Delicious Cheese Pie (Tiropita)
- by XpatAthens
- Friday, 20 February 2015
Cheese Pies - Tiropita - are delicious little parcels of filo pastry, with a tasty filling of feta cheese. They are almost always included on a meze platter and are such a versatile food. You can have them as a daytime snack, with a salad for a light meal, they even go with drinks. This Greek food recipe is so easy and quick to make, they can be whipped up in no time and served for your very happy guests.
I have used two methods here, one with fillo pastry, the other with puff pastry. Try either method, they both taste fantastic!
Ingredients
8 - 10 sheets filo pastry
70 - 90 gms butter, melted
200g feta cheese, crumbled
200g fresh ricotta cheese
2 eggs lightly beaten
ground black pepper
pinch of ground nutmeg
Preparation
With the cheese, you need at least 200g of feta, you can have more feta and less ricotta if you like, especially if the feta is quite mild.
Combine all the filling ingredients in a Mixing Bowl and mix well.
On a board, stack the fillo sheets on top of each other and cut into 3 strips, lengthwise.
Prepare and grease a large baking tray.
Take one strip of filo at a time, using a Pastry Brush carefully brush the melted butter over the pastry, then place 1 or 2 teaspoons of filling on the pastry at one end.
Taking one corner, fold it over diagonally to create a triangle shape. Keep folding it back and forth, diagonally along the strip. You will find the filling has become enclosed in a triangle shaped envelope.
Place the cheese pie on the baking tray with the loose end underneath. Repeat for all other pies.
Brush the tops of the pies with the melted butter.
Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until light golden - 180 C, 350 F, gas 4.
Serve warm or at room temperature. Serve as part of a meze with a drink!
Another very simple method is to use puff pastry. (I often use the shop bought frozen sheets of pastry as it is much easier, but you can make your own puff pastry.)
You will need 5 -6 sheets of pastry.
Cut each sheet into 6 portions, place 1 or 2 teaspoons of cheese filling on each piece.
Brush with water around the edges of the pastry, then fold the pastry over the filling to create a bit of a square.
Pinch the sides together and then place on a baking tray.
Brush the pastry with milk and bake as above.
Both versions are delicious and are great to serve as party food.
Bon Appetit - Kali Orexi