Easy milk and 2-cheese savoury rice pie with phyllo

A delicious rice and cheese savoury pie inspired by various traditional recipes from around the country. A nice idea for a light meal along with a salad or to be served as a first dish on any occasion and for all seasons

Phyllo triangle pies with feta cheese, fresh oregano, roasted red peppers and Greek yoghurt filling

We love savoury pies in our family in every possible size and little "tyropitakia" like these here are one of our favourite treats! Simple Greek ingredients are used for this recipe and the taste is sooo good! They can be served as a snack, at a party, in a picnic, as a first dish, even for breakfast!

Country-style fresh artichoke and herbs pie

A great rustic pie with fresh artichokes and seasonal herbs! To make it richer, if you'd like you can also add feta cheese (about 400 gr)

Seasonal vegetables "Tourlou" with cheese enclosed in homemade pastry roll

All the flavours of seasonal vegetables and some spicy Greek cheese come together in this delicious recipe! The "Tourlou" ("Briam" if aubergines are not included) vegetarian dish which is one of the most popular Summer recipes around Greece is the idea of this rolled pie. The homemade pastry is really special and you should try it out because you can use it in various recipes but of course you can replace it with store-bought shortcrust pastry which is probably the closest to the original. It is really a very tasty dish this one and it can be served as a first dish or as a main along with seasonal salad. The cheese used here (Greek "Kefalograviera") might be a small problem but if you can't find any then use a semi-hard and semi-salted but rather pungent yellow cheese, something that doesn't melt too easily

Tomato tart with mildly spiced ground meat and cream cheese sauce

It is a tart but it is so filling that you'll probably have it as a main meal! Easy recipe to put together since you save time using a store-bought pastry and you could have the meat sauce ready from the night before. It is delicious and the tomatoes on top give this refreshing flavour, the ideal seasonal meal to enjoy with family and friends

Cretan cuisine inspired shallow-fried fennel handpies with homemade pastry, served with fluffy tarama mousse

Fennel is a really favourite vegetable of mine and especially the green fronds, I use them very often in various recipes like pies for example. I love the distinctive aroma and taste of it and I think it only compliments the various cheese and vegetable pies we do in Greece. Since I first tasted feta cheese pies years ago with finely snipped fennel fronds in the filling I really loved this herb and I don't neglect to add it into my pies. Today's recipe is inspired by the Cretan cuisine and I don't really need to say much because this island has offered us great culinary miracles through the years! The version of these fried pies is a vegetarian one but if you'd like you could add cheese like Feta or Manouri or fresh Cretan Myzithra crumbled. The recipe can be served as an appetizer along with this different but really tasty mousse but the pies can be served alone as a snack, appetizer or packed for a picnic. Don't reject the idea of preparing your own pastry for these pies because thanks to the Tsikoudia (Cretan raki) the phyllo gets a special taste. The recipe can be easily adjusted to treat more persons

Feta cheese batter-pie with (leftover Easter) boiled eggs and spearmint

This is the pie I was telling you about and it is easy to prepare, fast, delicious and of course when made during or just after Easter it is a great way to use up some leftover Easter eggs. Although nowadays the store-bought dyes for Easter eggs are not toxic, it is preferable if there are no spots on the eggs caused by the dye getting through the possible cracks during boiling. Another thing (ideally) is to use eggs that they are slightly soft boiled. There is a possibility some of the eggs, because of their weight, will sink into the batter (as happened to me the first time I made this pie) but it doesn't mean that the taste of the pie will be effected. To avoid this unfortunate incident though it is better if you use a shallow and large pan so the batter will cover the bottom like a pizza does. We had this pie along with a green, seasonal salad and it was a great light meal. It can be served as a main or first dish but it is also great to take with you to a picnic because it can be made all year round and not only at Easter time

3-cheeses fluffy cheese pie with phyllo

Another version of Greek cheese pie. This time three different traditional Greek cheeses are used and a surprising ingredient which is the key for such a fluffy pie which you'll see makes the pie look and feel like a souflé. You have the option of using the customary commercial phyllo pastry or your favourite homemade dough for pies, which you'll turn into medium-thickness pastry sheets. There is also the option, as many of you know by now, that there is a commercial version of thicker (than the usual thin) phyllo sheets

Country-style layered cheese pie with semolina - A tradition to celebrate the last Weekend of the Carnival period before Lent starts

