Italian Easter Rice Pie Recipes

ITALIAN RICE PIE I

Steps:

• Beat eggs in very large bowl. Add sugar, mixing well. Stir in cheese and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Add heavy cream and stir. Fold in cooked rice and crushed pineapple.
• Pour into a 9 x 13 inch buttered pan.
• Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for one hour. Check by inserting clean knife into center. If the pie is done, knife will come out clean. Top should be golden brown. Refrigerate until thoroughly cooled.

PASTIERA DI RISO (ITALIAN EASTER RICE PIE)

Steps:

• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix flour, sugar, and baking powder.
• Add eggs, egg yolks and butter. Mix on medium speed until large, moist crumbs start to form (about 2-3 minutes).
• Remove dough from the bowl and with your hands on a smooth surface, gently form the dough into a ball.
• Wrap the dough in saran wrap and place in the fridge for approximately 1 hour.
• Add the rice and water to a pot, and over medium heat, let them come to a boil.
• Once rice and water have started to boil, cook for 8 minutes, stirring often.
• At this point, add the milk, sugar, orange peel and cinnamon sticks.
• Still on medium heat, cook the rice mixture for 30 minutes, stirring often so that the rice doesn't stick to the pot, until the rice is cooked and most of the liquid has absorbed. If rice is cooking too quickly, turn the heat down slightly.
• At this point, remove the orange peel and cinnamon sticks.
• Turn heat down to low, add butter to the rice, and cook for 7-10 minutes until all the liquid has absorbed and the mixture is dense in consistency.
• Add the rice to a shallow square dish, level it out, and cover with saran wrap. Let it cool.
• If your ricotta is very moist and has a lot of liquid in it, drain it with a colander.
• In a big bowl, add ricotta, beaten eggs, fior d'arancio, and cinnamon. Mix with a wooden spoon or whisk until all ingredients are combined.
• Once the rice mixture has cooled completely, add it to the ricotta mixture, slowly, a few spoons at a time. Mix with a wooden spoon until the rice is fully incorporated into the mixture. Set the filling aside.
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease your pie dish with butter, and then coat with a thin layer of flour.
• On a floured surface, roll out the dough a few times to soften it. Then roll it out until it's about 1/2 cm thick.
• Transfer the dough to the pie dish, and cut off any hanging edges. Fill with the filling.
• Decorate the top of the pastiera with a lattice design. The lattices should sit gently on top of the dough.
• Bake the pastiera for approximately 60 minutes, or until edges are golden. Let the pastiera cool and come to room temperature, top with powdered sugar if desired, and enjoy!

ITALIAN RICE PIE II

Steps:

• Stir the flour and baking powder together in a bowl; set aside. In a second large bowl, cream the butter and 1/2 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in 3 eggs, one at a time, and stir in the vanilla. Gradually beat in the flour mixture to make a soft dough. Divide the dough in half and shape into two balls. Working on a lightly floured surface, roll out each ball to fit two 10 inch pie plates. Line the pie plates with the crust, and refrigerate until needed.
• Bring the water to a boil in a saucepan, and stir in the rice. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 20 minutes. Stir in the milk. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens. Set aside to cool.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• Meanwhile, beat the ricotta cheese, 1 1/2 cups sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and 6 eggs together in a mixing bowl until smooth and frothy. Stir in the cooled rice mixture until evenly blended. Pour into the pie shells.
• Bake pies in preheated oven until the filling is set and tops are golden brown, about 90 minutes. Cool on racks.

EASTER RICE PIE

Steps:

• 1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a 9.5"-10" deep dish pie dish with dough. (Recommend deep dish (2") as this is a lot of filling and will come very close to top.)
• 2. Beat together sugar and ricotta. Add eggs one at a time and beat until incorporated.
• 3. Add half & half, vanilla, lemon juice, and 1 dash of cinnamon. Mix well. Stir in rice.
• 4. Pour filling into crust and sprinkle lightly a dash of cinnamon on top. (Photo in this step is of the filling in a 9.5" x 2" pie dish. It will not overflow while baking.)
• 5. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Lower temp to 350 degrees and bake an additional 50 minutes. Should be lightly browned on top & may be very slightly jiggly toward the center (will set up when cool).
• 6. Let cool completely. Serve chilled or room temp.

EASTER PIE

Steps:

• Blend 3/4 cup of powdered sugar, eggs, vanilla, orange zest and ricotta in a food processor until smooth. Stir in the rice and pine nuts. Set the ricotta mixture aside.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Lightly butter a 9-inch glass pie dish. Lay 1 phyllo sheet over the bottom and up the sides of the dish, allowing the phyllo to hang over the sides. Brush the phyllo with the melted butter. Top with a second sheet of phyllo dough, laying it in the opposite direction as the first phyllo sheet. Continue layering the remaining sheets of phyllo sheets, alternating after each layer and buttering each sheet. Spoon the ricotta mixture into the dish. Fold the overhanging phyllo dough over the top of the filling to enclose it completely. Brush completely with melted butter.
• Bake the pie until the phyllo is golden brown and the filling is set, about 35 minutes. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool completely. Sift powdered sugar over the pie and serve.

EASTER RICE PIE

Steps:

• Grease two 9-inch pie plates.
• Pulse flour, baking powder, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt in a food processor several times until combined.
• Place butter into the flour mixture and pulse just until butter resembles coarse crumbs. Mix in 1 egg and vanilla extract; process until dough holds together, about 30 seconds.
• Place dough on a well-floured work surface, divide in half, and roll each piece into a 9-inch round crust.
• Fit crusts into the prepared pie plates and freeze for 1 hour.
• Bring water to a boil in a saucepan; stir in rice and return to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook until rice has absorbed the water, about 20 minutes.
• Stir milk into the rice and bring to a simmer; cook until thickened, stirring often, about 10 more minutes. Set rice mixture aside to cool.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• Beat ricotta cheese, 1 cup sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and 6 eggs together in a bowl until smooth. Stir in cooked rice mixture and crushed pineapple until thoroughly combined.
• Divide the filling between the 2 cold pie crusts.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the filling is set and the tops are golden brown, about 90 minutes. Cool on racks.

ITALIAN EASTER RICE PIE

Steps:

• Preheat Oven to 350 degrees and line 2 9" Pie Pans with the crusts, refrigerate and reserve.
• In a large mixing bowl, mix the next 6 ingredients with a large spoon until thoroughly combined (no electric mixers here, it'll ruin the rice).
• Divide filling between 4 prepared pie crusts, sprinkle with cinnamon.
• Bake about 45 minutes or until filling is set in the middle (no longer giggling).
• Allow to cool completely before serving, this actually tastes best when refrigerated overnight.