The traditional Italian American version of this Easter Ham Pie was something of a “must have” in our house growing up. In fact I can distinctly remember it being my job every year to dice up all the meats in cheese in preparation of the making of it. For Italian and many Italian-American catholics it was often a dish served to break the fast on Easter morning while waiting for the main meal later in the day. For many years my mom would make it and send me mine here in California until I started to make it for myself and our friends here. It goes by several names, such as “Pizza Rustica”, “Pizza Gaina”  and seems that the variations on the name is as abundant as the variations on the dough type; from crisp, flaky, savory pie to doughy pizza style and assorted filling options. Below is my take on this holiday tradition. At the bottom of the page you can some some of the images from the last batches to help frame the instructions