It's this time of the year again! Not only Spring has unofficially started but we (the Greeks) get to the Lent period tomorrow. The tradition has it every year on the last Sunday of the Carnival period to "clean up" every dairy product our fridge might have before we start fasting on "Clean Monday" which is tomorrow. Usually a pie is the star of the day in most households, among other non-fasting dishes, but often just a luscious and rich cheese pie along with a salad is more than enough as a main meal. Today's recipe is one that I wanted to make since I first discovered it sometime ago because I thought that differs to other country-style versions and I was very curious about it. My mother, though, told me that this is not an uncommon type of cheese pie and she seems to remember that her mother used to add semolina in the filling so to absorb the moisture of the cheese and of course the phyllo pastry back then was always homemade. So, I had decided days ago that this year I would cook this pie for this special Sunday and I couldn't wait! As you'll see there is nothing fancy about it regarding the ingredients or the method except the semolina's presence. The only thing maybe that makes it so special and tasty is the good quality of the cheese and especially the good quality of butter used and I don't mean margarine. As I'm not so experienced in homemade phyllo making I thought better not to risk it so I used commercial thick phyllo sheets instead. If you can't find this variety and you can't make your own then the classic thin phyllo pastry sheets is the alternative. The pie is cooked, tried out already (just a piece before dinner so to check it out:-)) and it is really very tasty and luscious! It does give you this special country-style flavour which I really love and the filling worked just fine with the semolina. Give it a try when you have the chance, you won't regret it!

Spinach, Leeks and Fennel Tart in Homemade Pastry

A delicious, filling and nutritious tart to enjoy any day of the week as a light lunch or dinner, snack or to pack and take with you at a picnic. The classic combination is spinach and leeks only but here we combine these two popular vegetables with fennel which works with the rest perfectly! For a more strict vegetarian version of the tart just omit the cheese

SAVOURY PIES WEEK 1: Traditional "Kihi" spiral pie with leeks and feta cheese

This is one of the most delicious traditional pies in Greece coming from the Kozani region in Northern part of the country. I have not managed to discover where the name "Kihi" derives from. If the name indicates the type of the pastry (and then the pie getting its name from it) or not or if the word "Kihi" implies the "spiral" shape of the pie in some local dialect maybe ... I really don't know, always we knew this pie as "Kihi from Kozani" and I suppose that was enough:-)) But, if anybody out there comes from this region and they know the story behind the name of this pie I would love to hear about it! What I did manage to find out, though, is the difference between the spiral "Kihi" from Kozani and the spiral cheese pie coming from Skopelos island (another famous delicacy). According to many, the main difference is that the "Kihi" is always cooked in the oven and the Skopelos spiral cheese pies are cooked in the pan, shallow fried. Well, both are delicious but today I present you the one from Kozani with leeks in the ingredients besides the feta cheese

SAVOURY PIES WEEK 1: Chicken pie with Kasseri cheese and leeks in homemade pastry

Some of my favourite ingredients are involved in this recipe and the result is really delicious! Leeks, soft mellow Kasseri cheese and chicken work together so nicely creating a really filling meal. As with most Greek pies this one too can be served as a main meal if you want and if you think that making your own pastry is too much then an option for this kind of pie is the shortcrust pastry (two sheets) or four store-bought thick phyllo pastry sheets

SAVOURY PIES WEEK 1: Savoury pumpkin spiral pie with herbs and goat's cheese

Once again the seasonal pumpkin is the main ingredient in a recipe and this time in a traditional savoury pie which can be served as a main meal or snack or first dish. The ingredients are few and simple but they are all so tasty and they come together in such a nice balance. The original recipe uses a very tasty herb we have in Greece called "Kafkalithra" which is the Mediterranean Hartwort and is aromatic and very distinctive in taste. If not easy to find it you can always use parsley or garden chervil which both are good substitutes for this pie

SAVOURY PIES WEEK 1: Traditional Cretan snail and potatoes pie with herbs - Don't feel intimidated by it!

I'm certain that some of you will turn your heads on the other side or scroll down immediately only by the sight of the title of this recipe but before you do just bare with me because there are always alternatives... I must admit that only 4-5 times so far in my life I have tried snails (cooked only in the Greek classic way and only twice have tried this kind of pie and not once I have cooked them myself) and I must, also, admit that snails are not exactly my idea of "meat".... but, at least regarding this pie, things are not or taste so bad as you would think because, honestly, if you don't know in advance what there is inside the filling it is rather difficult to feel the difference... Not so much because you could not distinguish the "proper" meat from a snail but because by the time you will realise you have already tried it and thanks to the rest of the ingredients the taste is soooo good and you forget all about the snails... well, almost, because then you start thinking about them... Anyway, as I say on the top, there are alternatives and if snails put you off just follow the recipe using the rest of the ingredients and some "proper" meat instead like ground lamb or beef. Those who come from Crete, because this is where this famous pie comes from being a real delicacy in various areas of the island, probably will get mad at me but hey... snails are snails and not all people like the idea of them!

