Meatless Meals: Froza, a Greek Cheese Pie



This is a traditional recipe from the city of Ioannina in western Greece. The Romaniote Jewish community there prepared a number of unique dishes, mostly focused on vegetarian foods containing dairy products in keeping with Kosher rules. This cheesy pie is a meal unto itself alongside some salad or other vegetables.
Ingredients:
3 eggs
An 8oz package of Farmer Cheese (substitute drained cottage cheese or ricotta)
1/2 package of cream cheese
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
2 handfuls of matzo meal (I have been known to substitute breadcrumbs)
1 handful of grated cheese (optional)



Mix ingredients together and pour into a pie plate. Dot the top with little pats of butter. Bake for 45 minutes at 375°. The top of your froza should be golden brown.

This thrifty recipe came together for a total of $3.76 by my calculations and it contains six servings ($0.63 per serving). I live in an area with a fairly high cost of living so you may be able to do better than I did on food prices. Cost breakdown:

3 eggs ($0.25)
Farmer cheese ($2.68 per package)
1/2 package of cream cheese ($0.50)
3/4 salt (rounded to $.01)
1/2 cup milk ($0.12)
Matzo meal (estimated $0.10)
Grated cheese (estimated $0.10)

If you substitute cottage cheese for the farmer cheese, you can cut that cost down from $2.68 to $1. This is fine to do because farmer cheese is essentially strained cottage cheese. This will bring the cost of the recipe down to $2.08 for the whole pie and $0.35 per serving.


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