October 03, 2020

Tiropita - Greek Cheese Pie with honey and lemon

By Tania Cusack, My Kitchen Stories

This is a twist on one of my favourite Greek dishes. Fried cheese with honey. This baked feta in filo with honey and lemon is often called a Tiropita or cheese pie. It is very quick to make, but wow is it good!?

Saganaki- The fried cheese dish everyone loves is what this is based on. It’s not always easy to find the semi hard cheese most often used in Greece to make this dish that I ordered in pretty much every restaurant. Greek cheese here is also quite expensive. But, if you can find some kefalotyri or kefalograviera, graviera or kasseri then you can make classic fried Greek cheese without the filo wrap. You just need to drench the cheese in flour and fry. It’s heavenly. But the cheese is hard to find, so here is my easy to manage version!

greek cheese pie by tania from my kitchen stories. best raw honey in australia by grecian purveyor.

Greek Feta wrapped in crispy baked Filo pastry is a really great substitute for Saganaki. This version of a cheesy starter is called Tiropita, tiro meaning cheese and pita meaning pie or a kind of cheese pie. Greeks are crazy about these cheese stuffed pastries. You will find literally dozens of “pies” or pita filled with cheese. As I said before, you can make this toasty package in a smaller version for individuals or you can make larger ones to share. This recipe will make 2 larger ones or 6 small. Whatever size you make them they are more than easy.

I saved some very special honey for this Greek inspired dish. It’s an organic Truffle Honey from Greece, which is perfect as it doesn't have any artificial truffle aromatics, so it doesn't overpower the dish!! I get it online at The Grecian Purveyor. I love reading stories about all their organic producers. Greek truffle honey is more than perfect for this dish!

real black truffle honey in australia

HOW TO MAKE TIROPITA WITH FETA

PREP TIME: 20 mins

COURSE: Appetiser, Cheese, Entrée, Appetiser, Canapes

CUISINE: Cheese

SERVINGS:6

INGREDIENTS

375 gm filo pastry 1 packet. Wrap and save the rest.
250 gm Feta Greek
150 gm butter melted
100 gm honey I use Truffle honey you could use any honey you like
1 lemon Cut into wedges
20 gm sesame seeds to sprinkle before baking or to add when serving

INSTRUCTIONS

Set the oven to 180C. Line a baking tray
Chop the butter into small pieces and melt. Set aside.
Open the feta and drain. Cut into even sized pieces approx 1 cm. (a bit under 1/2 inch) You will get 6 slices from 1 packet. This is enough to make 3 share sized Tiropitas or 6 smaller ones
Open the filo. You will need about 3 pieces of pastry from the packet cut into 2. (approx 25 cm x 6 cm) (10in x 6in). You should have 2 pieces in layers of three.
Line up one of those pieces of pastry on the bench in front of you. Cover the others with a tea towel or plastic wrap. Paint each layer with a light coating of butter and stack them back on top of each other. Place 3 slices of feta beside each other in the middle. (If making smaller ones just use 1 piece)
Fold the pastry around the feta and seal by painting with some butter. Cut off any excess. You can sprinkle them with sesame here before baking or garnish with sesame when you serve them. This is an optional extra
Bake the filo in the oven till golden and crisp. This will take approx 15 to 25 minutes depending on your oven
Serve immediately drizzled with honey. Cut into pieces at the table and add a squeeze of lemon. Heaven!

cheese pie recipe with raw honey. greek cheese pie

NOTES

Filo pastry dries out very quickly. It goes crispy and is hard to use. You will find you need to work quickly. Once the packet is open re wrap the extra bits as quickly as possible so you can use it later.

You may notice that the pieces I used where a bit broken up. I had a packet in the freezer that I defrosted. It had been used before so was a bit broken. No matter I just pieced my pies together and stuck them with melted butter. Just make sure all the cheese is well covered.

Despite how it looks you do not need to be heavy handed with the butter. Just paint it on layers lightly.

The parcels can be made ahead and baked when needed up to 1 day ahead. Keep airtight in a container with a lid. They are best made and baked the same day though

To make the scrunched up fancy buts, just push together one small piece of filo like crumpling a piece of paper. Paint this lightly with some butter and bake either on top of the parcel or separately. These scrunched bits tend to cook faster than the parcels so keep an eye on them. You may need to take them out of the oven and set them aside while you bake the parcels till golden on top.

If you liked this recipe and want to see more, visit www.mykitchenstories.com.au as Tania has hundreds step by step recipes that you can all make at home!