A rustic, crustless Greek milk pie. It is an exercise in simple agrarian alchemy: milk is thickened with semolina into a dense custard, enriched with eggs and butter, and baked until the top forms a naturally scorched, caramelized skin, requiring no phyllo pastry.
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Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Heavily butter a 9-inch round or square dish.
Heat the milk. In a medium saucepan, warm the milk over medium heat until it begins to (do not ).
Thicken. Slowly whisk in the semolina and sugar in a steady stream. Continue whisking constantly for 5-8 minutes until the mixture thickens into a heavy porridge. Remove from heat.
Enrich. Immediately stir in the 50g of butter, vanilla extract, and lemon zest until the butter melts completely.
Temper the eggs. In a small bowl, have the beaten eggs ready. Slowly whisk about 1/2 cup of the hot semolina mixture into the eggs to temper them. Then, rapidly whisk the egg mixture back into the main saucepan until completely smooth.
. Pour the custard into the prepared dish. Smooth the top with a spatula.
The Crust. for 45-50 minutes . The pie will puff up significantly and the top must become deeply golden brown with dark, almost burnt-looking patches. This scorched skin is the signature of the dish.
Cool. Remove from the oven. It will deflate as it cools. You must let it cool completely to room temperature (at least 2 hours ) so the semolina sets firmly enough to slice.
Garnish. Dust generously with ground cinnamon before cutting into squares or wedges.
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