Recipe: Italian Holiday Pie and Traditional Italian Meat Pie

ITALIAN HOLIDAY PIE

1/4 lb. pepperoni, diced
1/4 lb. ham, diced
1/4 lb. salami, diced
1/2 lb. Mozzarella cheese, diced
1/4 cup grated Romano cheese
7 large eggs, stirred or very lightly beaten
Pastry for double crust pie (homemade or refrigerated)
Egg white, beaten (for brushing on top)

Dice first 4 ingredients, add grated cheese. Add eggs to meat mixture. Stir, then pour into pie crust. Add top crust and brush with beaten egg white.

Bake at 350 degrees F approximately 40 minutes or until crust is golden and pie is firm. Cool slightly and refrigerate.

Serve cold as an appetizer.

Source: Cookbook USA (original source not listed)

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TRADITIONAL ITALIAN MEAT PIE

10 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup Romano cheese
1 tablespoon whole peppercorns
Chopped fresh parsley (to taste)
FOR THE CRUST:
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon baking powder
FOR THE PIE:
1 pound Muenster cheese, sliced
1 pound salami, (Genoa), sliced
1/2 pound ham, sliced or cubed
1 egg, beaten (for brushing top)

Beat 10 eggs, Romano cheese and pepper together; stir in parsley. Set aside.

TO PREPARE THE CRUST:
Make circle with flour and salt. Add 2 eggs, water and oil; knead to form dough.

Divide dough in 2 and roll like pie crust, one to fit bottom and up sides of 13x9x2-inch pan and the other for the top crust.

TO ASSEMBLE AND BAKE:
Place 1 crust on bottom of 13x9x2-inch baking pan and up side of pan. Make layers of salami, cheese, pepperoni, ham, etc., until you end with ham. Pour half the egg mixture in center, then pour the rest. When done, place other crust on top.

Beat 1 egg; brush on crust on top. Pinch edges with fork to seal.

Bake at 325 degrees F for 1 hour. Cover edges with foil they get too brown before pie is done.

Dear Kathy,

I'm sorry about the loss of your mothers. Here are two pie possibilities for you. Would you believe I actually looked through all of my Italian cookbooks (over 50!) and couldn't find the recipe you described. But I was able to find one recipe on a CD that I have and another on the Net. Maybe if you omit the cheese and do some tweaking you get one of them similar to your mother's.

I'm sure your mother would be pleased and proud that you want to carry on the tradition. Just a suggestion, if you haven't tried it already, you may want to contact any friends of hers, neighbors or relatives that may have cooked with her or were in the kitchen with her while she cooked to ask if they remember any details. One of them may have written down the recipe.

Wishing you all the best,

Betsy