Cretan meat pie

This Mediterranean meat pie features yoghurt in the dough for a tangy touch, and ricotta and kefalotyri cheese in the filling, for a deliciously creamy finish.

Cretan meat pie Credit: One World Kitchen

• serves

  6

• prep

  45 minutes

• cook

  2 hours

• difficulty

  Ace

Ingredients

• 2 eggs, whisked for egg wash
• ½ tbsp sesame seeds
• ½ tbsp black cumin seeds

Dough

• 4 cups (600 g) flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 egg, whisked
• 1 cup (250 ml) olive oil
• 2 tbsp (40 ml) water
• 1 cup (250 ml) Greek yogurt

Filling

• 1½ cups (375 ml) beef stock
• 1.4 kg leg of lamb
• ½ tsp oregano
• ¼ tsp cinnamon 
• 1½ cups ricotta cheese
• 1½ cups kefalotyri 
• ½ cup mint, finely chopped
• ¼ cup butter
• 1 tbsp flour

Instructions

1. To make the dough, sift flour and salt into a bowl. Pour in egg and mix. Add olive oil and water and combine with your fingers. Add yogurt and mix together. Divide dough into two pieces. Roll out both pieces of dough into large circles, rolling one circle slightly larger than the other.
2. Grease a large pie plate with olive oil. Use the larger circle to line the bottom of the pie plate. Set aside. For the filling, add beef stock and lamb to a pot and bring to a boil. Cook for 1 hour, or until meat is tender.
3. Remove lamb from water, reserving cooking liquid. Strain cooking liquid.
4. Let lamb cool, and then chop lamb into pieces. Add lamb pieces to a bowl. Add oregano, and cinnamon and combine. Add ricotta, kefalotyri, and mint and combine. Add reserved cooking liquid.
5. Pour filling into pie plate. Dot filling with butter. Sprinkle flour over top. Place second dough circle on top of filling. Tuck top layer of dough around edges and cut off excess. Brush with egg wash. Sprinkle with mixture of sesame seeds and black cumin seeds.
6. Bake in oven on 180C (350F) for 1 hour. Serve warm

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.