Torta Rustica Pizza

Intro

*This post was created in partnership with DeLallo Foods. They began as a small Italian grocery store in Pennsylvania and now they carry hundreds of beautiful products that inspired my recipe today.

The town where my parents live is so small I tell people not to blink while they drive through. It’s just over an hour outside of Seattle but it feels a world away, yet somehow in this small strip of a town it is a food lovers paradise. There’s a bread baker at the end of the street who makes the fluffiest loaf of potato bread and a cocoa nib shortbread crusted in turbinado sugar. Next to that a specialty food store with picnic tables out back for sipping rosè in the sun.

My first stop in town is at Tweets. A small eclectic building with hundreds of potted plants scattered outside and a dark wood interior with the front wall completely open if the sun is shining. They are only open on the weekends so I have to plan my visits to my parent’s house accordingly. Every time I visit I always order the Torta Rustica. It’s a towering stack of meats, cheeses, potatoes, roasted peppers and herbs all held together by a buttery puff pastry crust. It’s indulgent and special and definitely not a bad idea to cut the richness with a piquant green salad on the side. One slice of that tart is worth the drive.

This pizza is my homage to this special dish. Not nearly as complicated or time consuming to make at the classic Torta Rustica as I use mostly packaged ingredients to make a dish that comes together quickly. To make this even more over-the-top you could layer the toppings even more to build up its thickness. I imagine this would bake quite well in a springform pan as well.

To fight against a soggy bottom crust I preheat my cast iron pan and build the pizza while the crust starts to brown.  

Print

Torta Rustica Pizza

Author Ashley Rodriguez

Ingredients

1 package DeLallo pizza dough kit

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 jar roasted red pepper bruschetta

1 large russet potato, baked until tender then sliced in 1/4 inch rounds

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary

1 dry cured salami, thinly sliced 

2 cups grated Asiago cheese

1 cup finely grated pecorino cheese

10 large basil leaves

Instructions

Make the pizza dough according to the package instructions. Let rest for 45 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 450° F.

Roll out the dough to a rough 14 inch circle.

Warm a large cast iron skillet over medium heat then add 1 tablespoon olive oil to the bottom of the pan. Carefully lay the pizza dough in the pan with the edges draping over the side of the pan.

Turn off the heat.

Cover the bottom of the pizza with the roasted red peppers. On top of that layer on the sliced potatoes then scatter the rosemary over that. Next add the salami.

Cover the pizza with cheese then tuck in the edges of the dough to form a crust in the pan. Drizzle the crust with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the crust is deeply golden and the cheese is bubbly and bronzed in parts.

Scatter on the fresh basil to finish.