Italian sweet pie crust dough

For home-made tagliatelle
Eggs
Flour
A touch of oil

For the filling
2 containers of ricotta [450 grams each]
6 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 pound uncooked tagliatelle, cut into very tiny pieces
Finely grated zest of 1 large lemon
1 shot [1 1/2 ounces] of dark rum or Strega liqueur

For egg wash
1 whole egg, beaten

Equipment needed
A long rectangular baking pan

For the tagliatelle

Make tagliatelle using flour, eggs and a touch of oil.

Cut up the strips of tagliatelle into very small pieces (about 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch).

Cook the tagliatelle. Cool.



Make the pie crust dough using a favorite recipe for an Italian-style ricotta pie with lattice topping.

Divide the dough in 2 parts, one much larger than the other.

Roll out the larger dough and place on a well-greased rectangular pie-friendly pan -- cut it to size (do not leave any dough for the edges).

Use the remaining dough to make lattice strips.

Make the filling, by first beating the eggs, and then adding the remaining ingredients.

Place the filling on the bottom pie crust (The filling should be about 1 inch high -- it will increase in volume while it is baking).

Cover the top of the pie with lattice strips. The lattice strips do not have to be connected to the bottom pie crust, they simply have to reach the end of the baking pan.

To ensure the lattice strips stick together one can brush the bottom strip (where it crisscrosses with the top one) with a dab of lard.

Brush the lattice strips with some beaten eggs.

Cook in a moderate oven until ready (about 40 minutes).

Cool.

Cut into small squares or rectangle pieces and serve.

Mrs. Angela Giulione notes that in her hometown people made ricotta pies with rice or with cut-up pieces of tagliatelle. Often, home cooks made tagliatelle for the Easter holidays, and had left over dough. They dried up the dough a little, and then cut the dough into very small pieces to use in their ricotta pies. The use of pasta was both practical and economical. While most home cooks had to buy rice at a local store, the pasta they made often originated from wheat they themselves had harvested. In any case, the addition of the pasta or the rice in the filling simply ensures that it is thick enough and won't leak. Besides that, the addition of the pasta and the rice in the filling also decrease the cost. Also, by making the pie in a rectangular form and by not pressing the ends of the dough together one not only simplifies the process of making the pie but it also ensures as Mrs. Giulione noted that no part of the dough is wasted as that area of the pie crust often gets burnt and has to be thrown out). In addition by making the pie into a rectangular shape one can cut smaller pies than if one were making it in a round pan. The smaller square pieces of pie are also more attractive than the triangular ones. As Mrs. Angela Giulione does all her baking "by eye" she was unable to give the exact measurements to the ingredients needed (She herself uses rice in her pie, not pasta), but nonetheless anyone who has made a ricotta pie should be able to use pasta noddles rather than rice, and should easily be able to make a rectangular-shaped pie, rather than a round one. Actually, the lady who took the photo, Mary Melfi, prefers rectangular-shaped Italian ricotta pies to the American-style round-shaped ones. They're easier to cut, and easier to devour.

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