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Title: Boerekas (Cheese Turnovers)
Categories: Cheese Sephardic Greek Appetizer Jewish
Yield: 22 Servings
| PASTRY | ||
| 1/4 | c | Corn oil |
| 1/4 | c | Water, cold |
| 2 | c | Flour |
| 1/4 | ts | ;salt water |
| FILLING | ||
| 1/4 | lb | Farmer cheese, mashed |
| 1/4 | lb | Feta cheese, mashed |
| 1/4 | ts | ;pepper |
| 1 | Egg, beaten | |
| TURNOVER---------------------------------- water | ||
| 1 | Egg, beaten | |
| 2 | tb | Kashkaval cheese, grated |
| Oil, for the baking sheet | ||
It seems that all the Greeks & Turkish ladies I met knew how to make boerekas, & would make to keep on hand for daily as well as fiesta use. They are justifiably popular since they quickly fill the need for an appealing snack. Boerekas may be frozen in plastic bags until needed. Thaw out for 1 hr, then reheat in a preheated 350 F oven for 10 mins.
1. Mix the pastry ingreds together w/enough water to make a soft, pliable dough. Knead for several mins to produce the consistency, dusting w/flour when necessary. Cover & set aside. 2. Mix the filling ingreds until smooth. Set aside. 3. Divide the pastry into walnut-size pieces, rolled into a ball. Roll out each ball into a disc abt 4-inches in diameter. Put 1 tablespoon of the cheese filling onto the end nearest you, fold it over, moisten the rim w/water, & press down the edges all around.
Using an empty can w/diameter of 3 to 4-inches, press down over the folded turnover to cut off the excess dough & seal the edges. This a home-style method & you can, of course, use a round metal cookie cutter. I prefer the can.
4. Brush the top of each boerekas w/beaten egg. Dip the moist brush in the grated kashkaval & rub over the top. Bake on an oiled baking sheet in a preheated 350 F oven for 35 to 40 mins, or until both the top & bottom of the boerekas are light brown. Remove & serve cool.
Serve as a snack or appetizer at room temp. Makes 22.
VARIATIONS FOR PAREVE STYLE: For those who follow the dietary laws, "pareve" is the neutral status of a dish, being neither milk or meat, & so can be served w/either one.
Instead of chicken broth, which limits the Fides to meat dishes, use 4 kosher vegetable soup cubes, to prepare 8 cups of pareve broth.
Follow the recipe as above, using the same system of preparation. Garnish the angel-hair noodles w/grated Parmesan or kashkaval cheese, which then changes it to a dairy.
NOTE: Certain commercial foods have crept into the Sephardic cooking of Greece & Turkey. The first is the use of meat or vegetable cubes that are available in stores catering to kosher clients. The other is the use of margarine, which is also pareve, to replace butter, which is a dairy food. If one comes from a kosher household, as I do, it becomes a simple matter to analyze a situation & make a pareve, meat, or dairy decision quickly.
Recipe: "Sephardic Cooking" by Copeland Mark -- 600 Recipes Created in Exotic Sephardic Kitchens from Morocco to India -- 1992 Published by Donald I. Fine, Inc., NY
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