Pashtida, a savory, crustless Israeli vegetable pie, makes regular appearances on brunch and dinner tables, sometimes in its beloved dairy form. This dilled corn and feta pashtida is perfect for a light, warm-weather meal or for Shavuot, when it's customary in Israel to serve pashtida.
I've written before about Israel's love of pashtida, a crustless, savory vegetable pie that often stars zucchini, sweet potatoes, olives, or another vegetal hero. Along with blintzes, a cheesy pashtida is always to be found on the table at Shavuot in Israel, and this one is a contender for your holiday table: featuring the winning combination of feta and corn, it's flavored with fresh dill and topped with a bronzed cap of mozzarella. Also? It's a one bowl recipe. Mix, sprinkle with cheese, bake.
This recipe is adapted from one of my favorite (Hebrew) cookbooks by Benny Saida, who was right there beside me back in the day, when I was clueless about cooking, guiding me on. This is one of the first recipes I had the courage to adapt, mostly because the picture looked so good and there's no kashkeval cheese to be found in the States. Then, I threw in dill, and it just worked. I've been making it this way ever since.
Ingredients
For the corn, I use frozen corn, no need to thaw. The recipe uses 1 ½ cups frozen corn, about half a regular-sized bag. It also calls for feta and mozzarella, though you could swap in any shredded cheese you like in place of the mozzarella. Other than that, there are scallions and fresh chopped dill, plus, as binder, eggs, cream, and just a little bit of flour and baking powder.
Baking the pashtida
You can bake this pashtida in ramekins, like in the photo, for four meal-sized individual portions, or in any medium-sized baking pan as one large pashtida (better if you want to serve smaller portions). The full-sized pashtida will need to bake about 10-15 minutes longer than the individual pashtidot.
It's an optional step, but I like to brown the cheese under the broiler for 2-3 minutes at the end of the cook time.
What to serve along with pashtida
Pashtida always goes well with salads, and that includes salatim—the array of dips, cooked salads, and raw salads that are served as meze in Israel. On Shavuot, I often serve two kinds of pashtida along with savory stuffed blintzes and lots of salads, vegetables, dairy breads, and fruit platters.
This pashtida reheats well in the oven or on a plata (food warmer).
Dilled Corn and Feta Pashtida (dairy)
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup frozen corn - 300 g
- 1 cup cream - 250 ml
- 3 eggs
- 3 scallions - thinly sliced
- 1 Tbsp fresh dill - chopped
- 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- 3.5 oz feta cheese, crumbled - 100 g
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, or another cheese you like - 200 g
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C. Grease a medium-sized rectangular baking dish (about 10"x12" / 25x30 cm) or 4 medium-sized ramekins for smaller pashtidot.
- Combine all the ingredients, except for the shredded cheese, in a mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir to combine.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish(es). Top evenly with the shredded cheese.
- Bake for 50 minutes, until firm, or 50 minutes for ramekins.
- Optionally, turn the broiler on and broil the cheese on top for 2-3 minutes.
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