Eating Greek
Greek Pie Squared
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By Diane Kochilas Photography: Vassilis Stenos / Food styling: Tina Webb Greek savory pies—pita—offer endless possibilities at every dining level When most non-Greeks think of a crisp, warm Greek pie they think Spanakopita, one of the signature dishes of the Greek kitchen, which has crossed ethnic boundaries to become an international favorite. But most Greeks have a much broader sense of what a pita is: phyllo, homemade or commercial nowadays, filled with an endless array of delicious Greek ingredients, from feta, kasseri and other cheeses, to wild greens and herbs, olives, nuts, sun-dried tomatoes, fish and seafood, meats, seasonal vegetables, even starches like rice and trahana. There are countless incarnations of this ingenious, traditional food. Start with phyllo dough, factor in a variety of fillings, multiply by different shapes and sizes and the mathematical possibilities are, well, infinite! In Greece, pita is not bread. Greeks call the flatbread known to Americans as pita, Araviki pita, Arab bread, denoting its provenance. In the Greek kitchen this flatbread has but one use, as a wrapper for gyro and souvlaki, warmed on the griddle the better to absorb the tangy tzatziki that is slathered generously within. But Greek pita—savory pie—is a different story altogether. Greek pita can be any relatively flat stuffed pie or bread, and can take any shape, from round to square to triangular or even coiled. It can be individual and handheld—think large triangle or half moon—or made in a sheet pan or even a tart pan and cut into serving pieces. It can morph into gourmet beggar’s purses, so long as there is phyllo and filling. Pita and their diminutive pitakia (small, individual shapes) are usually baked, but in some regions, especially the Aegean islands, these small pies end up more often cooked in the skillet in plenty of olive oil than in the oven. Pita can even be served with sauce or, more traditionally, with yogurt or soft, sour fermented cheese on the side. While the crust sandwiching that endless array of fillings is typically phyllo, there is also a whole range of traditional northern Greek pies that call for a crust of cornmeal, made by sprinkling handfuls on the top and bottom of the pan. The cornmeal cooks together with the pie filling’s natural juices or with a little milk or water poured on top and turns crunchy during baking. There are also batter pies, named with a little poetic license, tembelopita—lazy pie—because their preparation is fast and easy and does not require the laborious task of working with phyllo. Savory pies evolved as a way to stretch the larder and make a substantial, filling meal from a few simple ingredients. We find pites (pl.) in every region of Greece, but a few regional cuisines in particular are indelibly linked to these delicious, rustic treats. Mainland and northern Greece, from Thessaly and Roumeli to Epirus, Macedonia and Thrace are the undisputed home of Greek pita. The dish was born out of the itinerant shepherds’ tradition as a way to make a hearty meal that could be cooked in situ in makeshift dome-shaped ovens that were part of every clan’s panoply of kitchen gear as they moved from the lowlands to the highlands and back, migrating south in spring and north in summer. These pies could be made with almost anything that was on hand in a shepherd’s mobile larder, cheeses, milk, greens foraged in every season, a few grains of trahana thrown in for substance. The twice yearly migrations meant that extended families were traversing rough terrain, and these pies, which are easily transported, made for a very convenient food.  Regional Distinctions In Epirus alone, there are dozens of cheese pies, differentiated by the number of phyllo in each, or the type of cheese, or the combination of cheese and something else— eggs, greens, rice, etc. Greens pies are truly endless. In Macedonia, cheese pie is made with a kind of homemade phyllo that resembles puff pastry. In the Aegean islands, for example, small greens pies sometimes contain up to 15 or 20 different wild greens and herbs, everything from wild fennel, lemon balm and poppy leaves to stinging nettles, chard, chervil and more. They are nutritional powerhouses, packed with minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants. Greek savory pies are an exceptional conduit for a vast range of Greek ingredients, and one only has to look at the regional varieties to get an inkling of the possibilities. In the Ionian islands, for example, we encounter some unusual pies that combine different meats; Cephalonian meat pie, made with pork, beef, and lamb, is a well-known local dish. But then so are the aromatic meat pies of Epirus, which are usually made on special occasions, such as New Year’s. Meat and trahana pies are a constant theme running through the cuisine of Thessaly and Macedonia.  Greek savory pies in every shape and size make great hand-held treats Vegetable Pies One of the most endearing aspects of Greek pita cuisine is the number of vegetables and the endless combinations therein that Greek home cooks have devised as filling. Some of these pies are tied to specific regions, too. For example, eggplant pie is a specialty of Thessaly and there are dozens of variations on the theme. Pumpkin, not an ingredient most non-Greeks readily think of as part of the traditional Greek kitchen, plays a great role in the country’s autumn pies, both sweet and savory. Pumpkin married with mint, feta, and onions is a favorite combination. Summer squash is another favorite, especially in the island cooking. One great dish is the boureki from Hania, which calls for layering a local cheese, xinomyzithra, with slices of fresh zucchini and lots of mint between layers of phyllo. The end result is a delicious, perfumed summer pie. In the small villages around the Prespes Lakes in northern Greece, roasted peppers become a favorite pie filling. One of the most unusual pies I have ever encountered is an old Macedonian Lenten dish for a walnut, onion, and tomato pie. Whenever I make this, friends and family members immediately think the filling contains ground meat, it’s so hearty. Of all vegetables, though, greens are arguably the most important filling. Greece’s incredibly rich flora provides an unimaginable array of fillings for savory pies. A friend, botanist, and chronicler of the wild greens and herbs of Crete once said to me that if you know the greens you’ll never go hungry. I might add to that: if you know the greens and you master the art of making phyllo dough, you will always be sated.  The art of phyllo I will never forget the first time I saw a Greek cook “open”—that’s the verb Greeks use—her own phyllo pastry. From a simple mixture of flour, salt, water, and olive oil, and starting with walnut size pieces of dough, she opened sheet after sheet of paper-thin phyllo using a tool that seemed to me at the time uncannily primitive: a simple dowel, the kind you can buy at your corner hardware store. She broke off nuggets of dough from the large ball she’d made and let rest, slapped the first one on a floured surface, and worked the disk along the dowel, coaxing it out from the center with her nimble fingers. This she did with an impressive economy of movement and speed. In less than three minutes she’d opened five or six sheets. In this day and age, the arcane art of phyllo is helped along by two inventions: the pasta maker and the commercially available box of frozen or refrigerated phyllo. The latter doesn’t lend the same warm comfort to the final pie, but it is convenient and quick and enables the cook to concentrate on creating fillings both imaginative and traditional. In the regional kitchen, every corner of the country also has its phyllo recipe. Some call for yogurt in the dough (the Ionian), which lends a springy texture to the pastry; others call for a copious amount of olive oil, which gives the dough a delicious flavor and helps make it crisp. Yeast is added in some places, baking powder or other leaveners never, at least to the best of my knowledge. Eggs are an ingredient in some homemade phyllo. Greek home cooks say the phyllo needs acid to help make it crumbly, and the acid of choice for most is either a shot glass of raki or ouzo, white wine, lemon juice, or vinegar.  From individual pies, easy to hold, to whole pan pies, Greek pita offers endless options at every dining level Versatility and Comfort One of the beauties of Greek savory pies is that they are accommodating. These versatile dishes are perfect for a simple weekday meal or a festive dish for entertaining. They make a great appetizer or hors d’oeuvre, but they can also be made into a substantial, rustic or sophisticated main course. Something magical happens when you cloak a filling, any filling, so long as it’s tasty, in between layers of phyllo or beneath a crust of earthy corn meal. No matter how you prepare Greek savory pies, the whole will always seem greater than the sum of its parts. |
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