Phyllo & Feta-Ricotta Torte

[kirra]

Phyllo & Feta-Ricotta Torte

Ingredients:

1 pound Greek feta cheese, crumbled
3 cups cottage cheese (I used ricotta)
3 large eggs
1/3 fresh dill, minced
1/4 cup Romano cheese (I used Parmesan)
1/2 t. freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 t. freshly ground black pepper
1 1-pound box phyllo dough
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
Greek honey, for serving (optional)

Preparation:

The day before making this, thaw the phyllo in the refrigerator. Then, when you go to bed at night, place the box on the counter at room temperature. I also took the extra step of refrigerating the ricotta cheese overnight in a sieve lined with cheesecloth with a weight on top. It might not be necessary, but at least 1/2 cup of liquid came out from the cheese.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a food processor, combine feta, ricotta, eggs, dill, 2 T. Parmesan, the nutmeg and pepper and pulse to combine. (You can also use a large bowl and a fork). Mixture should be well combined, but still chunky, not smooth.

Butter a bundt pan. Sprinkle remaining 2 T. Parmesan into the pan. Drape a sheet of phyllo on top of bundt pan, poke a hole into phyllo where center tube is and push phyllo into pan to line it. Do this with another phyllo sheet, but place it perpendicular to first sheet. Continue adding phyllo sheets in this crisscross manner until all sheets are used. Don’t worry if it seems like an excessive amount of sheets. They will compress down and absorb all the butter that you’ll pour on top in the next step.

Here’s what it looks like when you’ve got all the sheets in place:

Scrape cheese filling into pan, and fold edges of phyllo over filling. Using a sharp knife, poke many holes (at least 20) in dough that reach all the way to bottom of pan. Slowly pour melted butter over torte; some butter will seep through holes and some will remain on top of dough.

Place bundt pan on a baking sheet and bake for about 1 hour 15 minutes, or until torte is puffy and golden brown and looks like this:

Allow torte to cool in pan for 1 to 2 hours before inverting onto a plate and slicing. Serve warm or at room temperature, with honey if desired.