Greek Zucchini Pie “Mpatzina Thessalias” on wood fired oven

Combine whole milk and shredded zucchini –squeeze to extract all the moisture first- in a large cooking vessel. Add salt, too. Add the flour gradually and blend until the mixture thickens but it is still easy to spread. At this point, add feta cheese, crumbled. Save 100g of feta cheese to add it on top, as a final step before baking. Add olive oil last.

Grease a clay baking tray, using half of the butter. You will add the remaining butter on top of the mixture before you bake. Pour the zucchini mixture into the clay baking tray and spread it evenly. These ingredients’ proportions and a 42-cm-diameter tray guarantee a thin and crispy zucchini pie, as in the traditional recipe.

Before preparing this mixture, it’s best to preheat the traditional wood-fired oven. Place dry hardwood inside the oven. Prefer pieces that aren’t too thick and light the fire as described in the video above. When the oven is preheated, remove the charcoals from the chamber. Wait until it matures and the temperature drops and reaches 240⁰C (464⁰F). Then it’s time to place the clay baking tray in the oven, after you add some crumbled feta cheese and the remaining butter on top of the mixture. Close the oven’s door and bake the pie slowly. After 40 minutes, check it and if its color is golden-yellow, it’s almost done. Adjust the remaining cooking time, depending on how tender or crispy you want your pie to be. Allow it to cool down and cut in pieces. Those crispy edges were our favourite piece. When the pie cools completely, it’s even tastier. Though, there weren’t any pieces left for the next day to try them cool.

Follow our instructions and cook in the traditional wood-fired oven or the electric oven. Enjoy this great zucchini pie, which is considered a category itself. If you want to try a slightly different version of this recipe, you can add 1-2 eggs to the same amount of zucchini mixture.