Layered Cheese Pie
This pie, made with fillo pastry, can be served hot as a first course, a tea-time savory, or as a snack. Milk sprinkled between the sheets gives it a lovely soft, moist texture. The most common cheese used in these pies is beyaz peynir, or “white cheese,” which is salty and much like feta cheese. Another cheese called lor is like our cottage cheese. I like to use a mixture of the two. For this recipe, you will need large sheets of fillo; I used sheets measuring 19 inches × 12 inches. These are usually sold frozen and need to be defrosted for 2 to 3 hours (see page 9 for information about fillo).
Recipe information
Yield
serves about 8
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
For the filling, mix the mashed feta, cottage cheese, and eggs thoroughly until well blended. Add pepper and stir in the chopped parsley.
Step 2
Use a large rectangular or round pie dish, a little smaller than the sheets of fillo, and brush it with melted butter or oil. Place half the package of fillo (about 7 sheets), one on top of the other, at the bottom of the dish, brushing each sheet with melted butter or oil and sprinkling each with about a tablespoon of milk. Let the sheets hang over the sides of the dish and press them into the corners with the pastry brush. If you are using a round dish, place the sheets so that the corners hang over in different places around the edge.
Step 3
Spread the filling evenly on top. Then cover with the remaining sheets, brushing each, including the top one, with melted butter or oil, and sprinkling all except the last two with a tablespoon of milk.
Step 4
With a sharp, pointed knife trim the fillo around the edges, and score the top into 16 squares or diamonds with parallel lines, cutting only down to the filling, not right through to the bottom. Brush the top with egg yolk mixed with a drop of water.
Step 5
Bake in the oven preheated to 350°F for 30 to 45 minutes, or until crisp and golden. Serve hot, cutting along the scored lines, this time right through to the bottom.
