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How to make Nigella Lawson’s Greek Feta Pie (Old Rag Pie) — easy, rich and delicious (video)

I’ve been looking for new recipes this week, considering we in Austria are still in our second idiotic lockdown.

One I came across and have made twice since is Nigella Lawson’s Greek Feta Pie, otherwise known as Nigella Lawson’s Old Rag Pie or, in Greece, Patsavouropita.

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As she says, it is so easy to make, cooks in a few minutes and is rich and delicious. It can also be eaten hot or cold and, I found, it’s even tastier the day after.

Of course, this is a high-calorie dish (filo pastry, butter, feta and Parmesan cheese and honey? come on!), but it is delicious, and worth making if you just want a treat on those days where you don’t care how much you eat.

So, how to make Nigella Lawson’s Greek Feta Pie?

The directions honestly couldn’t be easier.

 

Layering the filo pastry, cheese and thyme couldn’t be easier

How to make Nigella Lawson’s Greek Feta Pie (Old Rag Pie)

Ingredients

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100g/3½oz soft butter
1 x  x 270g/9½oz packet frozen filo pastry,
200-250g/7-9oz feta cheese
2 tsp grated Parmesan
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves or 1 tsp dried
2 large eggs
150ml/5fl oz full-fat milk
1-2 tablespoons of honey

Cutting the pie across both sides allows the egg and milk mixture to soak in

Method for making Nigella Lawsons’s Old Rag Pie

  1. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.
  2. Line a baking tin with 1-2 sheets of frozen filo pastry. You can make your own pastry, of course, but frozen pastry is much easier and faster.
  3. Melt the butter and pour a tablespoon of melted butter over the pastry and smooth it around.
  4. Then scrunch up several other sheets of pastry and place on top of the butter until you have created another layer of pastry.
  5. Crumble the feta over the top of the scrunched sheets of filo, and grate the Parmesan cheese over the top of that.
  6. Sprinkle the thyme leaves over the top of the cheese (I use fresh as I grow it in my kitchen, but dried is just as tasty).
  7. Pour another tablespoon of the melted butter over the top.
  8. Repeat the process one more time — scrunched up filo sheets to create a third layer, feta cheese, Parmesan cheese, thyme and butter.
  9. Create a final layer with more filo pastry but this time making the pastry a little tighter than the bottom looser layers. Fold over the edges so that all the pastry is contained inside the baking tin.
  10. Drizzle the remaining butter over the top of the pastry, and then make two cuts across the dish, turn around and make two cuts the other way (see video below).
  11. Beat the eggs and milk together and pour over the top of the pastry (the cuts in the pastry are to make sure this mixture soaks throughout the dish).
  12. Finish off with a sprinkling of more thyme leaves. (Nigella also sprinkles sesame seeds over the top but, honestly, I didn’t see the point and certainly didn’t miss the flavor when the dish was cooked).
  13. Let the dish sit for 30 minutes allowing the egg and milk mixture to soak in.
  14. Place the old rag pie in the oven for 30 minutes.
  15. Remove from the oven and, while still hot, pour 1-2 tablespoons of honey over the top of the now cooked Old Rag Pie. (Again, Nigella pours a lot more honey than that over the top but, for me, the first time I made it the taste was simply too sweet).
  16. Cut into small slices and serve while still warm.

You will find more of Nigella Lawson’s delicious recipes here.

 

How to make Nigella Lawson’s ‘Sticky Toffee Pudding’ — rich, delicious and oh so fattening

Michelle Topham
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