Pizza Rustica ~ BWJ

What I had envisioned in my head when I read "pizza rustica" was far from the actual product. I saw a classic pizza dough with olive oil, slices of tomatoes in place of sauce, grated cheese, and fresh herbs. Wow, how different this was! More like a pie, and kind of quiche like. My verdict is that it was good, and I'd make it again in the future, likely playing with the ingredients. My husband and I enjoyed the spinach. My boys however will not. You can find the recipe for it here and here.

I had a really hard time getting the crust to come together. I suppose it was finally time for me to experience difficulty in the rolling out department since my last two tries were almost too easy. It looked like it came together. But when I tried to roll it, it stuck and cracked. I added flour to no avail.

Because I had a serious time crunch since this was my husband's lunch, and I had already pushed it back a half hour. There could be no more wiggle room for the man with the huge appetite. So I put in what I had rolled out, broken and sad, and played with it in the pan until I got the coverage I needed, minus the beauty. I reminded myself this was supposed to be rustic, and pushed forward.

The recipe wanted procuitto, I did not. I also wanted more than just cheeses and a meat. I decided to go with bacon to add some crunch. When the bacon was cooked halfway, I added chopped onion, and once the bacon was nicely crisped I added 3 cloves of chopped garlic. All that went into a bowl and was set aside. Then I removed the water from about a cup of frozen chopped spinach, and mixed it together with the three cheeses. Finally the eggs were mixed in, and my filling was ready to go. The sweet and yet savory aspect was certainly there. My husband even commented on it, he usually has no opinion and just eats everything on his plate. Makes it hard to know what he really likes at times, but he says he liked this. It took about an hour from start to finish to prepare, 35 minutes at 375 degrees to cook, and it took the full 35 minute cooking time to clean up, my least favorite part. This wasn't an easy throw together lunch, but it'll be a nice treat every once in a while.

As ugly as the crust was, it was a great crust. My husband won't know the troubles I had or how hideous it really was until he reads this since it was tucked away at the bottom and didn't lack any flavor. I'll make it again in the future with more time to play with it and figure out what went wrong when rolling it out.