Tray Pastry aka borek with spinach or potatoes or minced meat is my family’s Sunday lunch. My ancestors are from the Balkan’s and this dish is definitely an indispensable part of their kitchen.
This recipe is with spinach and feta/white cheese filling. I sometimes do different fillings in the same borek as favourites differ for my house hold. So half of this is with spinach and cheese for my son and the other half is just cheese and parsley for my husband.
Do not be restricted with Sunday lunch, this delicious tray pastry may also be served as a side dish at tea time and even at breakfast. It can also be kept in the fridge covered for several days.
Obviously if you leave out the cheese or use vegan cheese this delicacy turns vegan.
There are so many variations of preparing tray pastry, let me share with you my one.
Just the borek itself is self sufficient, so if serving as a main course I do not serve anything with it, perhaps only a fruit compote will be nice to have, rather than serving it with some other high calorie drinks.
Enjoy warm or cold. Please do not forget to share pictures of the outcome.
Tray Pastry with Spinach
Ingredients
Pastry
- 5 pastry sheets yufka
- 1 tablespoon olive oil for the tray
- 1 teaspoon nigella seeds
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
For the filling
- 500 grams spinach
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- 150 grams white/feta cheese grated
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt to taste
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Spread mixture
- 200 millilitres olive oil
- 250 millilitres milk
- 2 eggs
Instructions
Filling
- First prepare the filling.
- Chop well the onion.
- Rinse and chop the spinach.
- Add the olive oil in a skillet and sauté the onion until translucent. Add the crushed garlic and sauté for another minute.
- Then, add the spinach. Sauté until the spinach first leaves, then absorbs back its own water. The spinach will shrink considerably.
- Add ground black pepper and salt to taste. Take the cheese into consideration when adding salt.
- Close the heat and set aside.
Spread mixture
- Break two eggs and beat with a wire whisk.
- Add the milk and olive oil, mix again.
To combine
- Oil the baking tray with olive oil, using an egg brush.
- Lay the first pastry sheet (yufka) on the baking tray. If the yufka is bigger than the tray let it be for the moment.
- Then sprinkle with spread mixture all around.
- Rip the second yufka into half. Lay each half on the tray with round sides facing the center. In the middle of the tray they might be one on top of the other, depending on the size of your tray or your yufka.
- Again sprinkle some spread mixture.
- Rip the third yufka into half and this time only spread one of the halves.
- Now spread all the spinach filling all over the third sheet evenly.
- On top of the spinach, sprinkle all the grated feta/white cheese.
- Use the remaining half of the third yufka and sprinkle with the spread mixture.
- Add the fourth sheet with the method described for the second yufka. Again sprinkle with the spread mixture.
- Curl inwards the parts of the very first yufka at this stage.
- Hold the fifth yufka in your hand rip the sides off and lay the ripped of sides on the tray.
- Sprinkle with spread mixture.
- Then lay down the remaining middle part of the fifth yufka and tuck the sides as if making a bed.
- Pour the remaining spread mixture all over the top.
- Make several holes with a fork or knife all around so the spread mixture is soaked up.
- Cook for about 20-25 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 200° Celsius until crispy and golden on top and bottom.