No. 26 – Bo-snia-il!

 I do try.

I know what it looks like - more beef wrapped in yet more pastry. But this is sheer coincidence and I had to cook this pita because the last burek (which this essentially is) failed due to my terrible filo making skills. This time the pastry came readymade in the form of jus-rol and was, as you’d expect – perfectly thin. With the pastry made there was nothing to worry about.

Well not exactly. (Minor) panic ensued. I had to work extremely fast, so the pastry wouldn’t dry out and become completely useless, yet not too fast so that I’d rip the delicate sheets. This lead to what I can only describe as a slow fluster. The sheer amount of butter needed to brush and glue sheets together, to make the mile of pastry was quite alarming. I therefore underestimated the amount to melt and I was left shouting “I need more butter! Get me more butter!” Pity then, that there was no one around.

Rolling a mile long sausage without tearing it was no mean feat either, but after a little self-assured pep talk, the only thing left to do was go for it. Recalling a lesson from my playschool days, I managed, with minimal tears, to roll the sausage and transform it into quite a beautiful snail, even if I do say so myself. I had great fun making this. It was after all, the food equivalent of play-doh, glue and paper, and who says you shouldn’t play with your food?

Bosnian Pita

Oh, and it didn’t taste half bad either.

Serves 4 – 6

oil for frying

500 g minced beef

1 large onion, chopped

1 clove of garlic, chopped

1 tbsp paprika

1 tsp all spice

salt and pepper

grated cheddar cheese, optional

1 packet of jus-rol filo pastry (6 sheets)

½ cup of butter

Fry the chopped onion in a little oil with the garlic, until softened. Add the mince and spices and cook until browned and crumbly, but not dry. Allow to cool completely.

Clear yourself a large work surface and dust with flour. Melt the butter and begin to assemble your filo strip. Lay three of the six sheets side by side (longways) and brush butter where they overlap to glue them together. Brush the entire surface of the now long sheet and lay the other 3 sheets on top. You now have the finished sheet.

Place the mince mixture down the middle of the sheet, sprinkle with cheese and brush either side with a little butter. Proceed to roll it up so you have a giant sausage. Now roll it up into a snail shape, transfer it to a suitable greased dish and brush with the remaining butter. Bake in a 220 degree oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve in slices, hot or cold with cucumber and yogurt.

No. 2 - Albania drove me insania!

(I am so sorry, they’re just gonna get worse and worse. I can’t help myself.)

Albanian Byrek (spinach and feta “filo” tart)

For Albania I needed make filo pastry – from scratch. If you have enough space, don’t mind the mess and are not put off by having to use a mop handle as your rolling pin (thoroughly washed, I promise), by all means give it a go. In future however I will be buying it prerolled and frozen.  Unless your Albenian grandmamma has taught you, you may never get it as thin as proper filo, I certainly didn’t. I know its not that helpful giving a recipe for a pastry that failed but this is, I guess, what not to do? The filling is yum - spinach and feta, whats not to like. So good in fact, you could screw the pastry altogether. And kudos to Gretta for giving me a hand, whilst holding a nice big glass of red in the other!

Serves 4 for dinner

Plain flour, 400g

Cornflour, for dusting

salt, pinch

400ml of tepid water or there abouts

Spinach, 200g bag

Feta cheese, block, crumbled.

Small onion, chopped.

Pepper, freshly ground.

I started by attempting to make the pastry (don’t do it). Mix together the flour and salt and make a well in the middle. Gradually add water and stir in with a fork until it forms a dough. Its the same method for bread so do it whatever way you’re used to. Knead for a few minutes then divide into 8 balls. Four balls become the base of the pie and four balls become the top.

Dust your surface with a little cornflour, put a ball on the cornflour and then sprinkle a little more cornflour on top of the ball. Roll it out to about the size of your hand, brush it with a little oil and then place another rolled out ball on top. Repeat until you’ve your four balls rolled and stacked but do not brush the top of the final ball with oil. Had enough of balls yet? Next you have to roll out the stack you’ve made to be as thin as you can possibly make it - translucent thin if you can. Make sure you dust with cornflour. Repeat all of the above with the other four balls, so you have two really thin, large sheets of filo pastry. Make sure they’re slightly bigger then your tin.

Then get on with filling which is thankfully simpler than the pastry! Heat up some oil in a pan and throw in a diced onion and fry until translucent. Pile on your spinach and wilt, then throw in your block of feta, smash it up and mix it in. Season with loads of black pepper. Done.

Back to the pastry. Brush your tin with a little oil and roll the pastry around your rolling pin/mop handle and transfer it to the base of the tin. Press it into the corners. Spread the spinach and feta mixture on top of this and then top with the other sheet of pastry. Cut off any excess pastry and kind of roll and squeeeze the two sheets together to form a seal. Finally brush the entire surface with a little oil and bang into a hot oven until the top is golden and puffed.

Serve with left over salata from Afghanistan!

If anyone can successfuly make this pastry will they please let me know. I can’t believe I have been defeated already, and its only country number 2!