For traditional short pastry base
300 grams of flour
3 eggs
100 grams of sugar
100 grams of lard
Finely grated zest of 1 small lemon

For the filling
1 container of ricotta (about 500 grams)
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons of finely grated lemon zest mixed in a tablespoon of sugar

For decorating crust
1 cooked hard-boiled egg
1 egg yolk for brushing
1 tablespoon of sugar for sprinkling

Combine the flour with the lard (The lard is Not melted out but kept in the solid form).

Mix in the sugar, eggs and finely grated lemon zest and work into a pastry dough (If the dough is too soft add more flour; if it's too hard add more lard.). Do not over-process the dough, the less it's handled the better.

Divide the dough into two portions.

Shape the portions into balls. Wrap the balls in clear plastic.

Allow the dough to rest at room temperature while the filling is being made.

Combine the ricotta, eggs and sugar. Using an electric mixer (or better yet a blender) mix the ingredients well (The mixture should be smooth and not grainy).

Fold in the 2 teaspoons of finely grated lemon zest mixed in a tablespoon of sugar in the cheese mixture.

Using a rolling pin roll out the first half of the divided pastry dough to about 1/8 of an inch thick.

Place the rolled out pastry dough in a pie dish.

Add the ricotta mixture.

Using a rolling pin roll out the second half of the divided pastry dough to about 1/8 of an inch thick.

Using a ruler as a guide cut out 6 pastry strips which will be used for a lattice crust topping. Make the strips about 1 inch wide and 12 inches long.

Cut out another 4 smaller strips -- about 12 inches long by 1/2 inch wide (These smaller strips will be used to attach the boiled egg to the pie crust).

Attach the wider 6 strips to the pie crust, making a nice lattice topping.

Place the boiled egg in the center of the pie, right on top of the lattice strips. Attach the egg to the lattice strips with the smaller pastry strips, making an attractive criss cross design over the egg.

Brush the lattice topping with egg yolk. Sprinkle some sugar over it. *

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes or until the pie is cooked.



* Brushing the lattice topping with egg yolk is not absolutely essential, but it does help hide imperfections one might have inadvertently made

Experts generally describe a "scarcedda" as a ricotta cheese pie that contains an egg and is traditionally made for the Easter holidays in the Basilicata region. However, the world-wide web now has some "scarcedda" recipes that do not contain a ricotta cheese filling -- in fact, the recipes presented as "scarcedda" resemble Molise's braided and coiled Easter logs. The newer type of "scarcedda" recipes contain boiled eggs as do the more traditional ones but they don't contain ricotta which food historians say is a must for the recipe to be a true "scarcedda...." In any case, prior to World War II eggs were rather expensive, so adding eggs to the Easter sweets made them very special. Often, more than one boiled egg was attached. Apparently, it was considered a sign of good luck for a person to get the piece of pie with the egg on it. Back then children loved nothing better than peeling their own boiled eggs. Nowadays, boiled eggs don't have the same appeal (especially to children) so I suppose some cooks color the eggs to make them look more attractive. Obviously, different households have different ways of doing this traditional recipe. Many cooks add cinnamon to the ricotta filling, others add candied fruit. I suppose there are many women and/or men who can make a really great "scarcedda," but I had problems. The traditional "short pastry base" was difficult to get right (A scale might have helped!). Also, for some strange reason (I sure don't know why) this pie is harder to cook in a conventional oven than other similar recipes. The edges of the "scarcedda" burn really quickly as do the lattice strips, especially those placed over the boiled egg (I placed some aluminum foil in these key areas for part of the time the pie was in the oven in an attempt to avert this disaster). The "scarcedda" I made was nice enough, but it took far too much time and effort to want to do one again. Photo: by the contributor.

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