Italian Ricotta, Salami and Potatoes Savory Pie (Torta Rustica)

Total time: 120 mins.

Difficulty: Medium

Serves: 6 people

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By Ilaria Canevara

This Italian Savory Pie is an easy and delicious dish, perfect as an appetizer to kick off a dinner, a buffet, or a picnic in the park. It's a classic, eggless shortcrust pastry shell filled with ricotta, salami, and melted cheese. The filling is topped with thin potato slices, alternating with onion rings, for a burst of flavor.

What is Italian Savory Pie?

Italian savory pies have a long history rooted in the country’s tradition of peasant cooking, where simple ingredients were transformed into filling, practical meals. Their origins can be traced back to medieval times, when farmers and rural communities used bread dough or pastry shells as a way to preserve and stretch seasonal vegetables, cheeses, and leftover ingredients. Over the centuries, each region developed its own versions: from Liguria’s torta pasqualina, filled with greens, ricotta, and eggs, to Emilia-Romagna’s erbazzone, made with leafy vegetables and cheese, and countless local pies prepared with zucchini, artichokes, potatoes, or cured meats. As Italian immigrants moved around the world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, these recipes traveled with them, becoming part of Italian-American cuisine and inspiring similar adaptations abroad. Today, Italian savory pies remain beloved worldwide for their versatility, combining rustic tradition with the creativity of modern home cooking.

Cooking Tips

To prepare the shortcrust pastry, use a food processor with blades; the ingredients must be very cold from the refrigerator: this way, you'll obtain the dough quickly and easily.
For easy unmolding, we recommend using a tart pan with a removable bottom.

Can I Use a Different Cheese?

For our recipe, we used cow's milk ricotta, which you can substitute with sheep's or goat's milk ricotta for a stronger flavor. It's essential that the ricotta is well drained.

Italian Savory Pie Variations

Versatile and simple to make, your savory rustic pie can be filled with your favorite ingredients, as long as they have a fairly firm and dry consistency: stretched-curd cheeses, sliced cured meats, but also grilled or pan-fried vegetables. All you have to do is discover the process and make this delicious rustic pie: delicious both hot and cold, it will delight both adults and children.

Storage Instructions

The savory rustic pie can be stored in the refrigerator, in an airtight container, for up to 1-2 days. It can also be frozen.

Ingredients

for the shortcrust pastry

Type 0 flour

200g

Cold butter

100g

Cold Water

70g

salt

1 tsp

for the filling

drained ricotta

200g

diced salami

150g

sliced stretched curd cheese

150g

medium potatoes

Onion

extra virgin olive oil

to taste

Oregano

to taste

butter

to taste

salt

to taste

Pepper

to taste

How to Make This Italian Savory Pie

Step 1

Collect the flour in the bowl of a food processor and add the salt.

Step 2

Cut the very cold butter into regular cubes and distribute them on the flour in the jug.

Step 3

Finally pour in the cold water.

Step 4

Blend the mixture until it becomes lumpy.

Step 5

Then transfer it onto a lightly floured work surface and knead briefly with your hands.

Step 6

Compact it well to form a loaf, wrap it in cling film and place it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Step 7

Meanwhile, peel the onion and slice it trying to obtain thin rings.

Step 8

Wash and dry the potatoes very well. Then slice them thinly.

Step 9

Soak the potato slices and onion rings in cold water, in two separate bowls.

Step 10

Take the shortcrust pastry dough and roll it out with a rolling pin, trying to obtain a 3-4 mm thick sheet.

Step 11

Using the bottom of the mold as a reference, cut out a circle slightly larger than the base and place it in the buttered mold.

Step 12

Gather the leftover dough and roll it out to form a single cord.

Step 13

Thin the cord until it has a diameter of 1 cm or a little more. Then fold it in half and braid it.

Step 14

Carefully arrange the braid on the edge of the mold and cut off the excess at the joining point. Then press the braid lightly on the edges to make it adhere to the mold.