Cheesy Italian Ricotta Beef Pie Recipes

Steps:

• For the meat sauce: Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the ground meat, a large pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Cook, stirring and breaking up the meat into smaller pieces, until browned, about 5 minutes. Add the onions and cook, stirring frequently, until soft and lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the tomato paste, oregano, red pepper flakes and garlic and cook, stirring, until the tomato paste darkens to a brick red, about 1 minute. Add the tomato puree, 3/4 cup water, 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of pepper. Bring to a high simmer, then adjust to a low simmer. Cover the pan and cook for 30 minutes. (You can make and cool the sauce the day before. Reheat before using the next day.)
• For the pasta: Meanwhile, bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Grease a 9-inch springform pan with 1 tablespoon oil. Cook the pasta until slightly less than al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain and toss with the remaining tablespoon oil, then spread out in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet.
• Spread 1/4 cup of the meat sauce on the bottom of the prepared pan. Stand the rigatoni on their ends in the pan until it is completely filled.
• For the ricotta filling: Stir together the ricotta, Parmesan, egg, 1 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of pepper. Transfer the filling to a pastry bag or resealable plastic bag, snip off just enough of the tip to make a small opening and pipe into each rigatoni tube. Pipe small mounds of any leftover ricotta mixture on top of the pasta and spread out into a thin layer. (You can cook and fill the pasta the day before.)
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Put the filled springform pan on a foil-lined baking sheet to catch drips. Pour 2 cups of the meat sauce over the pasta, spreading it with the back of a spoon so that it drips in between the noodles. Top with the mozzarella and Parmesan.
• Cover the pan with foil, doming it slightly to avoid touching the cheese. Bake for 20 minutes. Uncover the pan and continue cooking until the top is golden brown and bubbly, about 30 minutes more. Let the pasta cool for 45 minutes (do not skip this part or your noodles will fall apart when serving!). Sprinkle with parsley, if using, then carefully remove the sides of the pan. Cut the pie into wedges and serve with the reserved meat sauce on the side.

Steps:

• For the beef and gravy: Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Trim excess fat from the beef and cut it into about 3-inch cubes.
• Measure out all the dry spices (garlic powder, mustard powder, onion powder, salt, celery seed, ginger powder and pepper) and mix together in a large mixing bowl. Coat the beef cubes liberally in the spice mix.
• Bring a saute pan to medium heat and add the oil (a sufficient amount to shallow fry the beef). Fry the beef cubes, 2 or 3 pieces at a time, turning onto each side, until a deep golden brown. Place the browned beef in a deep casserole dish.
• Sprinkle 1/4 cup of the leftover spice mix over the cooked beef (omit this step if all the spice mix was used to coat the beef before cooking).
• Roughly chop the garlic and onion and add to the casserole dish with the beef. Tie the thyme, bay leaves and rosemary together with kitchen string (or you can use one of the thyme sprigs to do this).
• Pour the red wine over the beef (enough to submerge all the beef, and reserving 1/3 cup for later). Wrap plastic film over the casserole dish and then wrap in aluminum foil and ensure a tight seal all around. Place the beef in the oven and cook until tender, about 3 hours.
• Remove the beef and roughly chop into about 1/2-inch cubes. Remove the fresh herbs and discard.
• Place the liquid from the casserole dish, including the onions and garlic, into a food processor and blend until smooth; this will become the gravy for the pies. Return the liquid to a saucepan and bring to a slow boil. Add the cornstarch to the water and whisk. Add to the boiling gravy, whisking while adding to avoid lumps forming. Add the reserved 1/3 cup red wine and cook the gravy, stirring regularly to avoid burning, for about 10 minutes. The gravy should be relatively thick in consistency. Add more cornstarch and water mixture if the gravy is not thick enough.
• Pour the gravy over the chopped beef to liberally coat the beef cubes; you may not need all the gravy you have made. Allow to cool.
• Meanwhile, for the pie dough: Add the flour and salt to an electric food mixer with a paddle attachment. Mix on slow speed so the flour doesn't spray out of the bowl, about 1 minute.
• Cut the butter into 1/2-inch cubes and add several cubes at a time to the flour with the mixer on slow speed. Mix until pea-size crumbs have formed.
• Mix the water and vinegar together in a small bowl. Change the attachment to the dough hook on the mixer and mix on slow speed while pouring in the water and vinegar mixture. Continue mixing until a dough ball has formed on the hook, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove the dough ball, wrap in plastic film and chill in the refrigerator at least 30 minutes.
• Remove the dough ball and sprinkle liberally with flour, as well as the work surface (countertop). Roll out the dough with a rolling pin until it is approximately 1/16-inch thick.
• Use a 10-inch ring cutter to cut out circles of dough. Take the dough circles and place into six to eight 4 1/2-to- 5-inch foil pie tins (at least 1-inch deep). Work the dough around to ensure it is neatly covering the pie tin and slightly overlaps the edges.
• For the cheesy potato top: Peel and cube the potatoes. Boil until soft, then drain the water and mash while adding the cubed butter. When at a smooth consistency, add the cheeses and mix thoroughly to incorporate. Add some cream if needed to ensure the mash is of a smooth consistency. Add salt to desired taste.
• Spoon the beef and gravy into the dough-lined pie tins.
• Using a large cooking spoon, spoon the mashed potato over the filled pies, scraping down against the rim of the foil pie tin to ensure a smooth surface of the potato topping.
• Place the pies onto a baking tray and place the oven on fan or convection setting (if available) and cook for 15 minutes. Turn the tray and continue cooking until the pastry is cooked all the way through, 10 to 15 minutes (gently lift the pie out of the foil pie tin to check that the bottom of the pastry is fully cooked).

