooked sausage was a nice touch in it and I would definitely do it again. Next time I want to figure out a better dough to use, Id also like to give the inside a bit more flavor, something, not sure what. I had my first taste test with it yesterday with my grandmother in law and my wife's family they all loved it and said it came out really good, but i needed to work on the crust.
Today is my family and my grandfather.
Hoppy Easter and I am glad I brought back some happy memories for you all.

 

[erehwon]

That sounds really good. I'll have to make a note to try that sometime.