Recipe posted by FDM - Translation by FDM - Go to italian recipe
This is my emergency dish when my parents come to see me and I have not so much time to cook something appetizing at once. So, to avoid the standard offer of cheeses and ham, I turn to this of pie, that can also be prepared early, kept in freezer (already cooked or ready to cook) and take out in case of need. It's practical,
fast, savoury and even quite light if you do not exagerate with butter quantity. What can you ask more?
- For the pie:
- 3 potatoes (or potatoes flakes)
- milk
- 250 gr. ricotta cheese
- 1 egg
- curry (or nutmeg)
- grated Parmesan cheese
- breadcrumble
- butter
- salt
- red chilli pepper
- For the stuffing:
- any kind of cured meat you fancy, such as ham, prosciutto di Parma, würstel
- any kind of cheese you fancy, such as scamorza, Emmenthal, smoked cheese, ewe's milk cheese
For the mashed potatoes, boil, peel and mash the potatoes with the masher, put them in a pot with sufficient milk to obtain a creamy mixture but firm enough, flavour with a pinch of curry (or with the most classical nutmeg), a little pinch of red chilli pepper and mix on low-heat for about 5 minutes. Add a little knob of butter, an abundant handful of Parmesan cheese and salt. If you use potatoe flakes, follow the instruction written on the package using only milk for the preparation instead of the mixture milk/water. In a bowl cream the ricotta cheese, add the egg, mix and combine with the lukewarm mashed potatoes. Add dices of cured meats and cheese, mix well, move the mixture to a buttered heat-resistant breadcrumbs sprinkled pan. Spread the surface with a mix of breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese, butter flakes and cook in pre-heated oven to 180°C for about 40 minutes, until the surface will forme a nicely golden crust (if you want, pass under the grill for the last minutes) or in micro to 500W+grill for about 15 minutes. Let rest a few minutes and serve.
Enriched variant: add grilled aubergines and/or zucchinis (or a mushroom mix flavoured with garlic and parsley in a frying pan) to the stuffing (except with würstel or cooked ham... but this is only my taste!). Make a layer of potatoes mixture, one of grilled vegetables (or mushrooms) and finish with the mixture of ricotta cheese and potatoes; then continue according to the basic recipe. In this case the cooking in micro could ask for some minutes more.
Note that the potatoes flakes can be prepared also in micro, reducing the cooking time. In a pot for micro dissolve the potatoes flakes in the necessary amount of milk, flavour with a pinch of salt, curry or nutmeg according to your taste, and cook in micro to 500W for 6-8 minutes. Mix vigorously and let cool down a while before adding the ricotta cheese.