Steps:

• To make crust, mix flour and salt in medium bowl.
• Cut in butter until mixture looks like coarse crumbs.
• Stir in egg yolk and water.
• Roll out, place crust in 10" glass pie plate and flute the edges.
• For filling, combine ricotta cheese, flour, salt, lemon and orange rinds and vanilla.
• Beat in eggs and add sugar gradually.
• Pour filling into crust and bake at 350° until firm and light brown (approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes).

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add rice, ricotta, sugar, orange rind, lemon rind, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. Mix until thoroughly combined.
• Roll out half of pastry to fit 10 inch deep-dish pie pan. Place pastry in pan, and fill with ricotta mixture. Roll out remaining pastry and cut 12 1-inch wide strips. Lay strips in a lattice pattern on top of filling. Brush pastry with milk.
• Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, until toothpick inserted in filling comes out clean.

Steps:

• In a small mixing bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, butter and honey and mix well. Place in a 9 inch springform pan and spread evenly across the bottom. Refrigerate 30 minutes to chill.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• In a large electric mixer bowl, combine ricotta and eggs (beat in one at a time until incorporated). Add tablespoon of honey, vanilla and flour. Beat until smooth. Fold in lemon peel and almonds. Pour mixture into chilled crust and scatter pumpkin seeds on top.
• Bake for 1 hour or until just firm and lightly colored on top. Turn oven off, open door and leave pie inside to cool for 30 minutes.
• Remove pie from oven, refrigerate and chill for 2 hours to overnight before serving.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375°F. Spray rectangular baking dish, 13x9x2 inches, with cooking spray. Cook beef in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until brown; drain. Stir in pasta sauce.
• Mix cream cheese, sour cream, 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese and 1/4 teaspoon of the Italian seasoning in small bowl until smooth and creamy.
• Spoon half of the beef mixture (about 2 cups) into baking dish. Drop spoonfuls of cream cheese mixture evenly onto beef mixture. Spoon remaining beef mixture over cream cheese mixture.
• Stir 1 cup of the Parmesan cheese, the Bisquick mix and milk in medium bowl until blended. Pour over beef mixture.
• Bake uncovered 30 to 35 minutes or until light golden brown. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese and 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning. Bake 5 minutes longer. Let stand at least 10 minutes before cutting.

Steps:

• In a very large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except crusts.
• Mix well, making sure that all ingredients are distributed through the ricotta mixture evenly.
• Spoon the ingredients equally into the pie crusts.
• For a more decorative look, apply strips of pie crust to the top of the pie in a basketweave pattern.
• Bake at 350 degrees until the top of the pie is a dark golden brown and the center is set, approximately 1 hour, 15 minutes.
• Allow pies to cool for about 45 minutes before slicing.
• Serve warm or cold.