Sarikopites are a typical culinary creation of Eastern Crete.
Their stuffing is mainly with sour myzithra cheese, but for the time of Lent it is stuffed with nuts, coarsely cut walnuts, almonds, cinnamon.
In both cases, they are pouring the pies with their own golden honey filled with herb aromas
In Zaros I tasted the best made in the minute by Maria, one of the best weavers of Crete. Her hands create “poems” on the loom. She also gave me a Cretan towel that they put in weddings under the dish, like todays “sous plat”
Cretan pies – Sarikopites
By Maria Zacharioudaki from Zaros, Heraklion, Crete
For the sheet
- 1 kg flour for all uses
- 500 ml water
- A little olive oil
- A little vinegar
- A little salt
For the filling
- Sour myzithra cheese
- Nutmeg
For the filling of fasting Cretan pie – Sarikopita
- 250 gr. coarsely cut nuts, almonds
- cinnamon cloves
For the finishing
- Local Honey
Open a thin sheet and cut strips with a width of approximately one palm and a length of about 30 cm or a little more.- We spread the sour myzithra or nuts along the strip and close it by folding and pressing with our fingers on both sides.
- We push with our hand to stick and turn our pie like a turban, from where it gets also its name – (sariki + pies in Greek = sarikopites).
- Fry in hot olive oil until it turns brown evenly.
- The turning of the sheets needs mastery.
- Spread the Cretan pies on a platter that we have placed absorbent paper to “absorb” the excess oils.
- Serve the sarikopites on a platter by pouring on them pure honey from our land.
- If we want we also sprinkle with cinnamon and sesame seeds on the Cretan pies for the Lent
- Aromas and flavors of the dream …
