Yasemin's Kitchen

Mediterranean Recipes with a Turkish Flair

Weaved Puff Pastry Cheese Rolls – Örgülü Peynirli Puf Böreği

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Weaved Puff Pastry Cheese Rolls

If you want a very easy recipe for borek, this is it!
You’ll use puff pastry right out of the freezer.
It’s not only easy to prepare, but it looks very appetizing.

Ingredients:

  • 8 squares of puff pastry (mine measured 5″x5″ ea)
  • 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, grated
  • 1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
  • 1/4 cup parsley, chopped
  • 1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 tea spoon water to thin the yolk
  • 1 tea spoon black caraway seeds

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
For the filling, mix cheeses and chopped greens in a small bowl, set aside.
Place frozen puff pastry on a clean flat surface to allow it to thaw just for a few minutes. You don’t want it to thaw to room temperature since it gets sticky when as it gets warm, becoming hard to handle.
Leaving the middle 1/3 of the dough intact, cut 4 horizontal lines on both right and left sides of  the dough as shown in the photo below. Place a spoonful of cheese filling in the middle of the square dough. Starting at the top right, fold down the first strip on the right hand side towards the middle of the dough at a 45 degree angle, covering the filling. Then, do the same with the top strip on the left hand side. Repeat these steps until you wrap the strips criss-cross over the filling. Place the pastry on parchment paper. Prepare the other pastry squares the same way, set aside.

In a small bowl, using a whisk, thin the egg yolk with a teaspoon of water. Brush it over the pastry rolls. Sprinkle caraway seeds on top. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown. First transfer to a plate lined with paper towel to absorb any excess grease, then transfer to a serving platter.
Serve hot or warm.

Afiyet Olsun! Bon Appetit!

Cheeses, parsley, dill and egg yolk
Make cuts on each side 1 inch apart
Start folding down the strips at an angle over the filling
Fold down all of the strips and secure the end by pressing
Brush egg yolk and sprinkle caraway seeds
Weaved Puff Pastry Rolls with Cheese filling
Weaved Puff Pastry Rolls with Cheese filling

Baked Spinach Rolls

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Baked Spinach Rolls – Ispanaklı Kol Böreği

Borek is  typically a baked or fried pastry with cheese, minced meat or vegetable fillings. It is made with a thin flaky dough known as fillo (phyllo) or, better yet, made with home made dough. Typically one uses olive oil or butter, eggs and milk to enrich the flavor. Borek was a popular dish of Ottoman cuisine. One can see it in all countries that used to be a part of the former Ottoman Empire or the countries who came in contact with the Turkic people.

I wanted to make a vegan version that also tasted good and came up with the following recipe. This one has a spinach, onions and tomatoes filling, however, you can use other fillings. If you decide to use cheese filling make sure to add some chopped fresh herbs like dill or parsley to bring out the flavor.

Ingredients:

  • 3 table spoons olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • ½ cup chopped tomatoes
  • 6 cups fresh baby spinach
  • 10 sheets of fillo (phyllo) dough
  • ¼ cup avocado oil (or grapeseed oil)
  • 1 table spoon black caraway seeds for garnish
You will need:
  • a 10 inch pie dish
  • a 3/8 to 1/3 in thick dowel stick 18 inches or longer
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Sauté onions in olive oil in a large pan over medium heat until onions are translucent. Add chopped tomatoes and sauté together for another 2-3 minutes. Add spinach and sauté for 1 more minute, set aside.
On a clean flat surface, lay 2 sheets of fillo dough, long side closer to you. Drizzle or brush avocado oil on the top layer of the two fillo sheets. Spread one fifth of the spinach filling over the half of the fillo sheets. Place the dowel close to the edge on the long side of the fillo dough.Starting on the edge with the dowel, gently start to wrap the fillo dough over the dowel. Make it a loosely wrapped roll. If it is tight, it will be hard to do the next step. When the two sheets are rolled around the dowel, gently push the two ends of the roll towards the center, gathering the dough, giving it a wrinkled look.  Holding one end of the dowel stick with one hand, slowly slide the roll into the pie dish. Lay the roll along the outer edge of the dish.
Repeat this 4 more times, placing rolled in the pie dish spiraling inwards until you use all the fillo dough and the pie dish is full. Brush the rest of the avocado oil on top of the rolls. Sprinkle black caraway seeds on top.
Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until it is golden brown, about 35-45 minutes.
Cut into wedges like you would cut a pie. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Bon Appetit! Afiyet Olsun!

