Mommas Italian Pastierra Or Holiday Pie Recipes

PASTIERA (ITALIAN EASTER TART)

Steps:

• Combine cooked wheat berries, milk, butter, and zest of 1 lemon in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring often, until creamy, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease an 11-inch springform pan or aluminum pan and line with one of the pastry crusts.
• Combine ricotta cheese, sugar, eggs, egg yolks, 1 tablespoon orange flower water, vanilla extract, and cinnamon in the bowl of a food processor; mix until smooth. Mix in remaining lemon zest and orange peel. Fold in wheat berry mixture and pour over the bottom crust.
• Roll out remaining pastry crust and cut into 1/2-inch wide strips. Place on top of the pie in a lattice pattern and brush with beaten egg.
• Bake in the preheated oven until filling is cooked through and top is lightly browned, about 1 hour. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack. Cool for about 30 minutes.
• Remove pie carefully from the pan and place on a serving plate. Dust with confectioners' sugar.

PASTIERA NAPOLETANA (NEAPOLITAN EASTER PIE)

Steps:

• In the bowl of a food processor, add the flour and sugar and process a few times to mix together.
• Next add the butter and pulse a few times until the mixture looks like wet sand.
• Add the egg and yolk and process a few seconds more until the dough forms (this should be about 5-7 more pulses). Be sure to not overprocess the dough.
• Dump the dough from the food processor bowl onto a lightly floured counter. Form the dough into 2 disks (one a little larger than the other. The smaller disk will be used to cut the strips for top of pie) and chill in the refrigerator for about 1 hour.
• While dough chills, make the wheat berries and pastry cream.
• Combine the wheat berries with about 2 quarts cold water and the salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then decrease the heat to low and allow the wheat to simmer gently until it is cooked though, about an hour.
• Drain and cool the wheat in a bowl. While wheat berries cool down, prepare the pastry cream.
• Whisk the egg and yolk together in a bowl, then whisk in the sugar and flour. Whisk in the milk and scrape the mixture into a small saucepan.
• Place over medium/low heat and stir constantly until the mixture thickens and comes to a gentle boil. Cook, stirring constantly, for a few seconds after the cream reaches the boil.
• Scrape the pastry cream into a bowl. Immediately whisk in the ricotta until smooth. Whisk in the sugar, then the eggs one at a time. Stir in the orange flower water, candied orange peel, vanilla, cinnamon and the cooked wheat berries.
• When dough is nicely chilled, remove from the refrigerator.
• Roll out the dough between 2 sheets of plastic wrap into a 13-inch round about 1/8 thick. Spray an 11-inch fluted tart pan with removable bottom with baking spray. Gently wrap the dough over the rolling pin and place it over the tart pan; release the rolling pin and let the dough fall into the tart pan.
• Press the dough softly into the bottom of the tart pan. If some of the dough breaks while you press it into the tart pan, that's not a problem. Simply piece the dough together.
• Press the sides of the dough about 1/2 inch up the side of the tart pan. The rim of the tart should be lined with a slightly thicker layer of pastry than the bottom (about 1/4-inch thick). Cut off the extra dough from the sides and keep these excess pieces to make the lattice topping.
• Place this tart pan in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes (or even longer if necessary) to chill.
• When the dough is chilled and ready to fill, remove the tart pan from the refrigerator and prick the pastry bottom with a fork a few times. Set a rack in the lowest level of the oven and preheat to 350 F.
• Spoon the ricotta filling into the prepared crust. Remove the other portion of chilled dough from the refrigerator to make the lattice strips. Use a serrated cutting wheel to cut it into 3/4-inch wide strips.
• Arrange 5 of the strips parallel and equal distance from each other on the filling, letting the excess dough hang over the edge of the pie. Place the 5 remaining strips on exactly the same way, but at a 45-degree angle to the first ones.
• Gently press the ends of the strips to adhere to the edge of the bottom crust. Carefully remove any excess pieces of dough with your fingers or with the back of a knife.
• Bake the pastiera until the filling is set and slightly puffed and the crust is baked through, about 40 minutes. Cool on a rack.

EASTER GRAIN PIE (PASTIERA NAPOLETANA)

Steps:

• In a food processor, combine the flour and powdered sugar; pulse to combine
• Slowly add in cubed butter, pulsing in between each addition to create a crumble
• Whisk together the egg, cold water, and lemon zest and slowly pour the egg mixture into the food processor while pulsing
• Continue pulsing until the dough comes together into a ball
• Remove the dough from the food processor and kneed on the counter until smooth
• Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 hours or overnight
• Remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow it to sit out until it is soft enough to roll out
• Dust the counter top with flour and roll the dough into a 14 inch circle
• Place the dough into a 10" pie pan or dish
• Remove the excess dough from the edge of the pie pan
• Refrigerate the pie dough until ready to bake
• Boil wheat in water with lemon rind for about 1 hour or until wheat is soft
• Allow the wheat to cool completely
• (this can be done the night before)
• In a small sauce pan, combine milk, butter and cooked wheat; bring to a boil
• Remove from the heat and allow this mixture to cool
• In a mixer with paddle attachment, cream together the ricotta cheese, granulated sugar, egg yolks, vanilla extract, lemon zest, orange zest and orange juice
• Add the milk and wheat mixture into the ricotta filling; mix until smooth
• In a separate mixing bowl with whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites until they are soft peaks
• Fold the egg whites into the ricotta mixture and fold until fully combined
• Pour the filling into the unbaked pie shell
• Bake at 350 degrees F for 45-55 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the center is gelled
• Remove the pie from the oven and allow it to cool completely
• Refrigerate until ready to serve
• Sprinkle powdered sugar over the top

MOMMA'S ITALIAN PASTIERRA OR HOLIDAY PIE

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream together sugar and softened butter.
• To this, add egg yolks one at a time alternating between flour also added a bit at a time.
• Add 1 Tbsp.
• water at a time, until all is incorporated and dough is smooth.
• Set aside; and keep in a cool place to rest until ready to roll out while you prepare the filling.
• FILLING: I do all this is a food processor but it can be done with an electric mixer easily.
• Add the cheese, eggs, sugar,*orange water, zest of lemon, zest of orange and mix well until smooth.
• Set aside.
• Mix in cherries and citron by hand.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough 1/4-inch thick and fit into the bottom and up the sides of a 15" round, 4" high cake pan.
• This dough is very forgiving and can be manipulated easily to fit the pan and to patch torn areas.
• If you have extra dough, roll and cutout thin strips to place on top of filling in a lattice pattern.
• On top of dough, cut and place 1/2-inch slices of sponge cake to fit around the bottom of the pan.
• Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top of sponge cake.
• Pour batter into pan.
• Top with lattice strips.
• Preheat oven temperature to 375 degrees.
• Bake for 1-1/4 hours.
• Turn off oven and leave the pie in the oven with door open to cool slowly.
• After completely cooled, dust the top of the pie with confectionery sugar.