Growing up I had Turkish neighbors, they lived across the street and for the early part of my childhood I saw them everyday. Having Turkish neighbors was great, being Middle Eastern it was always interesting for me to see how their culture was very similar to mine. You see, being a Middle Eastern kid in the 90’s was not exactly the best time to get to experience other cultures. With no internet, the only other Middle Eastern people you saw on T.V. were typically bad guys or Saddam Hussein.
My Turkish neighbors were like my other siblings growing up, we’d play, fight, and most importantly eat together. Their Mom would make food for us all the time. Some of the dishes she made for us still stick with me today as some of my favorite foods. Nobody else could or can make those dishes like she can. She was the inspiration for my macaroni and feta cheese dish that is always a favorite of mine.
One of my favorite things that she would make for us was Börek. What’s Börek?It’s a pastry typically phyllo dough with feta cheese and parsley. You’re not limited to these fillings, there are all sorts of other kinds of Böreks. Börek can be found all over the areas of the former Ottoman Empire. It originated during the Ottoman Empire, my guess is that there was some variant of the dish prior to that, but it really took form during the Ottoman Empire.
The dish itself is simple, but difficult to master. I like using puff pastry instead of phyllo, it creates a more decadent feel to the dish itself. I love the savory filling that the feta provides and then the parsley balances perfectly with it to create a great final product.
Keep in mind if you don’t have feta, you can use goat cheese also.
Recipe – Börek
Ingredients
1 Package of Puff Pastry or Phyllo Dough
Feta Cheese (it’s hard to say an amount, you need enough to fill as many as you want, you probably want an ounce of cheese per Börek)
Parsley (same thing for the parsley, you want a 2 to 1 ratio of cheese to parsley)
Egg Yolk & Butter for a egg wash
Method
Unroll your puff pastry. Cut them into equal lengthwise pieces depending on how many you have.
Now put about an ounce of cheese into the dough and then some parsley. Fold the dough over, make sure it’s sealed. Now twist it once.
If you’re doing this with phyllo dough, you probably want to roll it more than twist.
Brush it with your egg wash and place on a greased baking sheet.
Do this until you’re all out of dough. Bake in the oven until golden brown at 350F.
Enjoy!
- 1 Package of Puff Pastry or Phyllo Dough
- Feta Cheese (it’s hard to say an amount, you need enough to fill as many as you want, you probably want an ounce of cheese per Börek)
- Parsley (same thing for the parsley, you want a 2 to 1 ratio of cheese to parsley)
- Egg Yolk & Butter for a egg wash
- Unroll your puff pastry. Cut them into equal lengthwise pieces depending on how many you have.
- Now put about an ounce of cheese into the dough and then some parsley. Fold the dough over, make sure it’s sealed. Now twist it once.
- If you’re doing this with phyllo dough, you probably want to roll it more than twist.
- Brush it with your egg wash and place on a greased baking sheet.
- Do this until you’re all out of dough. Bake in the oven until golden brown at 350F.
- Enjoy!
