Macaroni Cheese Pie

About This Recipe

There is a category of old recipe book entry that defies easy classification — dishes that sit at the junction of two traditions, borrowing the structure of one and the ingredients of another. This macaroni cheese pie is one of them. Outwardly it is a gibanica, the layered pastry-and-cheese bake that has been central to Serbian home cooking for generations. But inside the hand-stretched crust, instead of the expected cheese-and-egg filling, there is pasta: boiled, sautéed in lard, and folded together with generous quantities of prevreli sir and kajmak before being sealed under a second pastry sheet.

The recipe was filed under the heading “Pasta Dessert” — a title that misleads on both counts. There is nothing sweet here, and despite the pasta, this is firmly a pastry dish. It reads more like a cook’s practical experiment than a standard recipe: a way to stretch a pasta component into something more substantial by wrapping it in the familiar architecture of a pie. The result is rich, deeply savoury, and filling in the way that only lard-enriched pastry and aged cheese together can be.

Scaling the original presented an interpretive challenge. The quantities given — multiple kilograms of cheese, several kilograms of flour — clearly describe a feast-sized preparation, the kind made for a large family gathering or celebration rather than an ordinary weekday meal. The version here has been brought down to a practical size for a household of eight, keeping the ratios intact.

Why It Works

The structural logic of this recipe is more deliberate than it first appears. Rinsing the pasta with lukewarm water after boiling stops the cooking without shocking the starch — cold water would cause the surface starch to contract and clump, making it harder for the egg yolks and cheese to penetrate and bind the filling. Coating the pasta in hot lard immediately afterward serves a second purpose: it keeps the strands from sticking while adding fat that will later help the filling hold together during baking.

The beaten egg whites are what give the filling its lightness. Without them, the mass of cheese and pasta would bake into something dense and solid; the folded whites introduce enough air to produce a filling that sets firmly but remains tender rather than rubbery. The ratio of 8 whites to 500g of cheese is generous — this is a filling designed to rise slightly in the oven and hold its shape when sliced.

The lard crust is thin, firm, and deliberately not flaky. Unlike butter pastry, lard pastry has very little water content, which means it crisps rather than crumbles. Brushing the top with additional melted lard before baking drives this further, producing a crust that browns deeply and shatters cleanly under a knife.

Modern Kitchen Tips

Prevreli sir is an aged Serbian white brine cheese with a pronounced, slightly pungent flavour and a high fat content — it is not widely available outside the region. Aged feta is the most practical substitute: look for Greek PDO feta sold in blocks rather than pre-crumbled, which tends to be drier and less flavourful. For a closer approximation of the texture and milder salt level of prevreli sir, mix 400g of aged feta with 100g of full-fat ricotta.

Kajmak has no direct equivalent in Western supermarkets. Crème fraîche is the most reliable substitute — it has a similar fat content and a comparable mild, slightly fermented flavour. Full-fat sour cream works in a pinch but is thinner and more acidic. Avoid substituting with double cream, which lacks the slight tang that balances the richness of the cheese.

If you cannot source lard for the pastry, cold unsalted butter works as a functional alternative. The crust will be slightly less shatteringly crisp and will have a more buttery flavour, but the structure will hold. Do not use margarine or soft fats — they contain too much water and will make the dough difficult to roll thin.

A feast-day gibanica from early 20th century Serbian home cooking, adapted for the modern kitchen.