The greens pie that we traditionally make in Niata is one of the tastiest and most distinctive pies, wonderful in all its… simplicity.
The pie is relatively thin, with a few delicate crispy layers of phyllo. In Niata, people still make this pie, as well as kaltsounia, small square pies with greens and cheese.
Filling without cooking
The vegetable filling is not cooked or sautéed, as often happens with pies. This particular greens pie has no onion, neither dry nor fresh, although in this recipe I usually add one small spring onion because I believe it makes the pie a little more… piquant.
In the old days, that is, in my grandmothers’ time, the pie was made with whatever each household garden had.
A little spinach, plenty of chard, nettles, dill, which in Niata is called “myraki,” and lapatha, the latter being wild greens they found in the fields.
The cheese they used was local white cheese, which they curdled themselves at home from sheep’s and goat’s milk.
The most distinctive thing, and also what made the essential difference in the pie, was that it was baked in the traditional wood-fired oven, the one that stood in the yard of every house.
I caught the tail end of that experience of baking the pie in the courtyard wood-fired oven, when I was still quite young. But I remember that process very vividly.
Pie in the wood-fired oven
Normally my mother did not make the pie in the wood-fired oven but in the kitchen oven, with an exception only every Easter.
My mother and my aunt would roll out the phyllo on Easter Sunday morning while the lamb was already roasting in the back garden, under an ancient carob tree.
They would lay out at least two pies, in huge baking trays, each yielding more than 50 pieces.
The smell of baked phyllo in the wood-fired oven is something that has never faded from my memory, nor ever will.
The picture I have in my mind is of me sitting on the low wall, holding a large platter on my lap, while my mother or aunt arranged the pieces on it. And the platters kept changing on my lap until all the pieces were gone.
I waited patiently for the end, because that is when the nice… part began. That was none other than gathering with my fingers the leftovers of the pie, the tiny bits of crispy phyllo, the little pieces of cheese, the juicy greens. I ate them greedily on the spot. This is something I still do with… care and longing to this day, I “clean perfectly” the tray of its leftovers. I make it shine!
That is probably the reason I still love making greens pie today. It is the revival of such a beautiful experience!
Ingredients for the filling
- 800 g net weight mixed greens (spinach, endive, chard, nettle, lettuce, dill)
- a few sprigs of mint
- 1 spring onion, finely chopped (optional)
- 500 g feta or 400 g feta + 100 g grated kefalograviera or regato
- 300 ml olive oil
- pepper
Ingredients for the phyllo
- 500 g all-purpose flour
- 230–250 ml water
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
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Method for the greens pie
We begin with the dough for the phyllo.
In a bowl add the flour and salt and mix. Add the olive oil and the vinegar.
Start adding the water little by little and knead with your fingers.
We want the dough to be fairly firm and smooth.
There is no exact quantity of water because it depends on the flour itself.
Knead the dough for about one minute with your palms on a steady surface. This will help the dough become smooth.
Put the dough back in the bowl, cover it with a cotton towel and leave it there until we prepare the filling.
Greens without sautéing
Clean and wash the greens well.
Drain them so that the excess water is removed.
Cut the greens with a knife into 1 cm pieces
Pour the chopped greens into a large basin.
Crumble the feta with your fingers and add it to the chopped greens. Add the other cheese too, if using it. Of course, we can also use only feta.
Pour in about half of the olive oil, 150 ml, add plenty of pepper and mix very well.
Set the now-ready filling aside.
The correct way to roll out the phyllo
We begin the phyllo process.
Cut the dough with a knife into three pieces, two equal larger ones, and one smaller one.
Shape the dough pieces into balls with your hands.
Place one of the two large balls in front of you and keep the others aside covered with a towel.
On a stable surface such as the table or kitchen counter, sprinkle a very small amount of flour, just enough to dust the surface where you will roll out the phyllo.
Place the dough ball on the floured work surface and, using the rolling pin, begin pressing gently at first so that the ball becomes a disc.
During this process add a little flour so that the dough does not stick to the rolling pin.
Try, as much as possible, to keep the phyllo round. If this does not work out perfectly for you from the beginning, do not worry, the dough is pliable and… forgiving!
I have rolled out many sheets that were not completely round or even had a few little holes, but the pie still turned out perfectly.
Roll out the sheet until it becomes fairly thin but not… transparent.
We want the size of the two sheets that will come from the two larger dough balls to be such that the sheets overhang the standard kitchen oven tray.
Assembling the pie
Grease a shallow oven tray well.
Spread the first sheet that we made over it. Drizzle generously with olive oil, the one left over from the greens filling.
Continue the same process with the second large sheet.
Spread the second large sheet in the tray as well.
Drizzle again with olive oil.
Spread the greens filling.
If we see that it seems a little dry, add a little more olive oil. Level it with a spoon so it has the same thickness everywhere.
The correct folding of the phyllo
Fold the parts of the phyllo that overhang the tray so as to cover as much of the pie’s surface as possible.
Drizzle again with olive oil.
Roll out the third and smaller sheet.
We calculate this one to be approximately the size of the surface of the tray.
Spread it over the pie.
Cut the overhanging parts, carefully lift the last sheet, spread those pieces as well to cover the pie, and then cover the pie again with the last sheet.
Add olive oil and spread it well with your fingers over the entire surface of the pie.
Score pieces with a sharp knife.
Sprinkle a little water over the pie with your hands.
Bake the pie in a preheated oven at 180–190°C, using top and bottom heat.
When we see that the pie has browned nicely, it is ready. This will take 50 to 60 minutes.
Take the tray out of the oven and let the pie stand for 5 to 8 minutes.
Cut into pieces and serve.
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