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Pizza Rustica was the way my grandma made it. She was from Naples. She used all cheeses plus homemade ricotta which she made. My mother used ricotta as well but she came from Palermo Scicily! I loved those times as a kid.
I couldn’t watch this video all the way. She reminds me so much of my wife. I met her in while in the service in 1972 in Roman, we where married in 74. I’m a black American. She was fun, excitable and exclusive. We opened each other’s eyes. I lost her to breast cancer in the late spring of 1990. She gave 2 Beautiful children and they have give us 5 beautiful grandchildren, 2 are her twins, 1 girl and 1 boy. I never remarried or dated. You take good care of your best friend my friend. I visit my wife every day, rain, snow, shine. She never did lean to speak English well. I sometimes would on purpose poke just to watch her talk with her hands all over the place and say things in Italian with a red face and smile. I don’t know why I’m saying this. Take good care of her. You only get 1.
Thank you for sharing this with us ❤ I can see just by reading your comment, so full of tenderness, how much she means to you and how much love you still have for her. I'm glad you are surrounded by a big family you built with her. Sending you a hug and wish you the best.
A very emotional story ! What area, what region of Italy did your beloved wife come from ? PS: I send you a big hug here from Italy and wish you all the best ! 🇮🇹👋
How wonderful to have loved so deeply that your love goes well beyond the grave. A tribute to her and a testament to your ability to love fully. May your memories and so many reminders of her around keep that love alive til perhaps one day when you meet again. Thanks for lifting my spirits today.
I remember my grandma making this every year when I was a kid. She got the recipe from My great grandma (from my grandpa’s side) who was from Catanzaro. I haven’t heard about it in years. Guess it’s a sign I need to make it and reminisce of simpler times. 💕
Same here. We always ate it cold but would bring some home and I would throw some in the oven for breakfast. Also "Pizza Dolce" which had rice and chocolate in it.
My family makes this every Easter, so it's lovely seeing a different take on it ❤ Ours is made with an unleavened crust with potato in the dough, and we do make the ricotta version. We also layer our cheeses and sliced meats instead of mixing it all together. Also, I know it's probably just a my-family thing, but we've actually got quite a few traditions associated with ours: the pizza is made only on Good Friday to be consumed no sooner than noon on Holy Saturday after it is blessed, and it is considered immensely bad luck to eat it beforehand! Our dough excess is usually made in the shape of a snake and put on the top as a sort of reminder. Now, I’m not a superstitious fellow, but let’s just say I’m not about to risk invoking the wrath of the nonnas of ages past 😜
Eva is a dough artiste. I always sigh at the sight of her resting dough, because it's beautiful. I would like to impart just how much work it takes to get a dough that perfect.
I remember posting on this channel a while ago about this! My family in Naples called it Torta Rustica. It's one of those dishes that tastes even better cold.
Grandma would win, hands down by the men in the family I was lucky enough tobget her recipe by sticking by her while she made it and had her put the ingredients into a measuring cup and writing it down. Some 50+ years later I still have it.
My mom and her family made Pizza Chiena pronounced Pizza gain, like gain weight which you will do if you eat a lot of this. Hers was with ricotta and it was consumed for breakfast, lunch, a snack or a dinner appetizer. She also added crumbled sausage and hard boiled egg. Her family was from Basilicata, Campania’s mountain neighbor.
yep. same. What is annoying is how Harper keeps saying GYNA. Everyone knows it is GAIN-A just like its spelled, an outshoot of Chiena without the CHI (k) sound. Immigrants talk fast and then pass it down and generations sound it a little different.
@@rosannapizza6402 He is pronouncing it the way it's spelled though. He's just assuming it's an Italian word. The ai dipthong in Italian gets pronounced in the way he's saying it.
La primavera è il momento dei piatti di "recupero" cioè dei piatti che servono per svuotare la dispensa. Con quel che resta del prosciutto, del salame, dei vari formaggi si prepara un piatto festivo, ricco di sapore. Brava Ava! Grande equilibrio e bellissima manualita' in cucina. Great! Complimenti per i video!
