1 teaspoon

3 tbsp. spoons

2 pcs.

1 PC.

1 PC.

20%

200 gr.

2 pcs.

4 branches

0.5 tsp

1/4 teaspoon

3 tbsp. spoons

The ease of preparing pies such as open-top vegetable or meat pies lies, perhaps, in their cooking process. The advantage is that all the filling and the dough around it are baked quite well and do not remain raw, as is often observed in closed pies when the dough is ready, but near the wet filling it is still somewhat damp. But today, special importance is attached to pies that are made in a slow cooker. Their beauty lies in the fact that they rarely burn with this method of cooking, and the filling browns very attractively. And it does not burn or dry out, as is often observed in conventional ovens. One such example of a delicious open top pie is this Zucchini Chicken Pie.

The dough will be flaky, which makes the dish even tastier. Moreover, the pie is delicious both hot and cold. First, prepare all the necessary ingredients so that everything is on the table and ready to go. When young, zucchini does not need to be peeled. But if you got old zucchini with a tougher skin, then it is better to trim it first. In addition to zucchini, zucchini, which has a pale green skin color, can also be used. But today we are cooking with zucchini.


All products must be fresh and of high quality. Some types of food should be prepared in advance. The butter must be immediately removed from the freezer so that it softens at room temperature. Beat the eggs separately with a whisk in a deep bowl. Let them sit for a while, then you will need to beat them one more time along with sour cream and spices to get a filling. For chicken meat, it is better to use part of the breast. The meat is cut into fairly small pieces or cubes. The zucchini needs to be grated and placed on a towel so that their juice can then be squeezed out. Excess juice may prevent the dough from baking well. Finely chop the onion and fresh dill. If you like the onion to be felt in the pie, then cut it into half rings.


Let's start preparing the dough. Pour the flour into a bowl, add salt and mix. Place softened butter cut into pieces on top of it. Then knead everything until soft dough crumbs form. You need to knead everything with your hands, not with slow, but with quick movements.


Then cold water is added and everything is kneaded until a soft dough is obtained. The dough should be soft and quite elastic, but in order for it to be finally ready for baking, it should be kept in the cold for some time. By the way, you shouldn’t knead the dough for too long, it will become tough. Roll the dough into a ball shape and place it on cling film. We wrap everything up and put it on a free shelf in the refrigerator. The dough should sit there for about 30 minutes.


Now while the dough is chilling, you can mix the filling ingredients. Take a towel with chopped zucchini and roll it into a bag, which will release juice when twisted. Extract the juice from vegetables this way. Now the zucchini can be mixed together with pieces of raw chicken fillet. Sometimes I wish I could really taste the zucchini in a pie. For such cases, I simply do not grate them, but cut them into cubes. Then it is not necessary to squeeze the juice out of them.


Now I turn on the multicooker in the “Frying” mode for 20-30 minutes and during this period of time I lightly fry the zucchini, onions and chicken, but only all separately. For frying, I add another tablespoon of vegetable oil to each ingredient. Vegetables and meat should not be fried together in a slow cooker for the reason that they will be stewed due to their juice rather than fried.
Now the multicooker bowl is covered with strips of baking paper (parchment paper cut into strips). The dough is removed from the refrigerator and rolled out into a circle, approximately the size of the multi-cooker bowl, only 2-3 cm larger. After this, the dough is laid out in a multicooker and leveled so that you also get sides 2-3 cm high.


After this, the fried filling should be placed on the dough - chicken and vegetables that were previously fried. Then immediately pour the resulting filling of eggs, sour cream, dill and spices on top. Level everything well with a spatula.


Now the multicooker should be turned on to the “Baking” mode and the cooking time should be set to 1 hour 45 minutes. When finished, the filling will still remain moist, but it will not spread, but will set and be more or less formed. The edges of the dough should be browned and the whole dish will smell delicious.


The pie is taken out of the bowl using strips of paper. All paper is removed and the cake is carefully placed on a dish or round tray. There is no need to sprinkle or decorate the cake with anything. After all, his appearance in itself is so beautiful.

