The answer my friends, is simple. It's all about food, which I talk about constantly.
Part of my Easter tradition growing up was to eat a lot of chocolate bunnies. When I say a lot, I mean at least two a year, three if I could sneak my brother's out of the basket before he realized he had one. After that, we would all pile into the family car and go over to my Grandpa's house where he would have prepared a traditional Italian Easter dish I grew up knowing as Pizza Gain.
This is apparently where all my hits at Easter time have been coming from. A few years ago, I had a longing for Pizza Gain, and posted about it. It was heartwarming, touchy feely and as devoid of crude humor as I ever get. It also included my Pizza Gain recipe for all the world to see and enjoy, and apparently that... among all my hard fought attempts at comedy, pathos, slice of life essays and writing advice... is what interests my fellow travellers on spaceship Earth.
Far be it for me to argue... it's a really good recipe. Here it is again, and Happy "Jesus is A Zombie so let's all eat a chocolate rabbit for some reason" day to one and all:
Rob's Pizza Gain (Pizza Rustica, Italian Easter Pie)
Ingredients:2 lbs of good ricotta cheese (dense, not watery, being the standard here)
1lb of deli ham, cubed (or capicolla if your local deli has it)
1lb of Genoa salami (any hard salami should work... but Genoa has just the right blend of garlic and fat)
9 large eggs
1lb cubed Mozzarella cheese
3 tbs of dried parsley
2 tbs of dried basil
2 deep dish ready-made pie crusts, or 3 regular depth**
1 copy of Dimensional Games or any other one of Rob's really funny books
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. in a large bowl, mix together the eggs and the ricotta. add all the deli meats and cheese, and the basil and parsley. Pour the mixture into the pie crusts and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until the edges turn golden brown. remove from oven and let stand until completely cool before serving. Read the copy of my book that suspiciously found it's way into my ingredients list while you wait. My Mom says that you need to let it age for at least a week... yeah, you just try waiting that long. Even my fun adventure novels won't keep you from digging in for that amount of time.
**Note- Grandpa Ferdinando's traditional Pizza Gain always had a top crust... I have never gotten the hang of making pie crust from scratch, So if you feel up to it, go for it. Don't forget to do an olive oil wash (not egg) and vent the top.