Think I'll be doing this one 😋 Have you guys ever thought of releasing a recipe book? I would definitely buy it, and I am sure many of your viewers would. 👩🏽🍳
Tears started to roll down my face when Eva sliced this in the intro. This brought back so many memories for me that I could almost taste it! Thank you dear Eva❤️
Yeah! It’s an Easter thing in most Italian families ! From the time I was 8yrs old till I was 23, my aunt and uncle next door paired with Mom and Dad, cost wise and work wise, and made Pizza Gaine, (gain) the week before Easter. Table was full of all kinds of cold cuts, eggs, pastry crust, etc and put into 9x11 pans. Ooooh the aroma! Cold cuts were bought in 1/4” to 1/2” pieces so they could be cut into cubes. Come Easter, we could finally eat it. It’s good for snacking, breakfast, whenever! I love it. Cheese as a lot to do with the flavor! I’ve carried the tradition now and sorry I only make it for Easter. Don’t forget the ricotta/rice pie too. Wonder if Ava has a recipe for pastaciotta as well! Mmmmmm, so good for dessert!
Omg, I love you both soooo much! My grandmother used to make this for me! She even sent it to me when I was in the military. The recipe was lost after she passed away and I have always been looking for it ever since. I'm so happy I could cry!
My Campania grandmother made the crust with flour, eggs, salt, water, and crisco, no yeast. The filling was with salami, prosciutto, American cheese, (all through the grinder together, in chunks not slices) and eggs and ricotta. Then brushed an egg yolk on top to make it beautiful and shiny. I’ve had people make it heavier on the egg, which tasted very breakfasty.. chopped ham, chopped pepperoni, all different ways, every household had their own recipe, and the best was always your nonna’s.
Agreed. It was whatever cheese you had. My grandparents recipe was just ham and they used jack cheese. In the US, it wasn't easy to get the proper cheeses, especially when poor, so you used what was available.
Agree! My family always used ricotta and more of a pasta frolla crust rather than a leavened dough. The only difference was that we layered our meats and cheeses rather than grind everything...although that sounds quite interesting...maybe I'll try that next year!
@@charlesa3374 I tell ya my Cuisinart makes quick work of it. The dough hook for mixing the crust dough. I have the grinder attachment for the meat and cheese. Grind that right into the mixing bowl, and add the ricotta and eggs right in and hit it with the paddle attachment. I made one start to finish after work last night.
@@chrismazz75 I make a lot of sausage throughout the year and have quite the grinder with numerous blades. Thinking for this recipe, I'll use the very coarse blade and continue with what you suggest! Thanks for the heads-up!
Thank you Ava I have been waiting for this recipe! My Nonna used to make it for Easter in her bakery! I had all the ingredients right and needed the dough recipe!!!!! ❤❤❤❤ ❤️🕯🙏to you and Harper!!!
My family made this every Easter. I never knew how to spell it. Thank you! When I was dating my future husband, he invited me to meet his family on Easter. He asked me to make pizzagain to impress them. I did and took it on an airplane! When I brought it to his family, they had no idea what it was. I was meeting his family on his mother's side, and it was his father's family that made this on Easter. It turned out he just wanted to have this traditional Easter pie again!
Thank you Eva for the etymology lesson. I think I could learn not only to speak Italian from you, but to read and write it too! Much respect from am English teacher. Grazi
Ahh, the coffee was bitter. This means you may have not cleaned up the edges well in the coffee compartment (I will call it that because I can't remember proper name right now) or you used too high of a temperature, or you left it on the flame for too long.
Never heard of this dish. Looks fabulous! And super versatile with ingredients. Think it will be my next big fail until I figure out the dough game. tnx--great episode.
Thanks for doing a video of pizza chiena/torta rustica! My husband's family in South Jersey made this with 3 different fillings every Easter and we still do it in our house. They are Abruzzese/Calabrian/Siciliano background, and it was called something like "pizza cain." The crust they used was slightly sweet with that same thick, soft texture. Fillings were various combinations of ricotta, provolone, pecorino, parmigiano, eggs (both raw mixed into the cheese and hard boiled), parsley, and sometimes various meats such as prosciutto or sausage. His Mom's handwritten recipe cards with all the versions from the family are revered and guarded! When we serve it to friends their eyes get really big, and I always say just think of it as a quiche on steroids :)
As a matter of fact... I haven't seen a Pizzarustica in years since my mom passed. And yes, pie crust is better than dough! It's a very Easter dish here in America let me tell you lol
I made this last Easter for our family meal - not only did everyone love it, I was told it would make an appearance again this year, and I might not need to wait for Easter!
