With phyllo and feta you can hardly go wrong, but this crinkly pie is in a league of its own. Perfect for a warm holiday appetizer or, when the parties subside, for a simple dinner with a green salad, it’s unlike the Greek cheese pie you probably know. You make it by scrunching the feta-topped phyllo sheets, accordion-like, as you place them in the baking dish. A topping of beaten egg and butter binds the layers and makes the exposed pastry crisp and flaky, while the interior is more custardy. All credit to Diane Kochilas, the Greek food authority who demonstrated the dish on her excellent TV series, “My Greek Table.”
I’ve made a few tweaks to Kochilas’s recipe –adding green onion, parsley and dill, most obviously, and cutting back a bit on the cheese and butter. You can find her recipe here if you want to try the original.
Please use Greek feta (a blend of sheep’s and goat’s milk) or the excellent Valbreso from France, which is 100 percent sheep’s milk. Feta-style cheeses made from goat’s milk or cow’s milk are too dry for this recipe.
Pleated Phyllo Pie with Feta
I learned this unusual technique for making a phyllo pie from Diane Kochilas, a Greek-American who demonstrated it on her excellent TV series, “My Greek Table.” You can watch her video demo here. I added minced herbs and green onions and tweaked the ingredient ratios, but I’m delighted with my results. Serve in small portions with sparkling wine as a holiday appetizer or as the first course at a dinner party with a little tuft of green salad. The pie is best warm but it reheats beautifully. Just put slices on a baking sheet in a hot oven until hot and crispy.
3 ounces (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted, plus a little more for brushing the pan
6 ounces Greek feta or French Valbreso, crumbled
½ cup minced green onion, white and pale green parts only
3 tablespoons minced Italian parsley
1 tablespoon minced fresh dill
2 large eggs
¼ pound phyllo (7 or 8 sheets), at room temperature
3 ounces (¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons) sparkling water
2 tablespoons grated pecorino romano or Greek kefalotyri cheese
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Use some of the melted butter to brush the bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking dish.
In a bowl, combine the feta, green onion, parsley and dill and mix gently. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs and melted butter.
Working with 1 sheet of phyllo at a time and keeping the remainder covered, place the first sheet in the baking dish so that one end of the sheet comes up to the rim of the dish; the other end will hang over by a lot. Scatter a little of the feta mixture over the phyllo, bearing in mind that you will eventually fit 7 or 8 sheets in the pan and you want to have enough feta mixture to top all of them.
With both hands, grasp the phyllo at the point where it overhangs the dish and scrunch it like an accordion so that you draw the overhanging phyllo with no topping into the dish. Sprinkle a little of the topping on the bare phyllo and scrunch it so that the first sheet is now all feta-topped and scrunched at one end of the baking dish. Repeat with the remaining phyllo, topping and scrunching as you go. You should be able to fit 7 or 8 sheets tightly in the baking dish and use all the topping.
Pour the sparkling water evenly over the dish. (It makes the pie fluffier.) Whisk the eggs and melted butter again and pour that mixture evenly over the phyllo. Shake the baking dish as needed to get the egg mixture evenly distributed. Scatter the pecorino evenly on top.
Bake until golden brown and crisp, about 45 minutes. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes before slicing. Serve warm.
Serves 4 to 6