A Savory Pie with Rice and Mushroom Filling

I love pies, savory and not.  For me, they are almost a synonymous of wholesomeness and bring back images of a simpler life connected to the land.  Savory pies have also the great advantage that when they contain both protein and vegetables they are almost a full meal.  It was a long time since I had made a savory pie and thus this Labor Day weekend was the right time for one. 

I decided to look for a recipe from Liguria, the northern Italian region that counts several savory pies (torte salate) among its traditional dishes.  What makes Ligurian pies especially interesting is that no butter is used in their dough even though butter is what the cuisine of Liguria’s neighbor, France, prescribes for pie crust making.    Pies from this part of Italy use olive oil.  I’m wondering whether recipes from Provence, the region of France with which Liguria borders, also use olive oil.  More research is needed.  However, one should not be surprise that olive oil is used to make pie crust in Liguria.  This is not a land of pasture and cattle whereas olive oil is one of the major agricultural products of the region.

I’m not sure I have ever had pie crusts made with olive oil before.  They always had either butter or lard, or, in this country, shortening (e.g., Crisco).  Using olive oil instead of either saturated (butter, lard) fat or Trans fat (e.g. Crisco) seemed to make my notion of pie wholesomeness more real.  Unfortunately, I think that the healthiness of this recipe might stop at the crust, but it is a first step in the right direction.  The filling is made of rice cooked in milk (low fat in my case), then mixed with onion, mushroom, and cheese.  The original recipe in Ricette di Osterie e Genti di Liguria (Slow Food Editore, 1995) calls also for two tablespoons of cream. I did not have cream in the house and I added a tablespoon of butter instead to give more richness to the filling.  

Pie crusts made with olive oil don’t have the flakiness of crusts made with shortening or even butter.  However, by using multiple layers of dough as this recipe does, the crust is not one-dimensional and at the same time it is lighter than a butter crust, which is a point in its favor when you have a rich pie filling.  The final result got strong nods of approval by all those who had the opportunity of tasting it. I’m sure you’re going to see more pie recipes on this blog in the near future.

Please note that I have used an electric mixer to make the dough.  I like using the electric mixer  because it leaves your hands free and clean to handle the other ingredients. Of course you can make the dough by shaping the flour into a well on the table or in a large bowl and slowly incorporating the other ingredients.

Savory Rice Pie (Torta di riso) – makes 8 servings

For the dough:

2 ½ cups (about 10 ounces) unbleached, all purpose flour

4 Tbs olive oil

½ cup water

¼ tbs salt

For the filling:

1 quart milk

1 tbs salt

1 ½ cup (about 10 once) Arborio, or other short grain, rice

3 Tbs olive oil

1 onion, chopped

½ once dry porcini mushroom, soaked in warm water

1 cup parsley, chopped

½ cup grated Parmigiano cheese

1 egg, beaten

1 Tbs butter

½ tbs pepper

¼ tbs salt

1. In a mixer, add to the flour at slow speed 4 tablespoons of olive oil, one by one.  Add also the water a little bit at a time.  As you add more liquid to the flour, the latter will change from powder to crumbs until finally it holds together.  If the dough is too dry, add a teaspoon of water one at a time.  If it is too wet, add some flour, a little bit at a time, until it holds nicely together.
2. Take the dough out of the mixer and shape into a ball. Wrap it into a piece a saran wrap and let it rest for one hour.
3. Bring 4 cups of milk with 1 teaspoon of salt to a boil in a 2 quarter pot.
4. Add the rice in the milk making sure to separate all the grains, occasionally mixing.  Cook the rice until it has still a byte.  Then remove the pot form the stove and let it cool for about 10 minutes.
5. In the meantime, strain the dry mushroom that you had previously soaked in warm water. Warm the olive oil in a pan. Sauté the chopped onion in the olive oil until it is translucent.  Stir in the mushroom and the parsley, and cook the mixture for about 10 minutes.
6. Mix the onion and mushrooms into the rice.  Add the grated cheese and quickly stir in the egg so that it does not scramble.  Finally, add the butter and season the filling with salt and pepper.  Set it aside.
7. Pre-heat the oven at 350F.
8. Oil a 10 inch pie dish.  Sprinkle some flour on a clean table surface.  Cut the dough into four parts.  Take one section of dough and, with a rolling pin, stretch it to a thin disk large enough to cover the bottom and the sides of the pie dish. 
9. With the help of the rolling pin move the disk of dough from the table surface to the pie dish.  Brush some oil on the dough.  Lay another disk of dough over the first.  Pour the rice mixture in the pie dish and press it to cover all the dough in the pie dish.  Cover the filling with another disk of dough, brush it with some olive oil, and repeat the same steps again with the last disk of dough. 
10. Make sure the top two disks of dough fully cover the pie dish.  Stretch the dough if necessary and seal the pie by pressing the dough against the brim of the dish.  Cut the dough that hangs out of the pie dish.  Hold a fork with the point of its tines up and press it on the brim of the pie dish.   With the same fork pierce to dough several times to allow for steam out of the pie while it is baking.
11. Bake it at 350F until the top crust starts browning, or about 40-50 minutes. When it is cooked, remove it from the oven, let it cool for about 10 minutes, then slice it and serve it.

BUON APPETITO!