Eva, You could easily do a cooking show on your own. Harper, You take it to a whole new level. I know you do so much of the behind the scenes. The videos wouldn't be the same without you. I love watching and learning from both of you! Thank you 🙏
When I was the accountant for the bus company I worked with a bunch of fellow Italian Americans who made this for Easter. Surprisingly, it was one dish my mom didn't make, so I got to be the judge for the pizzagaina wars. They were all good, from the rustica versions like Eva made to the light airy ricotta pies. I didn't settle the disputes... just kept sampling them all. Buona Pasqua!
Hi. Love the channel. I'm 3rd gen Neopolitan. I think I can answer the question about the name pizzagaina. My family called it pizza rustica. One of the things that you need to know about the name is that many Italians that emigrated in the early 1900s were children, very young, or mostly uneducated. Many couldn't read or write. As they adopted English as their language many words became bastardized into how it sounded. Throw in some lazy speech along with dialect differences and it becomes a mess. Add to that an English speaking population to which Italian was very foreign and it becomes a bigger mess. Prime example, pasta fasoule which is actually pasta e fagioli. Hence, pizza chiena becomes pizzagaina. Hope that helps. Happy Easter!
WE LOVE EVA!!!!!! Does she actually know off all these recipes, or does she sometimes research these more obscure ones? In my fantasy, she just has a rolladex in her mind which she can just access when needed! hahaha
Buona Pasqua! My sister would make these pies every Easter....along with various other Italian delicacies that she was so expert in creating. She's gone now, and I decided to take up the mantle for our family....using your instructions of course. My pizza chiena just came out of the oven, and if I do say so myself, it looks pretty good, but I won't taste it until Sunday (Easter). BTW, the "nonna method" of measurement you used in the video brings me back to the time when my mother would ask my great aunts how to make something, and they would say something like, "You add flour until the dough feels right." This brought about much consternation on the part of my mother, as she was looking for something a bit more precise. Eventually, she found a method of her own to recreate, and even improve on, each of those "nonna" delicacies.
CIAO EVE thank you for this episode it brought back memories of making this dish with my mom and sister s every Easter. I was born in Avellino Italy so once again thank you from the bottom of my heart
I’m from upstate ny, I had this many times around Easter! I never knew the name but growing up with Italian words that morphed into another thing it makes sense! For example capocollo became cubbagal lol!
it is called pizzachiena ( pizzakiena) and is original from campania. the base is a simple shortcrust pastry, my mother makes it with flour, lard, salt and a little milk. the filling is made with eggs (both egg white and yolk), primosale cheese and dry sausage. nothing more
It feels weird that there was no tomato in there... I'm not sure why....is that just me or? It would probably be great with some veg like tomato, onion and green pepper, for example.
Anytime I have a flour recipe with lard I always whip the heck out of the lard in my KitchenAid. Got into the habit after learning how to make tamales…..
Awesome video. I've been making mine like a fritta. My mother in law would make Easter pizzas. Hers was like a dough filled sausage and cheese. More of a pie. They're are so many versions. I make what my husband will eat. 🤤😋☺️☺️☺️💙❤️🫶🫶🌸🌸
Buona Pasqua Eva and Harper.THANK YOU for bringing back GREAT memories from my childhood.I miss the GREAT holidays we would cook.My family would cook on 3 floors.I was the only kid out of us that would help.Why because I new i would get to sample everything.Eva my MOM was short to 4ft 9in.
My dear mother in law made this every single year at Easter since I can remember. It was heavenly perfection! And brings back very dear memories! Thank you 😊
I could write so much on this. This was my family tradition every Easter. From the ritual shopping to the whole family cooking pizza ghena on Good Friday. Literally dozens of them, pastiera, etc. Thanks for bringing those memories back. Ciao Eva e Harper. Buona Pasqua.
Eva i'm originally from the state of Rhode Island and about 2 weeks before Easter the Italian bakeries there sell rice pies and ricotta pies.They are both delicious and i wonder if you are familiar with those and is there anything similar to those in Italy?
