Byrek me spinaq

Ingredients

• Filo pastry500 g
• Spinach1 kg
• Brined white cheese400 g
• Spring onions6
• Olive oil180 ml
• Dill30 g
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Scald the spinach with boiling water, drain it and wring it out dry by hand.

   12 min

2. 2

   Chop the spinach and mix it with the crumbled cheese, spring onion, dill and pepper. Salt cautiously; the cheese is salty.

   10 min

3. 3

   Oil a tin and lay in three sheets of filo, brushing each one.

   6 min

4. 4

   Spread a third of the filling, cover with two oiled sheets and repeat twice more.

   12 min

5. 5

   Finish with three sheets on top, tuck the edges in and brush generously with oil.

   6 min

6. 6

   Score it into squares down to the base with a sharp knife; cutting it after baking will not work.

   4 min

7. 7

   Bake at 190 °C for forty-five minutes, to a deep golden crisp crust.

   47 min

About the dish

The spinach is wrung out dry and only then salted. Salt draws water, and spinach salted early soaks the lower layers through.

Each sheet is brushed with oil separately. Meanness shows immediately: dry layers fuse into one and there is no flakiness.

Albanian byrek differs from Turkish börek and Bosnian burek in its combination: spinach with salty white cheese, no egg and no meat, and it is the commonest version in the country.

Worth knowing

• — Keep the filo under a damp cloth. In the air the sheets dry within a couple of minutes and crumble in the hand.
• — Score it before baking. A finished byrek breaks along its layers rather than cutting, and the pieces come out ragged.
• — It is eaten warm or cold but not hot: straight from the oven the filling scalds and the layers have not settled.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

480 kcal

Protein

16 g

Fat

30 g

Carbs

38 g

More from Albania

• Tavë kosi — Lamb baked under a thick yoghurt custard with egg and rice. Albania's national dish.