Italian Wheat Easter Pie

My dear friend Patrick told me about this pie.  So I decided to try it out.  I was not disappointed.  My mom has even already requested this pie again for Easter next year.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups of water
1/4 cup of Farro
3 eggs
1/2 cup of sugar
4 ounces of diced candied fruit
12 oz of ricotta
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of lemon zest
1/2 tablespoon of shortening
1/2 teaspoon of salt
double pie crust
powdered sugar

Directions: 
Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan. Pour in wheat and allow to boil 40 minutes. As wheat is cooking, beat eggs in a large bowl while gradually adding 1 cup sugar to eggs. Mix in fruit, ricotta, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and lemon rind.  When wheat is ready, drain in a colander and rinse with warm water. Place the cooked wheat in a small bowl, and mix in shortening and salt. Stir until shortening is melted, then stir wheat mixture into ricotta mixture.  Preheat oven to 375oF.  Line a 9 inch pie pan with pastry. Cut remaining pastry into strips for tops of pies. Spoon filling into pan. Cover with pastry strips to form lattice tops. Crimp edges.  Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, until crust is golden brown. Sprinkle pie with 1 tablespoon of powdered sugar and allow to cool at room temperature. Chill overnight before serving

I wanted to brush my crust with an egg wash.  If you are going to do this, I suggest you do the egg wash before you cut the strips.  Once you lay them down on the pie, it is almost impossible to brush it on without the strips sinking into the filling.  

It's definitely a different kind of pie than I usually make.  It is dense and almost cake like.   But that being said, it is really good and I highly suggest it.

Piece out!
Justin