So, the Memorial Day weekend  passed, the Memorial Day being Monday. As is  customary, we had a barbecue dinner.  Being Greek, though,  I needed a little extra, you know, like  a pie, to celebrate the day. I took  Chrysa Paradisi down from the shelf and made this wonderful zucchini pie. I think I overdid it with salt but but my husband loved it!  He kept enjoying and praising the pie the next day,  when he timidly asked if it was too hard to make 🙂  Bring the zucchini mix to your taste for salt and pepper and enjoy! I did make the dough myself which didn’t take too long but, still, not something you’d like to try when you’re back home from work.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 pounds (1 kilo) zucchini, sliced
• salt, pepper
• 250 grams feta cheese
• 1/2 cup Parmesan (I did one cup Parmesan and 100 grams feta cheese)
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 4 eggs
• 2 tablespoons bread crumbs
• parsley, chopped
• For the dough: 4 cups flour, 1 cup butter, 1 teaspoon salt, 10 tablespoons water

How to make: To make the filling, heat the oil and saute the onion for about 5 minutes. Add the zucchini (sliced), salt & pepper and cook for about half an hour. When ready, add the feta cheese crumbled,  Parmesan, bread crumbs, yogurt, the four eggs beaten, salt, pepper and parsley. Save couple of tablespoons of egg to brush on the dough later. To prepare the dough, cut the butter in small pieces and combine it with the flour, using your hands. Squeeze and rub the butter against the flour until you get a crumbly texture. Add the salt and water and knead to make a ball. Let it stand in the fridge for 15-30 minutes. Cut the dough in half and roll the first half flat, enough to cover the bottom of an 11 inch/28cm round pan.  Add the zucchini mix. Then, roll the other half of the dough flat and cut it in stripes (it’s easier when you use a pizza cutter). Twist the stripes and arrange them on top of the zucchini mix in a checkered pattern.  Brush the stripes with egg. Cook in a hot oven for about 15 minutes. Then, lower the heat to 390F/200C oven and cook for another half hour or until a knife comes out clean.

Notes and tips: The dough looks dark because I used whole wheat flour. You can, of course, use regular flour. I want to say, though, that whole wheat is an acquired taste. If you use it early on with your kids, they will like it. Switching from white flour to whole wheat can be harder.

Update March 22, 2013.

Enjoy this beautiful version of the recipe that our nanny made with non-twisted stripes!

Zucchini pie without a twist