Pies do it. Pasties do it. Sticky Middle Eastern and Mediterranean sweets do it. And so do some of SBS's favourite cooks: pair pastry with cheese in unbeatable ways. It's a diverse global family, taking in everything from superfine filo and strudel-style doughs wrapped around sweet and savoury fillings to hearty pies making the most of sturdy, flaky, buttery pastries. Some even put the cheese IN the pastry, to double up on deliciousness (we're looking at you - longingly! - ).
If you, too, love the rich rewards of cheese-meets-pastry, here are some of our favourite recipes.
It all starts with spanakopita ...
We're starting with this combo of greens, salty cheese and flaky filo because when it comes to savoury cheese and pastry recipes on SBS Food, this Greek classic has claimed the top spot for years. Leading the way is , which combines spinach or silverbeet with three kinds of cheese and spring onions and layers it under buttery fresh filo.
If you'd like to try your hand at making your own filo, Peter Gergakoloulos, of popular blog has shared with us , which wraps her home-made filo around a filling that includes English spinach, feta, ricotta, dill and mint.
These are far from our only spanakopita offerings of course: you can change things up with , from Greek Week in The Chefs' Line; or , which uses butter puff pastry.
Food Safari's spanakopita Source: Sharyn Cairns
The making of "My mum’s spanakopita:. Source: Peter Georgakopoulos
Before we roam on to other corners of the globe, here's one more example of how well Greece does a spinach and feta pie. This - wild greens pie - from northern Greece combines spinach, silverbeet, nettles or other bitter greens and sorrel, with Greek sheep's feta. Six layers of home-made filo, brushed with a butter and olive oil mixture, go beneath the filling, another six above, creating an irresistibly golden, flaky pie.
Hortopita from Food Safari Fire Source: Toufic Charabati
There's three sides to this story
In the world of cheese-filled pastries, there's a special corner (see what we did there!) for triangular parcels, such as . Made with a simple olive oil and flour dough and filled with a mixture of salty cheese, milk and egg, these are easy to make and brilliant warm or cold.
You might wonder why a whole host of Middle Eastern triangles, such as or , aren't claiming podium spots in this part of our list. That's because most of them are made with yeasted bread dough, so for the purposes of keeping this list somewhat contained (really, it could go on forever!), we've drawn a line between bready triangles and non-leavened pastry triangles. Equally delicious, just different.
Albanian cheese triangles Source: Jennifer May
Is it a pizza, or is it a pie?
This , from Made in Italy with Silvia Colloca, is a savoury pie - and made with pastry, not dough. Ricotta, pecorino, eggs and silverbeet or Swiss chard are baked inside two layers of pastry. This is a great recipe if you need to do part of the prep in advance, as the pastry can be made a day ahead.
Silvia Colloca's pizza rustica. Source: Made in Italy with Silvia Colloca
On a roll
Call it pita (like ) or börek (such as) or a swathe of other local names, there's one thing this type of filled, rolled pastry has in common. When done properly, they're just so good. Some styles are made with a wonderfully chewy dough, others with a thin, light filo style. The fillings vary just as much. In , the filling is simply cheese with parsley and feta, sharing the star billing with a glorious home-made golden pastry.
Haloumi - a star of the cheese pantheon! - meets pastry in these :
While we're on a roll, let's push the cheese-meets-pastry boundaries with this American cheeseburger meets Asian spring roll invention: .
Borek - cheese and herb pastry. Source: Christopher Ireland / Feast Magazine
Shane Delia's haloumi rolls Source: Murdoch Books
Cheeseburger spring rolls Source: Richo's Bar Snacks
Perfect pies
We have so many cheesy pies that picking just a few for this list is a real challenge. You can find more in our , but here's a sample: There's , with a mustard-spike shortcrust pastry;, little square parcels filled with potato, onion, dill and two types of cheese; and , which as the name suggests is traditional Easter fare, but equally good at any time of year.
Here's another substantial bake that looks like a strong contender for this list: Paul Hollywood's , with two kinds of cheese in the filling. "Delicious hot or cold," Hollywood says.
Or for a Swedish take on cheese pie, how about this , from Rachel Khoo, shared in her latest show, ? It's got a fascinating pastry, with vodka and mustard in the ingredients, and the filling is made with traditional Swedish Västerbotten cheese, though you can easily substitute a mature cheddar.
An olive oil dough encases this silverbeet and ricotta Easter pie. Source: Emiko Davies
Paul Hollywood's egg and bacon pie. Source: Paul Hollywood's Pies and Puds
Västerbotten Cheese Pie Source: My Swedish Kitchen
Terrific tarts
Our tart recipe collection is a particularly rich hunting ground for winning . One particularly popular choice is this by Rowie Dillon.
Other great options include (ring the changes with whatever green veg you have at hand); or an ,
Tomato, onion and goat's cheese tart Source: Harper Collins
Two final faves
These were a farmers market stall success in Poh & Co and you can see why. As well as cheese in the filling, there's cheese in the pastry too. And while they used purple sweet potato, you can easily use different sweet potato varieties or pumpkin. Spinach will work well instead of kale, too.
And no list of savoury pastries filled with cheese would be complete without gözleme! Try, from the Feast Magazine archives:
Purple sweet potato and kale pastries Source: Poh & Co.
Lamb, silverbeet and feta gözleme Source: Chris Chen
And then there's the sweet side of this perfect pairing...
All those savoury pies and rolls are only half the story. Wonderful things happen when cheese meets pastry in the world of sweet baking too.
Let's start with these cocoa cannoli - yes, that's right, have three claims on our hearts, with cheese, pasty AND chocolate.
Sticking with the same delicious trinity, here's an easy way to whip up a sweet pastry: these are filled with a mix of cream cheese, ricotta, tahini, chopped chocolate and candied orange, but you can make a quick-fix version by using chocolate tahini.
And finally, let us finish with a desert where it's all about the pastry and the cheese. You'll find versions of this sweet dessert, make with angel hair pastry, cheese and sweet syrup, from the Middle East to Greece. of Turkish künefe, below, uses mozzarella; or try , which can be made with young, unsalted cheddar and should be eaten hot, while the cheese is still warm and melted.
Want more? Take a look at our , for temptations from , toplus of course and other savoury stars. And see Rachel Khoo make her cheese pie in the final episodes of My Swedish Kitchen, Monday March 16 from 7.30pm, then on SBS On Demand.
Cannoli al cacao con ricotta. Source: Paola Bacchia
Sweet cheese, tahini and chocolate flogeres Source: Benito Martin
Cheese pastry (künefe). Source: Murdoch Books