Fresh Baby Spinach
Sauté Onions in Olive Oil
Onions and tomatoes Sautéed
Vegetables Sautéed
Brush oil on fillo dough
Spread filling over half of the dough
Place dowel stick on the long edge where the filling is.
Start loosley rolling the dough
Dough completely rolled over the dowel
Gather the dough from both ends toward the center
Place rolls into the pie dish in a spiral
Brush remaining oil on the rolls
Sprinkle caraway seeds on top
Baked Spinach Rolls ready to be served

 

BOREK: Savory Cheese Pastry Squares

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Savory Pastry Squares: BOREK

This is a recipe from my dear late father-in-law, Vakif Ari who had many “signature dishes” from borek to omlettes, salads, and of course his famous “çiğ köfte“.

We miss him and our family dinner conversations where his grandchildren would start asking him how he won “grandma’s heart”. He would tell the story (especially after a drink or two) with every detail with his eyes still sparkling after all these years.

His original borek recipe called for butter and 6 eggs. Over the years, I modified it to make it healthier by replacing the butter with olive oil and reducing the number of eggs. I noticed that he too modified his recipe for a healthier version over time.

Although the most popular version has cheese filling, you can use your favorite filling including ground beef, chicken, spinach and other vegetables you like. I’ve included recipes with ground beef and spinach filling at the bottom.

Ingredients:

  • 20 sheets of fillo dough
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh dill weeds
  • 3/4 cup olive oil
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup yogurt
  • 4 eggs (seperate and save one yolk for glazing the top layer)
  • 2 cups shreaded cheese (Original Turkish recipe calls for feta cheese, but if you don’t like it Monterey Jack cheese works great. I use mostly Monterey Jack cheese with some crumbled feta sprinkled over it )
  • 2-3 table spoons of sesame seeds or black caraway seeds optional

You would need a 1/2 size cooking pan.

Directions:
1-Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2- Grease the bottom and the sides of a half sheet oven tray or a 19×14 pan with oil or non-stick spray,
3- In a blender mix oil, milk, yogurt and eggs.

Egg, oil, milk, yogurt mixture
20 sheets of fillo dough will be used

4- Put 2 sheets of fillo dough on the pan. Sheets will be flat if you use the half sheet size pan, however, if you use a pan smaller than the sheets, then they will be wrinkled as you lay them down. This is OK.
5- With a spoon, pour some of the solution from the blender over the fillo dough. No need to use a brush, it does not have to be even.

Spread mixture over fillo dough
  • Repeat steps 4 and 5 three more times
  • Repeat step 4 only. Spread the grated cheese over the fillo, sprinkle with dill weeds
Sprinkle grated cheese over fillo dough
  • Repeat steps 4-5 four more times
  • Spread the last 2 sheets of the fillo dough over the pan, no wrinkles this time. If the sheets are larger than the pan, fold them under on the sides so that the top layer looks smooth.
  • With a knife, gently cut thru the borek. You don’t have to cut all the way thru, this is to make a scar so they puff up in the oven
Cut the borek into squares
  • Add a table spoon of water or milk to the egg yolk you saved aside and mix it. This makes it easy to brush. Brush the egg yolk over the borek.
tablespoon of water or milk is added to the egg yolk
using a brush, spread egg yolk over the borek
  • Sprinkle sesame seeds and/or caraway seeds over the borek
  • Place it on the middle rack of the oven. Bake until the top is golden brown. Takes about 30-45 minutes.
Savory Pastry Squares: BOREK

Variations:

If you like, you can use different fillings other than cheese. Some examples:
Spinach filliing:

  • 1/2 cup chopped onions
  • 1-2 tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 bag fresh spinach leaves
  • 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese or grated jack cheese (optional)
  • 3 table spoon olive oil

Saute onions in olive oil for 5 minutes, add tomatoes, cook for another 3 minutes, add uncooked spinach and the cheese

Spinach filling
Borek half with cheese, half with spinach filling

Ground beef filling:

  • 1/2 cup chopped onions
  • 1/2 lb lean ground beef
  • 1-2 tomatoes, chopped
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 3 Table spoon olive oil

Saute onions in olive oil for 5 minutes, add the ground beef & tomatoes, cook for another 5 minutes, add salt and pepper to your taste.

Notes: If you want to limit the eggs you use, you can cut it down to 2 eggs, it will taste fine. You can also cut the oil down to 1/2 cup. If you cut the quantity of eggs and oil, you may want to increase the yogurt (non-fat) to make sure the borek will be moist enough. The original recipe had 6 eggs and 1 cup of melted butter 🙂

Afiyet Olsun! Bon Appetit!

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Yasemin Ari

I love cooking, especially cooking with friends and family.

I believe that some of the best conversations take place around the kitchen counter... [Read More]