I LOVE Turkish, Greek and middle eastern food. I have a friend who's half Greek and one who's Turkish so I get to learn brilliant things about this wonderful cuisine, as well as being fed olives for breakfast and things like that.
I first made these borek stlye parcels a few Christmas Eves ago for a drinks gathering and they went down a storm, especially with my mum's Thai friend who is a fantastic cook. The great thing about them is that you can make them with pretty much anything you've got - they'd work with pretty much any root veg I think, roasted with cumin, cinammon or a bit of chilli, you can add honey, cheese, herbs, any nuts or seeds you like, perhaps some green veg (spinach would be good). They also freeze really well - I usually make a big batch then freeze and just cook up what I need.
They're really nice served as part of a mezze style spread. I made some tzatziki (grated cucumber, add 1/2-1 clove of garlic, greek yogurt - the 0% stuff is fine - then herbs - dried at this time of year is fine, I used dill and mint), a strange sprouted seed salad which turned our suprisingly well (sprouted seeds, chopped artichokes and sundried tomatoes from jars, cucumber and feta), some houmous and pita. The only thing missing was the Turkish bread, which I absolutely adore. I used to buy this all the time when I was living in London, but sadly haven't managed to find it anywhere up here yet!
Beetroot version
2 beets, peeled and chopped into small chunks
couscous, made up with stock, a pinch of cumin powder, a bit of chilli (as liked)
a few sunflower seeds
feta cheese
Squash version
about half a squash (depending on size), peeled and chopped into slightly larger chunks than the beets
cumin
cinammon
honey
pine nuts, toasted
herbs if you have any - parsely, dill, mint would be nice, or spinach
feta
For both
sheets of filo pastry - about 8-10. brush melted butter onto one sheet, then sprinkle with cumin seeds and pop another sheet on top, pressing down well. Then cut to size for use. I really think it's worth doing this, not only because it makes the pastry easier to use and you don't need to keep folding and folding, but also because the cumin seeds look lovely when it's cooked and add a great flavour.
Roast your root veg - I've done this only boiling the veg before but roasting gives them a much better flavour. I roasted the squash with cumin and cinammon and a drizzle of honey for sweetness, and the beets only with salt, pepper and olive oil. I tend to roast them quite slowly (about an hour) at quite a low heat (about 150 in our fan oven) as it gives them a wonderful caramelised flavour and makes them really squishy.
Once you've done that, you can make up the fillings - I like to squash the squash (!) a little bit with a fork before mixing in all the other ingredients. Taste away and adjust as necessary. Then all you need to do is make them up - I made some in the typical rolled up shape and some in triangles. There's a great guide here for how to fold the triangles. Fill them nice and full (but not too full or they'll break) and secure the edges down with a brush of melted butter.
You can open freeze them at this point, then pop them in a box in the freezer for a month or so until you need to use them, or just cook them up straight away. At 180, they'll need about 10 minutes from fresh or 12-15 from frozen. Keep an eye on them to make sure they don't go too brown. Enjoy!
I first made these borek stlye parcels a few Christmas Eves ago for a drinks gathering and they went down a storm, especially with my mum's Thai friend who is a fantastic cook. The great thing about them is that you can make them with pretty much anything you've got - they'd work with pretty much any root veg I think, roasted with cumin, cinammon or a bit of chilli, you can add honey, cheese, herbs, any nuts or seeds you like, perhaps some green veg (spinach would be good). They also freeze really well - I usually make a big batch then freeze and just cook up what I need.
They're really nice served as part of a mezze style spread. I made some tzatziki (grated cucumber, add 1/2-1 clove of garlic, greek yogurt - the 0% stuff is fine - then herbs - dried at this time of year is fine, I used dill and mint), a strange sprouted seed salad which turned our suprisingly well (sprouted seeds, chopped artichokes and sundried tomatoes from jars, cucumber and feta), some houmous and pita. The only thing missing was the Turkish bread, which I absolutely adore. I used to buy this all the time when I was living in London, but sadly haven't managed to find it anywhere up here yet!
Beetroot version
2 beets, peeled and chopped into small chunks
couscous, made up with stock, a pinch of cumin powder, a bit of chilli (as liked)
a few sunflower seeds
feta cheese
Squash version
about half a squash (depending on size), peeled and chopped into slightly larger chunks than the beets
cumin
cinammon
honey
pine nuts, toasted
herbs if you have any - parsely, dill, mint would be nice, or spinach
feta
For both
sheets of filo pastry - about 8-10. brush melted butter onto one sheet, then sprinkle with cumin seeds and pop another sheet on top, pressing down well. Then cut to size for use. I really think it's worth doing this, not only because it makes the pastry easier to use and you don't need to keep folding and folding, but also because the cumin seeds look lovely when it's cooked and add a great flavour.
Roast your root veg - I've done this only boiling the veg before but roasting gives them a much better flavour. I roasted the squash with cumin and cinammon and a drizzle of honey for sweetness, and the beets only with salt, pepper and olive oil. I tend to roast them quite slowly (about an hour) at quite a low heat (about 150 in our fan oven) as it gives them a wonderful caramelised flavour and makes them really squishy.
Once you've done that, you can make up the fillings - I like to squash the squash (!) a little bit with a fork before mixing in all the other ingredients. Taste away and adjust as necessary. Then all you need to do is make them up - I made some in the typical rolled up shape and some in triangles. There's a great guide here for how to fold the triangles. Fill them nice and full (but not too full or they'll break) and secure the edges down with a brush of melted butter.
You can open freeze them at this point, then pop them in a box in the freezer for a month or so until you need to use them, or just cook them up straight away. At 180, they'll need about 10 minutes from fresh or 12-15 from frozen. Keep an eye on them to make sure they don't go too brown. Enjoy!
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