Let's prepare a very tasty Greek with zucchini. The recipe is very simple, there is nothing complicated in preparation, even a beginner can handle it. The pie turns out very aromatic and appetizing; the combination of tender dough with juicy dough will not leave anyone indifferent. Be sure to prepare this dish at home and see that everything ingenious is simple.

Ingredients:

• 140 grams of flour;
• 450-500 grams;
• 100 grams of hard cheese;
• 3 pieces of chicken eggs;
• 90-100 grams of onions;
• 1 teaspoon;
• 50 milliliters of olive oil;
• 1 teaspoon salt;
• 1 teaspoon baking powder.

Delicious Greek zucchini pie. Step by step recipe

1. First, let's prepare the zucchini: wash it, trim the ends and grate it on a coarse grater.
2. Next, peel the onion and grate it on a coarse grater into a bowl with the zucchini.
3. Grate hard cheese onto the vegetables in a bowl on a fine grater.
4. Sift the flour into a convenient bowl, add baking powder, salt, herbes de Provence, and mix everything.
5. Beat the eggs into a convenient bowl and beat with a mixer until fluffy (I beat for about one minute). Add olive oil to the beaten eggs and continue beating for about thirty seconds.
6. Pour the egg mixture into the grated vegetables and cheese, mix everything thoroughly. Then add the flour mixture and mix everything well again.
7. Cover the baking pan with parchment paper and spread the homogeneous mass, distributing it evenly over the surface of the pan.
8. Place the pan on a medium level in an oven preheated to 180 degrees and bake for forty to forty-five minutes.
9. Next, take the cake out of the oven, let it cool for ten minutes (it will settle slightly), pull it out of the pan, remove the parchment paper and transfer it to a plate.

The zucchini pie is ready, it will undoubtedly delight your family with its taste. I like to cook

“I’ve already tried something similar somewhere!” - this is the thought that arises after trying Ligurian zucchini pie.

Certainly! The taste of the filling is reminiscent of our pies with pickles, which are also baked with rice. It is therefore relatively easy to imagine what you can expect from a Ligurian pie. It is natural to assume that the taste of the pie filling will be milder due to the use of fresh zucchini and cheese.

A special feature of the original recipe is the use of a local variety of zucchini, the so-called trombetta. The pulp of young fruits is very dense with a delicate and delicate taste.

How to use a recipe without having the main ingredient with certain qualities on hand? All you have to do is either experiment yourself, or take advantage of the experience of experienced experimenters. In any case, always take mistakes personally.

The recipe for the pie, which I will give below, was the result of the experience of baking 3 pies with successive complication of preparing the filling. Having started with a “simple” recipe from a women’s website, I eventually had to turn to food bloggers living directly in Liguria, using their recommendations aimed at designing the taste of the pie.

Once again I was able to see that popular magazines purposefully simplify recipes for traditional dishes in order to attract attention to the publication itself, and not to the culture of the kitchen.

Ligurian zucchini pie / Torta alle zucchine ligure

Ingredients for a mold with a diameter of 26-28 cm.

For the dough: 250 g flour, 125 ml water, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, a pinch of salt;

For the filling: 1 kg zucchini, 1 large onion, clove of garlic, 100 g rice, 100 g grated cheese, 3 eggs, nutmeg, salt, pepper, marjoram (dry or fresh), olive oil.

Knead the dough from the above ingredients and leave to proof for at least 30 minutes.

From the prepared zucchini, select 200-300 g of the densest ones, which are cut into small cubes. Grate the remaining zucchini on a coarse grater, sprinkle with salt and leave in a colander (preferably under a light load) for 30 minutes to allow excess vegetative fluid to drain, then add a little extra!!! squeeze out the mass. Do not pour out accumulated liquid!

Add water to the accumulated liquid to obtain a volume of approximately 200-250 ml. In this volume of liquid, boil the rice for 10 minutes, which should remain half-raw. If during cooking not all the liquid is absorbed into the rice, the remainder must be drained.

