A winter pie of leeks slow-cooked until soft and sweet, mixed with crumbled feta and baked between oiled sheets of phyllo. When the leeks are sweated down properly they lose their raw bite and turn almost buttery, a gentle, mellow filling against the salt of the cheese. A staple of the cold months on the Greek mainland, prasopita is eaten warm in squares as a snack or a light meal, and ranks among the most popular savory pies after spanakopita and tiropita.
Prasopita belongs to the great Greek pita family, the layered phyllo-pie tradition with roots in Byzantine baking. It is particularly tied to Kozani, the capital of Western Macedonia in northern Greece, a region whose cuisine is famous for an enormous range of pies — cheese, greens, meat, leek, nettle, and more. Leeks have long been a winter mainstay there, hardy and sweet when other vegetables are scarce, which made a leek-and-feta pie natural cold-weather fare. The same leeks cooked with rice yield the related dish prasorizo.
A crisp, golden phyllo crust over a soft, pale-green filling. The leeks are silky and sweet, almost melting, their gentle oniony sweetness balanced by the sharp salt of feta and lifted with dill. Milder and more delicate than a spinach pie, it is savory and faintly creamy, best eaten warm while the bottom layer still has its crunch.
The whole point is to drive the water out of the leeks before they go into the pie: thinly sliced, they are sweated slowly in olive oil until they collapse and their moisture cooks off, which is what concentrates their sweetness and keeps the filling from steaming the pastry soggy. Rushed leeks stay watery and wet the bottom phyllo. The feta is salty enough to season the whole filling, and a beaten egg helps bind it; generous oil between the phyllo layers crisps the crust as it bakes.
Variations
For a nistisimi version eaten during Orthodox Lent, the feta and egg are left out and rice is added to firm up an all-plant filling dressed with olive oil. Many cooks blend in a milder cheese such as graviera alongside the feta, or add carrot, garlic, and a splash of white wine. Some shape the filled pastry into a coil, and a closely related Kozani pie, kichi, is the spiral cheese version of the same idea.
On the Palate
Where Prasopita sits in the Greek flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8
How it's made
8 steps · 50 min active + 35 min waiting
- 115 min
Trim and thinly slice a large quantity of leeks, using mostly the white and pale-green parts; wash well.
- 225 min
Sweat the leeks slowly in olive oil over low heat until soft, sweet, and any liquid has cooked off; season and cool.
Watch outSweat the leeks slowly until soft, sweet, and any liquid has cooked off — rushed, watery leeks will steam the bottom phyllo soggy.
- 38 min
Mix the cooled leeks with crumbled feta, chopped dill, and a beaten egg to bind.
- 48 min
Brush a baking tray and phyllo sheets with olive oil; layer half the sheets as the base.
- 56 min
Spread the leek filling evenly, then cover with the remaining oiled phyllo and tuck in the edges.
- 63 min
Score the top into squares, brush with more oil, and sprinkle with a little water and sesame seeds.
- 740 min
Bake at 180C for about 40 minutes until golden and crisp.
Watch outBake until the whole crust is deep golden and crisp — pull it pale and the layered phyllo stays limp instead of shattering.
- 810 min
Rest 10 minutes so the layers set, then cut into squares and serve warm.
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