Ossetian Cheese Pie
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 30 minutes plus 1 hour rising time
Cooking time: 60 minutes
Makes 3 pies
- 4 cups bread flour
- 2 teaspoons instant dried yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1.5 cups milk
- 1/2 cup sour cream or natural yogurt
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
For the filling
- 75g/2.7ozs butter
- 1 bunch beet greens and stems
- 6 garlic cloves, peeled and diced
- 1 onion, peeled and diced
- 150g/5ozs. feta, crumbled
- 150g/5ozs. mozzarella. grated
- 100g/3ozs. Swiss cheese, grated
- 1 cup spring onions, chopped
- Salt and pepper for seasoning
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped coriander or dill
Step 1 - Make the dough giving it time to rise. Mix the flour, yeast and sugar together in a bowl and then add in the milk, sour cream and egg and stir until shaggy in texture. Knead with a dough hook until elastic. Oil a bowl and shape the dough into a ball and cover with more oil and allow to rise in a warm place (or place it in the fridge overnight for a slow ferment).
Step 2 - Make sure to wash the beetroot greens really well as a lot of dirt gets trapped in the stems and leaves. I wash each stem individually then another two times because once I was served a beet soup that tasted like dirt and that has scarred me ever since. Chop into small pieces.
Step 3 - Heat a couple of tablespoons of butter in a large skillet or frypan on medium heat and cook the garlic, onion and white part of shallots then add in the stems leaving the leaves until the stem cooks down. Add the leaves once the stems soften and cook on a medium heat slowly so as not to burn the garlic. This will take around 20 minutes or so. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Mix in the cheese and the green onions and herbs and season to taste. Divide into three even sized portions.
Step 4 - Preheat oven to 218C/425F. When you're ready to fill the bread punch down the dough and knead in the salt. Divide into three balls. Grease 3x 20cm/8inch round tins.
Step 5 - Flour a clean surface and roll out one of the balls to around 20cm/8inches in diameter making the edges of the circle slightly thinner than the centre. Place the filling in the centre and then pinch and gather the sides up sealing the edges tight. Turn over and place in one of the tins and then with your palms gently press out to fit the tin and make an even circle. Cut out a small circle in the centre to vent the pie. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden. Brush immediately with melted butter and serve.