In a frying pan in olive oil, simmer finely chopped onion and garlic until soft, then add diced zucchini and sauté together with the onion for several minutes, and then put a lot of grated zucchini and flavorings in the form of spices and herbs into the same frying pan. Mix well and keep on the fire for another couple of minutes, then cool the vegetables.

Mix cooled vegetables with rice, grated cheese and eggs, adjust salt and pepper.

From the proofed dough, form a two-layer pie shell according to the method described. Arrange the trimmings of three layers (one bottom and two top) on top of the pie, the surface of which is greased with milk or butter.

Bake in an oven preheated to 180 C until done.

Let the cake sit at least overnight before serving. The taste will definitely become more elegant.

When storing, it is better not to wrap the pie in bags so that the dough does not lose its crispness.

My comments

The most important clarifications concern the main ingredients of the pie filling.

I used regular zucchini with dark green skin. The pulp of their fruits is relatively watery, so I grated 2/3 doses to free the vegetables from excess liquid.

It should be noted that in the first version I used only grated and squeezed zucchini. On the second day, the pie seemed to me too dry and lacking in the taste of vegetables.

I didn’t really like the second option, when diced zucchini was used for the filling. Firstly, there is a large waste in the form of the central seed part. Secondly, the final taste of the filling is too uneven.

That’s why I came up with the option that when using this type of zucchini, 2/3 of the dose can be grated and squeezed out the excess liquid, and 1/3 can be cut into cubes to preserve the taste of the vegetables.

What kind of rice should I use? Ligurians claim that any. I only had the one used for risotto. I didn’t see any fundamental difference whether this kind of rice can or cannot be used.

Whether or not to use the liquid from squeezed zucchini is an independent decision and does not apply to the traditional technique of making a pie.

It is more important to decide whether to use traditional stretch pastry for baking or turn to puff pastry. There are also options online with puff pastry, but with a clearly smaller volume of filling.

Stretched dough allows you to prepare a pie rich in filling. On the second day, the shell of this dough retains its crispness and does not get soggy even at the bottom, as happens without fail with puff pastry.

The recipe is included in

The recipe for this pie is very special, as my Italian mother-in-law, who was born and lives in Liguria, shared it with me. She has been a housewife all her life, so she cooks excellently. And this very pie is one of her signature dishes, my husband’s favorite treat, and now mine! 🙂 The pie is served cold, so it’s best to prepare it the day before. Perfect even for the hot Italian summer, as it is quite light.

Ingredients:

2 sheets of dough (you can make your own . If you buy ready-made, then puff pastry is better.)

600 g zucchini trombetta

2-3 eggs (depending on size)

50 g grated parmesan

handful of boiled rice

dried marjoram (optional)

olive oil

Tools:

baking paper

Finely chop the onion

Finely chop the zucchini

Important addition: in Liguria they use trombetta zucchini.

They are more delicate in taste, they contain less water and if they are sold with flowers, you can cut them up and add flowers as well. These zucchini have a thin skin and do not need to be peeled, just wash them well. But finding them is not easy even in Italy itself, not to mention Russia. If you don’t find it, I think you can use regular ones, but only very young ones.

Add zucchini to it and fry for 15 minutes, stirring constantly

Let cool slightly.

At the same time, you need to boil the rice

I used the kind you make risotto with (arborio), but you can use any white rice.

After the ingredients have cooled, add Parmesan to the pan with the onions and zucchini and stir.

Add well-beaten eggs (I beat them by hand, as for an omelet). Mix.

Add boiled rice, marjoram, salt to taste (I added three pinches), then mix well:

Prepare the dough:

If the dough is purchased, then, as a rule, it is already sold with baking paper. The dough must be removed from the refrigerator at least 20 minutes before cooking. The dough should be quite thin, so if necessary, roll it out further.

Place the first sheet of dough on the baking pan. Pass the dough with a fork. Small holes will protect it from burning and from excessive swelling.