Agrafa Batzina (Μπατζίνα), Courgette and Feta Pie

Batzina is Agrafa's crustless courgette and cheese pie, a thin slab from the mountains above Karditsa where a pita can be made without rolling one sheet of phyllo. Grated courgette, feta, eggs, milk, and flour go into a wide oiled tapsi and bake until the rim browns and the middle sets tender, not cakey. The region is the dish's surname here: this is a Thessalian mountain pie, plain and useful, the kind that feeds a table on a Tuesday.

The method that decides it is thinness. Salt the courgette, squeeze it hard, then loosen the batter enough that it pours and spreads no deeper than a finger in the pan. Too much water gives you a pale, heavy middle; too much flour gives you a brick. Keep it loose, keep it shallow, and the oven does the rest.

I like it warm, cut into squares after it has settled, with yogurt and olives beside it. No phyllo, no fussing, no decoration. Good olive oil, and patience. A recipe written down is a recipe saved, especially for these mountain pites that look simple until one small habit goes missing.