Italian Riviera Savory Rice Pie

Step 1

For the dough

Step 2

Put the flour in a bowl, add 80% of the water and the tablespoon of oil and start kneading.

Step 3

If necessary add some more water from time to time until the dough is firm and homogeneous.

Step 4

Continue kneading on a surface well dusted with flour for 5/10 minutes. The dough will become more and more elastic this way.

Step 5

Divide the dough in 5 small balls of the same size, cover with a cooking film and leave in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Step 6

For the filling and assembling

Step 7

Boil the whole milk in a saucepan. Add the rice and a generous pinch of salt. Cook over a low heat stirring from time to time until the rice is ¬¬_al dente_. Put out of the fire, pour in a bowl and leave the rice and milk get cold (the rice will absorb the remaining milk getting cold).

Step 8

While the rice cooks, cut in slices a small onion, put it in a skillet with 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and golden over a low heat for 5 minutes or until soft and gold.

Step 9

Grease a cake tin of 24/26 cm (ab 10 inches) with olive oil. Take one of the dough balls from the fridge (leave the other in the fridge) and roll it with a rolling pin or by hands on a surface well dusted with flour . Roll until 1 mm (0,04 inches) thick and wide enough to cover the cake tin and get out of the edges for a couple of centimeters (ab 1 inch).

Step 10

Cover the tin with the rolled dough and grease the surface of the dough with a very thin film of olive oil. Repeat the same operation with other two dough balls remembering to grease with oil the surface of the rolled dough each time.

Step 11

Once the three layers base of the pie is finished and the rice is cold you can preheat the oven and go ahead with the filling: add to the rice 2 egg yolks and 1 white, the golden onions and the three cheeses (ricotta, sour cream and parmesan cheese). If the dough results too firm add a tablespoon of milk. Adjust with salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.

Step 12

Pour the filling in the tin and cover with other two layers of dough finely rolled and greased with oil as above.

Step 13

Once the cover is completed, roll the edges to seal the filling being careful not to leave holes.

Step 14

Cook in the oven at 200°C (425 GF) for about 30 minutes or until the dough will be gold and crispy.