Spinach and Feta Bourekas

I love bourekas! To me, bourekas are the quintessential Sephardic food. Perhaps that’s not historically correct because the dish is a variation and similar to various other bureks and puff pastries, but I remember binge eating these delectable baked goods from an early age. I like  all the flavors: spinach, cheese, potato, mushroom, olive, and more – small ones, big ones, long ones, short ones, full size, bite size, Turkish, Bulgarian, Greek, whatever, I’ll eat it. My Sephardic grandmother Rachel would serve as mezze (appetizers) for family gatherings and my parents would caution me not to fill up on them since an entire feast awaited us. I remember visited Israel as a child and my father would take me back to his old hometown of Jaffa (Yafo) to a bakery called Abouelafia. Bakeries are usually open in the morning and afternoon only, but I remember going to this open stand bakery at night and eating some of the best bourekas I’ve ever had. More recently, we served bourekas for Oneg Shabbat at my mostly Ashkenazi synagogue for both my son Max’s Bar Mitzvah in 2016 and my daughter Hana’s Bat Mitzvah in 2019. I had never attended an event at Temple Akiba with bourekas, but everyone seemed to enjoy them since none were left at the end of the night. Everyone loves bourekas!
– Jon Varsano

• Ingredients

  • 2 sheets of frozen puff pastry dough. Phyllo dough may be used as a substitute. If using phyllo, then brush each layer with olive oil.
  • 1 cup of cooked chopped spinach (can be frozen and defrosted)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 7 oz feta cheese
  • ¼ tsp salt to taste
  • ⅛ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
  • ⅛ tsp garlic powder
  • ⅛ tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp chopped fresh dill (optional)
  • Sesame seeds for topping

• Directions

  1. Defrost frozen puff pastry until it is pliable but still cool. Leave the wrapping on to aid in moving the dough and to prevent drying.
  2. Defrost spinach(if needed) then squeeze the moisture out of the spinach with a towel or cheesecloth. Chop spinach into small pieces.
  3. Preheat oven to 375ºF and place parchment paper on a baking sheet.
  4. For filling: Beat 1 egg in a medium bowl. Add spinach, crumbled feta, seasonings, and optional dill. Mix with a fork until combined. Set aside.
  5. For dough: Place the defrosted dough with the paper liner onto a cutting board, and unfold. Cut the large square into 9 even-ish pieces by cutting the dough into thirds in both the vertical and horizontal directions, two cuts per direction. If the dough was folded into thirds, cut along those lines. Each cut square is a little more than 3 x 3 inches.
  6. Use one sheet of puff pastry at a time leaving the other one covered so it doesn’t dry out.
  7. Scoop about a heaping teaspoon of filling onto the center of each cut square.
  8. Gently lift one square at a time using a small spatula, or gently peel the dough square away from the paper. In your hand, take one corner of the square and fold it over so that it touches the opposite corner forming a triangle. Touch or lightly pinch the open sides so that the filling is enclosed. It’s important NOT to compact or squish the dough tightly because you want the layers of puff pastry to be able to open up during baking. The sides do not need to be sealed completely. If the dough isn’t sticking together, have a small bowl of water nearby, and dip your finger in it to run water along the seams to help seal. As each boureka is formed, place it on the prepared baking sheet. Space them about 1 inch apart. Continue folding the rest of the dough.
  9. Brush the tops of each boureka with a beaten egg. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top.
  10. Bake for about 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. The fully cooked puffed pastry is flaky and doesn’t have any raw dough spots in between the exposed layers.
  11. Transfer cooked burekas to a cooling rack. Let cool before serving.

• Varsano Variations

  • Use Bulgarian Feta Cheese (I prefer sheep’s milk) or
    use Kashkaval cheese