The Zarkopita (Ζυμαρόπιτα) comes from the Epirus region, located in northwestern Greece.
It has various names, such as zymaropita, casopita, flour pie, kurkutopita, or simply pasta, along with numerous variants.
Based on flour, milk, cheese, and butter.
In Epirus, “zarkos” (ζαρκός) means naked.
Thus, it was called zarkopita (naked pie, without a sheet).
While “κάσιου” which translates to cashews from Greek, is instead cheese in the region of Wallachia, hence the misleading name of cashew pie.
It is the most famous cheese pie (“kasa” in the Wallachian dialect* means cheese), also called “fusa,” as it is a kind of melted porridge that is then “poured” into the pan where the butter is melted.
In Greece, the term “pites” refers to many preparations.
Each takes its name from the ingredient that characterizes it:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 4People
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Greek
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 2 1/3 cups cornmeal (or wheat flour)
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup milk
- 5 oz feta
- 5 tbsp butter
Tools
- 1 Baking pan 8×8
Steps
Mix the flour with the egg and milk.
Melt the butter in a baking pan and while still hot, pour in the mixture.
Crumble the feta on top.
Bake in the oven at 356°F for 20 minutes.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
What is the Wallachian dialect?
Wallachian is a commonly used name for the Romance languages of the Balkan group spoken south of the Danube in numerous linguistic islands scattered especially between Albania and Greece (Aromanian dialects) and between Macedonia and Greece (Megleno-Romanian dialects).
