St. Joseph’s Day Pie

Saint Joseph’s Day, March 19th, was always a big deal in my family. We gathered at the house of one of my Italian relatives and ate and ate. Saint Joseph’s pie for the adults, pizza for the kids.

St. Joseph’s pie is onion pie. My Aunt Mary would make several versions of it. The true version contained anchovies, or what she referred to as fish. “This one has the fish, this one has the olives,” etc. Only the older folks would eat the one with the anchovies. I liked the plain or the one with raisins. But anchovies, no way, at least not when I was young.

Actually, it wasn’t really a pie. It was more like a stromboli or calzone filled with carmelized onions. It’s not a taste you can appreciate as a kid. But when I got older, I learned to like it.

Sadly, this recipe has disappeared with the Italian Aunts. No one from my generation actually remembers the specifics of this onion pie anymore, but Jim took a crack at it. After researching online, he found what seems to be the closest recipe.

Saint Joseph’s Day Pie (Onion Pie)

Filling:
* 1/4 cup olive oil
* 2 lbs. onions sliced very thin
* 3 tbsp. milk
* 16 anchovy fillets, cleaned and chopped
* cup pitted black olives, chopped
* 1/4 cup Italian parsley
* 3 small tomatoes chopped
* dash of garlic salt, salt and pepper

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the onions and saute for 15-20 minutes until the onions are caramelized. Add the milk and cook for 5 more minutes. Add the anchovies, parsley, tomatoes and black olives. Mix well, continue stirring, cook until the sauce is thick and all the liquid has been evaporated.

Pastry: (Please bless me father, for I have sinned. I bought a ready-made pie crust)
* 2 cups flour
* 2-3 eggs (as needed)
* 1/2 cup butter
* pinch of salt

Combine flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Cut in butter, add eggs as needed and blend making dough. Divide the dough in half and roll out to the size to fill a pie pan. Lightly sprinkle corn meal at the bottom of the pan before lining with dough. Pour in filling. Roll out the remaining dough to fit on the top like a pie.  Poke holes in the top crust to allow the steam to escape and glaze with an egg wash.

Cook in a 350° oven for 1 hour.

Pie can be frozen and thawed and warmed to serve later.

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