Kataifi, Haloumi & Pistachio Crunchy Bake

Serves 8-10

Time 1 hour

Ingredients

Syrup

1 cup caster sugar

250mL water

1 tbsp rosewater or orange blossom water

Kataifi

375g kataifi pastry, at room temperature

1 tsp sugar

1 cup halloumi, finely grated

1 cup fresh pecorino (not aged) or mozzarella, finely grated

¼ cup walnuts, grated

¼ cup pistachios, grated 

150g unsalted butter, melted

1 lemon, zest

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C. 

Pour all of the ingredients for the syrup into a saucepan and simmer gently on a low heat for 10 minutes. 

Combine the sugar, halloumi, pecorino, walnuts, pistachios and lemon zest in a large bowl. 

Gently stretch the kataifi out and loosen the strings. Cut the kataifi into chunks to shorten the strings and place in a bowl, fluff up the pastry to ensure there are no clumps. Pour the melted butter over the pastry and ensure it’s all coated with butter. 

Place a sheet of baking paper across the bottom of a springform tin. Place half of the pastry into the tin, use your hands to pack the pastry down, fill in any holes. Pour the cheese mixture into the dish, keep it in the centre of the pastry so you have a boarder. Top with patry, ensuring that some goes down the sides of the tin- this will make sure that the cheese stays contained in the dish. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until the pastry is golden and crispy, and the cheese is gooey. 

Remove from the oven and carefully take out of the tin. Flip onto your serving plate and pour over the syrup to serve.