Cheesy Squash & Sage Soufra

Wondering, “what is soufra?” You may have heard it called crinkle pie, filo pie, or phyllo pie on your socials in 2023-2024. But it is most commonly served as a Greek dessert.

Soufra is traditionally a Greek dish of sweet custard baked with filo dough. It is a kind of mix between a pie and a cake. First, you butter filo and fold it into a baking dish. Then, you enrobe the filo in custard (eggs and cream), and bake them together to make magic. 

Of course, custard + filo are both what I would consider vessels for flavor. So you can understand why I and so many others make this dish our own with different flavors. In fact, you can do any of the following to change the flavor and texture to your liking. 1. Season the butter with different herbs and spices, like a compound butter. 2. Sweeten the custard in the traditional way or make it more salty/savory (like I did with the cheese). 3. Add other ingredients, like squash or apples or figs, etc to give the soufra more texture and body. See, the sky is the limit. 

Soufra is best, cooled and saved in the refridgerator in a sealed container. It lasts up to 3 days in the fridge. I do not recommend freezing soufra because of the eggs and cheese. They split and get greasy at too high of a temperature, so reheating is difficult.

That being said, if you choose to feeze leftovers, let them defrost in the refridgerator before re-heating in either the micorwave or oven. Freeze soufra for up to one month, if you must.

Yes, but it will never be as good as when it’s fresh out of the oven.

That being said, there are 2 ways to re-heat soufra.

1. Baking: Reheat soufra in an oven or airfryer. It allows the filo to crisp back up quite a bit, which is the best part about these methods. Just make sure to keep the temperature low. In an airfiryer, that means as low as it will go. And, in an oven consider between 225-275℉ (102-135℃).

2. Microwave: In a microwave, heat up soufra at the lowest power in 15-30 second increments. If your microwave has any settings like, soften cream cheese, melt chocolate, or melt cheese, those are also viable options to attempt.

I have only found honeynut squash in two places. 1. Wholefoods during the fall and winter and 2. local farmer’s markets.

It’s probably easier to rely on a franchise, but if you can find any of the above squashes at a local market, I highly recommend purchasing local. The squash are always fresher. Meaning they have better texture and last longer.

There are so many fall and winter squash options to use in place of honeynut squash: butternut squash, koginut squash, and honeypatch squash are the most common substitutions for honeynut squash.

Here is a pro/con list of each squash, so you can make an informed decision when substituting the squash in this Cheesy Squash and Sage Soufra.

Honeynut Squash: This is the squash I used in this recipe because it is a sweeter and smaller version of the butternut squash. I really wanted the sweetness of the squash to come through and not be overpowered by the cheddar cheese. And, like I said before, honeynut squash are pretty small. You might need 2 of them, but you won’t have to trim them down.

Butternut Squash: On the flip side, butternut squash are much larger than honeynut squash. And, while you won’t need 2 butternut squashes, you might need to trim down the pieces, so they are not too large. If you prefer more savory dishes and a more subtle fall (gourd flavor) use this squash.

Koginut Squash: This is actually my favorite squash, and I think it would actually be the best choice for this dish flavor-wise. However, visually it won’t be as pleasing because it is bumpy. This also means it will be difficult to peel. Lastly, it doesn’t have a very large, solid neck. Koginut squashes tend to be squat with a large cavity. You would definitely need more than 2, to have enough squash for the soufra.

Honeypatch Squash: Not quite as flavorful as any of the previous squashes, honeypatch squash is still similar in flavor, but with a little less savoryness. On a positive note, it is the correct size for making this dish without the need to trim the slices down. It also has a longer neck than the koginut and honeynut. So, you might be able to get away with purchasing only 1 squash.

Sweet Potato: I know this isn’t a squash, but I did, in fact, attempt this dish with sweet potato. And it is a solid option in a pinch. The texture is different, starchier and less of a clean bite. The flavor profile is the same, though not as sweet or strong as a squash. If you cannot get your hands on squash, go for sweet potato.