Best Greek Lamb Pie Recipes

GREEK LAMB PIE

Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 400°F.
• Lightly grease a 8 1/2 in springform pan.
• Fry the mince and onion in a dry nonstick pan until golden.
• Add the garlic, tomatoes, mint, nutmeg and seasoning.
• Bring to the boil, and simmer, stirring occasionally until most of the liquid has evaporated.
• Wash the spinach and remove any tough stalks, then cook the leaves in only the water clinging to them for about 2 minutes.
• Drain the leaves well and then mix through the meat mixture.
• I sometimes add 1/4 lb of crumbled feta at this stage.
• Lightly brush each sheet of phyllo pastry with oil and lay in overlapping layers in the tin, leaving enough over hanging to wrap over the top.
• Spoon the meat and spinach mix in then wrap the pastry over to enclose.
• Scrunch up any remaining pastry into balls, and place over the top of the pie.
• Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and then bake for about 25-30 minutes or until golden.
• I like to let this cool a little, and serve it with a green salad.

CRISPY GREEK-STYLE PIE

Steps:

• Put the spinach into a large pan. Pour over a couple tbsp water, then cook until just wilted. Tip into a sieve, leave to cool a little, then squeeze out any excess water and roughly chop. Roughly chop the tomatoes and put into a bowl along with the spinach, feta and eggs. Mix well.
• Carefully unroll the filo pastry. Cover with some damp sheets of kitchen paper to stop it drying out. Take a sheet of pastry and brush liberally with some of the sundried tomato oil. Drape oil-side down in a 22cm loosebottomed cake tin so that some of the pastry hangs over the side. Brush oil on another piece of pastry and place in the tin, just a little further round. Keep placing the pastry pieces in the tin until you have roughly three layers, then spoon over the filling. Pull the sides into the middle, scrunch up and make sure the filling is covered. Brush with a little more oil.
• Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Cook the pie for 30 mins until the pastry is crisp and golden brown. Remove from the cake tin, slice into wedges and serve with salad.

LEGENDARY LAMB PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
• Season lamb meat with a pinch of salt & pepper, before adding 2 Tbsp of oil to a dutch oven on medium-high heat. Brown Meat until golden brown all over, you may do this in batches.
• Remove meat from pan add remaining olive oil along with the onion, garlic, celery and carrots. Cook for 5-7 minutes or until browned.
• Add meat back to the pan along with red wine, cook for 1-2 minutes until wine reduces to bubbles, pour in stock and add the bay leaves, thyme rosemary and a pinch of salt & pepper.
• Bring to a boil cover with a lid and place in the oven to cook for 4-6 hours or meat falls apart. Remove from the oven and cook on stove top with lid off until sauce reduces by a third.
• Meanwhile, bring another pot of water to a boil add a pinch of salt and cook potatoes for 8-10 minutes or until easily pierced with a knife. Drain and mix in a bowl with 1 tbsp of butter and season with salt and pepper.
• Turn your broiler or grill on, spoon ricotta on top of lamb mix, followed by potato mix, and cook for 5-7 minutes or until slight little bits of golden color appear on the surface. Take straight to the table :).

TOURTA KRITIKI (CRETAN EASTER LAMB PIE)

Steps:

• Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. In a medium bowl, combine 4 cups of the flour and 1 teaspoon salt. Make a well in the center. Add the yeast mixture, the 1/4 cup olive oil and 2 eggs, very well beaten. Stir with a fork from the center outward until a dough begins to form. Lightly dust a work surface with flour. Knead the dough until silky to the touch, 10 to 12 minutes, adding more flour if necessary. Grease a bowl with olive oil. Place the dough in the bowl, cover, and allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
• In a heavy skillet, heat the 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the scallions, and saute over medium heat until wilted. Add the lamb. Season with cinnamon, salt and pepper. Brown, stirring frequently, about 10 minutes.
• Combine the anthotyro or ricotta with the shredded gravieri cheese. Stir in 1 egg.
• Lightly oil a 9-inch springform pan. Divide the dough in half. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the first half to a circle about 13 inches in diameter. Place on the bottom of the pan, and lightly press around the sides. There should be at least an inch of dough hanging over the pan's top rim. Spread half the lamb on the bottom of the pan. Spread half the cheese mixture evenly over it. Repeat with the remaining lamb and cheese. Roll out the second half of the dough, and place over the filling. Trim the edges, leaving 1 to 1 1/2 inches of dough hanging over the outer sides of the pan. Roll up the dough to form a rim of crust around the top of the pan. Cover, and set aside for 45 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat the remaining egg. With a sharp knife make four slits in the surface of the dough. Brush the dough with the beaten egg, and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for about 50 minutes, until the pastry is golden and begins to separate from the sides of the pan. Cool slightly on a rack. Remove the sides of the pan just before serving.