Kephalograviera baked in vine leaves with cherry tomatoes

By: Pam Talimanidis
From: A la Grecque
Serves: 4
Photographer: Mark Roper

Kephalograviera is a hard, salty sheep’s milk cheese available from Greek delicatessens. Grilled kephalograviera is served in Greek restaurants around the world, and in Australia is better known as saganaki, after the pan in which it is usually cooked and served. Kephalograviera is generally eaten hot. It can be grated onto pasta and rice dishes, or grilled and served on bruschetta. In this dish, the cheese melts inside a wrapping of vine leaves, which have their own distinctive flavour. The sweet juiciness of the roasted cherry tomatoes counteracts the saltiness of the cheese.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
8	vine leaves, preserved in brine
500g	cherry tomatoes on the stem
190ml	extra virgin olive oil
	salt
	freshly ground black pepper
400g	kephalograviera, cut into 4 slices, each about 10 cm x 2 cm

Method

Preheat the oven to 200ºC.
Rinse the vine leaves well to remove the brine, then drain. Dry and trim off the stalks.
Cut the cherry tomatoes into small bunches of three or four tomatoes. Place in a small baking tray, drizzle with 2 tablespoons of the oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 12 minutes.
Lay two large vine leaves out on a work surface so they overlap. Brush with a little oil and place a slice of cheese on top. Wrap the leaves tightly around the cheese to form a neat parcel. Repeat with more vine leaves and the remaining slices of cheese to make a total of 4 parcels.
Brush each parcel with a little more oil and bake for 8–10 minutes until the vine leaves colour and the cheese is soft. Alternatively, cook under a very hot grill or on a griddle plate. Serve with the roasted cherry tomatoes and eat straight away while hot as the kephalograviera becomes stiff when it gets cold.