I decided to call this bahar burek because it tastes like spring/summertime: fresh and bright! The addition of dill and parsley gives it a garden-fresh taste. I call it bureku e baharit in Albanian. Bahar, I assume is the old Albanian word for summer, as bahar does not show up when you translate summer in Albanian, however that is what my grandparents always called it. If you look up bahar you will find that it is spring in Turkish, so for that reason I called it springtime.
Anyways I got the inspiration from my spinach lakror, since it is Ramadan I was craving it but didn’t have the energy to make homemade filo dough, so I used the frozen stuff and it turned out great!
What you will need:
- 1 pkg filo dough -thawed
- 1 pkg of baby leaf spinach
- 3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1 cup chopped up fresh parsley
- 1 cup chopped fresh dill
- 4 springs of green onions
- 1 cup of milk
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- salt
Preheat oven to 350.
Rinse spinach and pat dry with a tea towel or paper towel, or spin dry in a salad spinner.
Combine the spinach, feta cheese, dill, parsley and chopped green onions – I find it easiest to mix the ingredients by hand. Season with salt, but remember that feta cheese is salty, so you don’t want to use too much.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, and oil. Season with some salt.
To start, grease your pan, or place a piece of parchment over the pan then place two sheets of filo dough on the bottom of the pan and sprinkle over some of the milk mixture – make sure not to soak the filo sheets in this mixture at this point. Repeat these steps until half of the package of filo is done. Add the spinach filling once you’ve layered half of the package, then continue with the layering of the filo and milk and egg mixture. When done layering the filo, cut into squares or triangles, and pour over the remaining milk mixture.
Bake in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden and crisp at the edges.
Remove from pan and transfer to another pan lined with paper towel to soak up any moisture, sometimes you don’t have to depends on the spinach, sometimes it comes out completely dry.