Italian Easter Pie

Our family traditionally made this strange dessert for Easter. No crumb was ever left in the pie dish since it is a delightfully refreshing sweetness after a full meal.

• Ready In: 2 hrs
• Serves: 8-10

Ingredients

• Pie crust

• 3  cups flour
• 1⁄2 cup  oil
• 5  eggs

• Filling

• 1⁄2-1  lb angel hair pasta, boiled, rinsed and drained
• 6  eggs
• 1 1⁄2 cups sugar
• 1  tablespoon vanilla
• 1  large orange, zest of
• 12  ounces maraschino cherries, cut into fourths and drained on paper towels

Directions

1. Pie crust:
2. Mix all crust ingredients until well blended. Roll out 3/4 of dough into circle to fit into 10 inch glass pie dish. Place in dish. Do not trim excess dough from edge of pie dish. Roll out remaining dough and slice into 12 strips. I like to use a ravioli wheel for "ruffled" edges.
3. Filling and assembly:
4. Beat together filling ingredients except pasta until creamy and frothy.
5. Make sure pasta is well drained and cut pasta pads into bite size pieces. Place pasta into crust bottom.
6. Pour filling over pasta. Cherries, orange rind and pasta should be uniformly distributed.
7. Weave strips over top of filling "gluing " them to pie crust edges with filling liquids. Brush top edges of strips with liquids. Bring excess pie dough over ends of strips and press down to secure. Brush remaining dough with pie liquids so they will glisten when baked.
8. Place pie dish on baking sheet with sides to catch bubbling liquids. Bake at 325 degrees until inserted knife comes out clean.