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cheese courgette and honey pie

This comforting Greek cheese pie (‘tiropita me meli’) made with kataifi pastry (a kind of shredded filo) is served with a tomato, rusk, and olive salad.

Ingredients

    • large knob of butter
    • 200g/7oz feta, crumbled
    • 175g/6oz kasseri (or gruyère), grated
    • 75g/2½oz halloumi, grated
    • 350g/12oz courgettes, coarsely grated
    • 2 free-range eggs
    • freshly ground white pepper
    • few sprigs fresh thyme, leaves picked
    • 300g/10½oz kataifi pastry
    • 175ml/6fl oz double cream
    • 175ml/6fl oz full-fat milk
    • 50g/1¾oz walnuts, finely chopped
    • olive oil, for drizzling
    • 3 tbsp honey
    • ½ red onion, thinly sliced
    • 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
    • 12 black olives, pitted and torn
    • 400g/14oz ripe tomatoes, cut into different shapes and sizes
    • 6 Cretan 'daxos' barley rusks (or wholemeal crispbreads), crumbled
    • 1 tbsp drained capers
    • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
    • few sprigs basil, leaves picked and roughly torn
    • few sprigs flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
    • ½ tsp dried oregano
    • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

  1. To make the cheese, courgette, and honey pie, grease a 25x25cm/10x10in baking dish with butter.
  2. Combine the feta, kasseri (or gruyère if using), halloumi and courgettes in a large mixing bowl. In another small bowl, whisk one of the eggs with a pinch of white pepper and the thyme leaves and add this to the cheese mixture, mixing well.
  3. Tease the kataifi pastry apart and lay half of it in the greased baking dish, easing it up the sides a little. Fill with the cheese mixture. Drape the rest of the kataifi pastry over the top, then whisk the remaining egg with the cream and milk and then pour this evenly over the entire pie. Leave to one side for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.
  4. Scatter the walnuts over the top of the pie, drizzle everything with olive oil, then put the baking dish directly on the bottom of the oven and bake for 35 minutes, or until crisp and golden-brown.
  5. Drizzle over the honey, then return to the oven for 10–15 minutes, or until dark golden-brown. Leave the pie in the tray for 10 minutes before serving.
  6. To make the tomato, rusk and olive salad, combine the red onion and red wine vinegar in a large mixing bowl and leave to soften for 5 minutes.
  7. Add the tomatoes, olives and rusks (or crispbreads) to the bowl, then add the capers, basil, parsley and extra virgin olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Scatter over the dried oregano and serve with slices of the pie.