Feta & Halloumi Pie – Savory Pie to match with Honey!

Who said honey goes only with sweet pies?

For the first time in this blog, I am going to show you how honey is a great match with savory pies. I know that for you, it is not a surprise that honey and cheese are like Romeo and Juliet: a perfect match. However, before making this recipe, I did a bit of research and to my surprise, I could not find anything different than desserts. I just wanted to do something different than a plate with cheese and honey. Something like a savory pie. Do not get me wrong, a plate with cheese and honey is something to die for but…I wanted to prepare something a bit more complex and interesting! Something cheesy, delicious, crunchy and ridiculously easy to prepare.

For this pie, I thought that giving a kind of Greekish twist would have helped a lot. If you are wondering why, it is because in Greece they use a lot of honey and it is really tasty. I had the opportunity to taste some Greek recipes a few years ago when I visited Santorini. I cannot put into words how delicious everything was! My breakfast was Greek yogurt with walnuts and local honey drizzled on top, simple as that and yet incredibly tasty. I found honey everywhere and among all the recipes I tasted, the one that stole in my heart was phyllo wrapped and pan-fried Saganaki cheese covered with honey. The pie I am presenting today was born out that recipe and that memory. Yet, I gave it a personal twist by using Feta and Halloumi instead of Saganaki (it is quite hard to find it here in Finland!). Obviously, It MUST be serve with honey on top!

Ingredients for a 26-28cm pie:

• 500 grams of phyllo dough (e.g. Myllyn Paras – Filotaikina)
• 200 grams of Feta cheese
• 150 grams of halloumi
• 300 grams of Greek yogurt
• 1 egg
• A pinch of salt
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• (Black pepper to taste)
• Honey to serve

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

With the help of a coarse cheese grater, grate the Halloumi cheese in a bowl. In case you do not have a coarse grater, you can use one with fine holes.

Now in the same bowl, crush the Feta cheese with your hands and then add the yogurt, a pinch of salt and a pinch of black pepper if you wish. Please be careful with salt as Feta and Halloumi are already quite salty.

At this point add one egg and start mixing to combine all the ingredients.

Spread some extra-virgin olive oil in a cake pan and start adding the phyllo dough. What you need to do is to sprinkle some oil in each layer before adding the next one. Also, make sure every phyllo layer is placed in a crisscross manner and continue until you have used about half of the phyllo dough.

Add the cheese filling and spread it carefully. Add the rest of the phyllo dough in the same manner as explained above. Turn the edges inward to create the pie’s border.

Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes. As usual, check after 25 minutes as every oven is different and it might take less or more time.

Remember to serve each slice with some honey drizzled on top!

NOTE: After baking, let your pie rest for approximately 1 hour before serving.