SAVOURY PIES WEEK 1: Onions and Feta cheese pie with homemade pastry

Onions are a staple in the Greek cuisine. They are a big part probably in most dishes regardless the type of the recipe or the season. There are so many classic examples of the Greek cuisine where onions (the "dried ones" as we simply categorize them so to show the difference between them and the Spring (or green) onions) are used, kept whole, in slices, finely chopped or grated. Plenty of the small type of onions in the rich meaty dish called "Stifado". Raw in various salads or as a garnish they are almost always there to remind us that they can make or break a dish.... The onions found in most vegetable markets and grocery stores around Greece are usually red or yellowish and more rarely white. The small red onions that are used whole in the "Stifado" recipe should not be confused with the “Kokkari” variety of a similar size, destined for planting. Occasionally you may be able to find large, red and slightly flat sweet onions from Zakynthos island which are used for a delicious local speciality. Shallots are simply onions that have been picked before the bulb forms and have a more delicate flavour, which again can be used in the "Stifado". We could say much more about the onions but for now lets concentrate on today's recipe where the onions are the main ingredient. There are various versions of onion pies around the country depending on the variety of the onion and the filling and this one is one of the simplest but still delicious in taste thanks, also, to the homemade pastry

SAVOURY PIES WEEK 1: Ground meat, chestnuts, pine nuts and mild spices pie with Kadaifi pastry

This is really a delicious and filling pie which can be served proudly in any family or more formal occasion. It is not difficult to prepare and you can gain sometime if you have cooked the filling from the day before. The Kadaifi pastry, as always, gives such a nice crunchy texture to the pie and the filling is full of aromas and taste thanks to the presence of the chestnuts and the mild spices! It can be easily served as a first dish or as a main meal along with a crispy green salad

Puff pastry roll with creamy chicken and ham filling

A special delicious recipe which can be enjoyed any time of the year but it will impress your guests at a dinner party as a first dish or at a buffet table among other delicacies

Onion tart with fresh figs, walnuts and cheese

A, somewhat, unusual combination of ingredients which, though, turn out very nicely giving a rich but not heavy flavour to this tart! Onions, figs, walnuts and cheese they manage to find their way and create a special recipe which can be served as a first dish or a light main meal along with a crispy green salad. The figs will not be here for too long so if you have any left in your fridge this is a good chance to use them up. The original recipe asks for a very tasty Greek yellow hard cheese called "Ladotyri" coming from Mytilene. I don't expect you to find it abroad (I can't either, unless if I bring it from Greece) so you can substitute with Greek Graviera which is not too salty. If the procedure of the homemade pastry sounds too much for you the best alternative is to use a shortcrust pastry instead

No-crust aubergines and cheese pie

Aubergines are one of my favourite Summer vegetables and I know that a lot of people love them no matter how they are cooked. Today we have an easy and very fast Summertime pie to enjoy as a first dish, snack or even light meal if served along with some salad. Aubergines are so tasty and versatile but they do have an issue which most of us are familiar with.... frying them! They absorb the oil like a sponge and that makes them really unattractive and quite heavy in taste and calories for various recipes. Of course most of you know by now that there are alternative ways of getting away from this problem and one of this is to grill or bake them instead of frying. But there is also another way you could follow without keeping the vegetable from being tasty too. Just cut the aubergines in small cubes and sauté in the frying pan with the onion and the garlic until they are softened. This is what I prefer to do recently, depending of course on the recipe, because I can get lazy sometimes when it comes to procedures and I find it rather faster and easier. Especially in recipes like this pie this method will gain you a lot of time

Very easy seasonal no-crust cheese and courgettes pie

Also called "naked pie" because there is no phyllo or other kind of pastry involved. It is a very easy and quick pie to make. Very popular Summer recipe because the courgettes are in their best at the moment and it makes a very tasty light meal or snack. The batter-like mixture makes things easier since you don't have to deal with any pastry making. Don't let the "weird Greek" way of measuring the ingredients put you off. Trust me, they do it this way in Greece God knows how many generations and never fails...