Pie #14- Ricotta Pie April 5, 2010

 Happy Easter!

Last week when I got my idea to do an ricotta pie, I originally had it in my head I would be doing some sort of savory egg and cheese-type  pie.  We were to host Easter brunch at our house and what fun to be able to try a new pie on a set of brand new victims! 

I stumbled upon a ricotta Easter pie recipe that I thought I would make.  But as it got closer to Sunday, I started to look more in-depth at the ingredients I needed to purchase from the store. The recipe called for spring wheat.  Now what the **** is that!?  And I needed to soak the spring wheat in water overnight!  This recipe was getting more complicated by the moment. 

After calling a couple of the local grocers and coming up with nothing, I called my friend Theresa and asked her to give me the low-down on ricotta pie.  She and her husband David were trying to bring a ricotta pie back from their recent trip to Boston, but because of time constraints couldn’t squeeze in that errand to the bakery before the plane took off.  Obviously, they had tasted ricotta pie before, so they became the resident experts on the subject. 

So, my question, is ricotta pie savory or sweet?  Well, apparently both.  Theresa and David mostly know ricotta pie as being sweet and similar to cheesecake.  Cheesecake-like, now that’s more up my alley.  I can do cheesecake.  (Did I ever tell you before I started making pies, I was on a personal mission to make the smoothest, creamiest cheesecake in town?) 

Anyway, switch gears.  Chuck the spring wheat, look for something sweet.  Hence, this recipe for Ricotta Pie touches the sweet tooth and doesn’t require random, hard to find ingredients.

 http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sara-moulton/ricotta-pie-recipe/index.html

 Rolling out the dough on my pastry cloth.

 

 Now for the filling.

Yes, you do see (mini) chocolate chips and slivered almonds in there.

 

Personal Notes:

• As far as difficulty, this one rates pretty easy.  Make crust and simple filling, then bake.  No bells and whistles here.
• The recipe I used did not have many reviews associated with it, so I was a bit skeptical about its taste.  When using the internet as a reference, I usually like to read reviews before baking.  Who wants to bake a bad pie?  Too bad there weren’t reviews for Pie #10- Seafood Pot Pie.  I definitely wouldn’t have bothered.  But for all those who have tried this one, you too can add a review to the Food Network website via the link above.
• I did do one MAJOR substitution in this recipe.  It called for candied fruit (along with the chocolate chips).  I just couldn’t do it.  Candied fruit sounds gross to begin with.  I did not want to wreck this pie by adding the candied fruit and turning it into a fruit cake!  Yuck!  So instead, I tried almonds.  Another ricotta recipe I had debated using called for toasted pine nuts or toasted slivered almonds.  Almonds sounded better with chocolate to me, hence the addition.
• I used semi-sweet mini chocolate chips since I had them left over from the topping of the peanut butter pie.   The recipe was not size specific and I can’t imagine it altered the taste much.
• For me, this pie was ok, but not great.  It was cheesecake-like to some degree, but not as smooth and creamy.  Ricotta doesn’t have much taste, it turns out.  I mostly tasted the sugar, chocolate chips and almonds and I kept wanting to taste cream cheese.  The combination and the texture just didn’t work for me.  I give it a 6.5.  And for now, I will keep my cheesecakes with my cheesecakes and my pies with my pies.  If that makes sense.