Recipe of the month Sep 2019

Greek Kreatopita Meat Pie Recipe 

Our recipe for September comes from Viva in Kefalonia

Hello, my name is Viva!
I was born in the island of Kefalonia in a small village called Karousata. I have three children and three beautiful grandchildren. I moved to  New York with my parents in 1968, when I was five years old. I first developed my enthusiasm for cooking at a young age, as my father was a chef and he influenced me to go to culinary school and follow my dream. 

One of the first things I learned to make was bread by my father. I went to school to develop these skills and gained experience and qualifications which set me on the road to be able to open my own eating establishments. One was a coffee shop called "Moms restaurant" and the second one "Bell Vista" which was very successful for me. I have now been a private chef for 10 years, Join me and my passion for cooking in Kefalonia.

Recipe for Kreatopita

This delicious meat pie is a traditional local dish you mustn't miss while visiting Kefalonia Island! Let's have a look at the recipe!

Ingredients
For the filling:

• ½ kg beef cut into cubes
• ½ kg pork meat cut into cubes
• 120ml olive oil
• 250gr kefalotyri or feta cheese, grated
• 60ml White wine
• 60ml water
• 2-3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 1 spoon of marjoram finely chopped
• 2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• Salt and pepper
• 2-3 spoonfuls of tomato paste
• 70g of medium grain rice

For the traditional filo pastry sheet

• ½ kg of flour
• salt
• 1 cup of white wine
• ½ cup of olive oil
• approx. 1 cup of lukewarm water

Preparation - Filling:

1. Brown the cubed meat in a pan using half of the olive oil.
2. Remove from heat and add the tomato paste diluted in the wine, the garlic, cinnamon and marjoram.
3. Next you add the rice, remaining olive oil, cheese and water.

Filo pastry:

1. Combine the flour, salt, water, wine and olive oil in a basin and knead until the dough becomes soft and smooth.
2. Separate the dough in two balls and shape it with a rolling pin into two flat thick sheets.
3. Oil an oblong baking dish 35 X 20 cm and lay one of the filo sheets on the bottom.
4. Spread the stuffing on it and cover it with the other sheet. Fold the excess dough edges towards the inside.
5. Sprinkle with water and olive oil and bake at 180oF until the dough becomes crisp and golden brown.

If you'd like to check out her recipes first hand, Viva cooks for CV Villa guests staying in Kefalonia, browse our collection of villas in Kefalonia here. Find out more information about our villas with a cook service, or try you hand at some more recipes on our blog.