It reminds me of a torta salata. I see very little difference. There is a delicious Easter “pie” from Genova using artichokes that is a favorite of mine. Bertolini makes cooking products in Torino issued small ‘cook books” full of recipes for torte salate to sell products a few years back - and that was my introduction to torte. They take. A bit of work, but they are worth it. I have never heard of this one and was surprised there were no vegetables in it. But that just goes to show the variety of savory torte that exist. Thanks for demonstrating the technique. I had forgotten the amount of work involved - but I remember the delicious end and thinking it energy well spent.
Italian american here. My family has been making our “meat pies” on Good Friday since they came over back in the 30’s. We make it with sliced Italian lunch meat, sliced cheese, and a egg and black pepper mixture. The dough is also heavily peppered pie crust with lard, of course. We layer it together and let it cook for hours. It’s my favorite family food tradition. So good ❤
My pizza rustica is very similar though I do add some ricotta into the filling. I also make the dough from semolina and 00 and use olive oil but no lard ( like a pizza dough)....also in a deep spring form pan. Love to you both! ❤
Oh my goodness! My grandma never made this but I ate it as a girl at Uncle Charlie’s house for Easter! Good memories! I love your videos! Have a happy Easter!
Now that you have made a pizza chiena that's not really a pizza, now try pasta ciotti, which isn't really pasta....it's a small custard filled tart/pie about 3" in diameter. I used to have them as a kid. Not too many bakeries around here (Connecticut) make them anymore...
Another wonderful Easter Pie Eva.Thank you for your recipe. My Grandmother's version she called Focaccia. She filled it Italian Sausage and added Ricotta Cheese. Every Easter and Christmas she prepared this. Your videos bring up some awesome memories of my childhood. 🇮🇹❤️
OH I have to try this version! My grandma always made it with hardboiled eggs which would get really over cooked and rubbery and I never liked it because of this. But adding scrambled raw eggs in before cooking should make it AMAZING! Thank you!
We call it Easter Ham Pie. We put in the Ricotta and also, hard boiled eggs. It’s all good. Thank you Ava and Harper, I feel connected to my family when watching your videos. God bless.
Its an Argentinian pie! We make it all year round, a little different for our Easter festivities, but yes, and always with hard boiled eggs, thats it! Gracias
Really something for when Lent has ended, with all of the things you traditionally were not allowed to eat during Lent. All of those cheeses and cured meats 🤗🤗🤗
My pizza chiena is in the oven right now so it will be ready for tomorrow’s dinner. My Good Friday dinner is a family tradition-pasta and beans with homemade bread. Happy Easter!😊
My family (Calabria & Campagna) made a frittata with Italian sausage and mozzarella for Easter breakfast 😋😋 maybe because it’s a lot easier??? 😂 That looks absolutely delicious tho. 🙌
Everything about this channel is marvelous, love the recipes (and thank you so much for an Easter recipe!). I know it is off topic, but what is Eva's hair care routine? Her hair is absolutely glorious and seems to have grown long in a fairly short period of time. Olive oil? Pasta water? 🤣
I love this. I am extremely interested in learning how Italian American dishes evolved from what Italian immigrants brought to this country into what Americans know today. Also, I am curious if Eva likes any Italian American dishes. I have really enjoyed learning to cook authentic Italian dishes from Eva but I still love Italian American food as well.
Great recipe, it's a lot like my grandmother's recipe so it's nice to know hers was pretty authentic! I inherited her recipe and I'll be making a bunch of these pies for the family this weekend. I'm going to use regular sized pie tins though, one day I'll invest in a spring form pan
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! This was one of the first recipes I asked you guys to do on the channel when I first found you guys many moons ago. So excited to see Eva make it. Now, Harper, all you have to do is have Eva do a Jell-O taste test. I definitely wanna see that..
Ciao Eva and Harper, seeing this video brought so much memories just before Easter, my mother was from Avellino and this was a very traditional dish, we did for every special occasion. My mother used capicollo, friulano cheese, prosciutto and lots of eggs, no ricotta. Her dough was more moist and used for pizza dough covered with egg yoke. Enjoy a pizza chiena. Grazie tanto e Buona Pasqua in Aprile quest'anno. Arrivederci🙏🥰💖✝️
I come from an all Italian, New York family & hrandmothers would make it, my father would make it & now sister & nieces make it at Easter, we call it Easter Pie, my family came mostly fom Naples. Love this, brings back food memories.
