Pizza Torta

There are some real perks to being pregnant. One is how nice other people are to you. People hold doors for me, let me on the bus first, ask me how I'm feeling, etc. The woman who cleans during the day at work made a special point to stop me in the hall and let me know that if I ever need to use the bathroom to come right in, even if she has it closed for cleaning. It was very sweet of her, although the mental image of my giant belly sliding across a freshly washed floor as I rush into the bathroom will probably keep me from taking her up on the offer. Still, it's nice to feel special, and I'm always grateful to people who make a point to try to make my day easier.

Another perk is eating more. As you might guess from someone who blogs about food for fun, I kind of love food. Being told by my doctor that I should try to gain more weight after an appointment where my weight gain was a little backwards was definitely not a sad occasion. Challenge accepted, doctor. Since I was already eating constantly before, I made the sacrifice and added a lot more rich, fatty foods to my diet. To me, that includes this torta rustica with ricotta, pepperoni, cheese, spinach and black olives. It's rough following doctor's orders sometimes. Like a calzone on steroids, it's a yummy batch of cheesy deliciousness in a pizza dough crust. I love the way the layers look when you cut into the pie, and love even more how wonderful they taste together. It's a recipe that you could easily adapt to your own personal tastes, but this is the way that I prefer to fill it. The spinach layer on the bottom just might be my favorite part. Bonus that spinach is fairly high in iron, so I get to pig out AND get some iron in my diet. Being a good patient is really rough sometimes.

Pizza Torta

Ingredients

• Pizza dough for two medium pizzas
• 8 oz ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 pound fresh spinach, cleaned
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 small can sliced olives, drained
• 4 ounces slices pepperoni
• 1 1/2 cups pizza sauce
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, combine ricotta, egg, oregano and black pepper; set aside. In a heavy bottomed skillet without adding water, cook the spinach over medium heat until wilted, about 3-5 minutes. Add nutmeg and salt and continue to cook until the excess moisture has evaporated.
2. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 9" deep dish pie plate with non-stick cooking spray. On a floured surface, rolled 2/3 of the dough out into a 12" round and transfer to pie plate. Trim excess, leaving a 1" overhang. (You can save the excess to make a decorative braid for the top of the torta if you'd like.) Roll remaining dough into a 10" circle.
3. Spread spinach onto bottom crust and spread the ricotta layer over the top. Add mozzarella, sliced olives and pepperoni in layers. Top with 10" round of pizza dough and fold over bottom crust edges to seal. Using a sharp knife, cut vent holes in the top dough layer. Sprinkle with Parmesan and bake until bubbly and lightly browned, 45-50 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool 10 minutes before serving.

Prep Time: 15 min Cook Time: 45 min Serves: 6

Recipe Source: adapted from Creative Cook's Kitchen

Posted in: Main Dish