Zucchini and Ricotta Pie

Zucchini and Ricotta Pie
Home Cooking



Grocery shopping last week, I loaded up on zucchini. The problem that follows is of course... what to do with it all? I had great success making cabbage pie from Nick Malgieri's 'The Modern Baker' so I thought I'd try his recipe for zucchini and ricotta pie. I had ricotta and onion at home so it seemed like the straight forward solution.



The recipe is pretty easy to follow. It uses the olive oil pastry dough from the cabbage pie so click here to follow the procedure. I made half that quantity (amounts are specified below), which was enough for 2 double crust mini-pies. If you want a 10in double crust pie, you need the full amount of dough from this recipe.

The quantities for filling are enough for 2 mini pies (my pie tin is 11cm across the top and 7.5cm across the bottom). If you want a 10in pie, triple the quantities (but use 4 eggs instead of 3).

Zucchini and Ricotta Pie
Makes 2 mini pies (dimensions of tin given above)

Ingredients:

For the dough

• 1 and 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 tbsp water

For the filling

• 300g zucchini, shredded/grated (I used 3 small zucchini)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/3 medium white onion, thinly sliced
• 310g ricotta
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp of oregano
• 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

Procedure:

1. In a bowl, toss the zucchini with the salt and scrape it into a strainer. Set the strainer on top of a bowl and let the zucchini drain for 1-2 hrs.2. At the end, rinse the zucchini and squeeze out excess water.3. While the zucchini is draining, make the olive oil dough according to this recipe and line your pie tin. Set aside. Preheat your oven to 190 degrees Celsius.
4. In a frying pan, heat up the olive oil. Turn the heat down to medium and fry the onion until translucent and wilted. Add the zucchini and stir until the zucchini is also wilted (about 10-15min).
5. Pour the cooked zucchini into a bowl and season with salt and pepper. It should be slightly over-seasoned to make up for the addition of ricotta and eggs.
6. Add the ricotta, then eggs, oregano and Parmesan one at a time, stirring after each addition until smooth.6. Scrape the filling into the prepared bottom crust and smooth the top. Slide the top crust over the filling and press the edges firmly together. Use the point of a knife to cut vent holes into the top crust.7. Bake in a preheated oven until the crust is a deep golden color and the filling is set (about 25-30min).8. Cool the pie on a rack before serving. It should be eaten at room temperature.


I was a bit disappointed with this pie. The crust turned out lovely and golden - it was crunchy but not as short as I like. The filling had a nice consistency but wasn't as flavorsome as I like. I would recommend increasing the quantity of Parmesan.


All in all, it wasn't a bad pie but it had nothing on the cabbage pie. It could be down to the fact that I don't dig zucchini that much but I don't know... there's just something missing.