![]() Piece of layered variety of savory spinach pie | |
Alternative names | zeljanica, spanakopita, ispanaklı Selanik böreği, ispanaklı Boşnak böreği |
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Type | Börek (savoury pie) |
Place of origin | Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Greece |
Region or state | Balkans (more broadly Southeastern Europe) |
Serving temperature | Hot |
Main ingredients | Phyllo, spinach (or leeks, chard, or sorrel), white cheese (mladi sir, or beyaz peynir, or feta, or ricotta), eggs, sometimes onions or scallions |
Savory spinach pie is a pastry eaten throughout the Balkans. The filling is made of chopped spinach (sometimes chard) and usually feta or white cheese, and egg.
Ispanaklı Selanik Böreği and /or Ispanaklı Boşnak Böreği, [1] is a Turkish savory spinach pie, or börek . [2] [3] The börek gets its name from either Selanik (Thessaloniki) or Bosnia as it is widely common in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Zeljanica in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a savory pie filled with spinach, or sometime chard (in Serbo-Croatian blitva); the word burek (Turkish börek) is a pie filled with minced meat. [4] [5] [6]
TasteAtlas, an encyclopedia of traditional dishes, in their presentation of the 100 best pastries in the world ranked Bosnian and Herzegovinian traditional pastry dishes, putting zeljanica above burek, sirnica and krompiruša. [7]
Spanakopita ( /ˌspænəˈkɒpɪtə,ˌspɑː-,-ˈkoʊ-/ ; Greek : σπανακόπιτα, from σπανάκιspanáki 'spinach', and πίτα píta 'pie') is a Greek savory spinach pie. [8] It often also contains cheese, typically feta, and may then be called spanakotiropita (Greek : σπανακοτυρόπιτα "spinach-cheese pie"), especially in northern Greece.[ citation needed ] In southern Greece, the term spanakopita is also common for the versions with cheese. A version without cheese and eggs is eaten during religious fasts throughout Greece. Spanakopita appears in many traditional Greek cookery books and appears in numerous restaurants and hotel menus throughout Greece and internationally.
The traditional filling comprises chopped spinach, feta cheese, onions or scallions, egg, and seasoning. [9] Other white, preferably salted cheeses such as kefalotiri may also be mixed with the feta cheese, and some may be used as a substitute for feta cheese. Herbs such as dill, mint and parsley may be used as flavouring. [10] The filling is wrapped or layered in phyllo (filo) pastry with butter or olive oil, either in a large pan from which individual servings are cut, or rolled into individual triangular servings. [8] While the filo-dough recipe is most common, some recipes use a village-style pastry horiatiko, which has a thicker crust. [10] It can also be made with puff pastry. The pastry is golden in colour when baked, the colour often enhanced by butter and egg yolk. It can be served straight from the oven or at room temperature.[ citation needed ]
There is a "fasting" (νηστίσιμη; "nistisimi"), or vegan, version of spanakopita, eaten during Lent and other religious fasts. This version has spinach, onions or green onions, other green herbs like dill, parsley, or celery as filling and uses olive oil and a little wheat flour but no eggs or dairy products. The mixture is oven-baked until crisp. Non-traditional vegan versions are available that typically use tofu instead of cheese. [11]
In rural Greece, smaller amounts of spinach are used, with the missing amount replaced with leeks, chard and sorrel.[ citation needed ]
Börek [12] [13] or burek is a family of pastries or pies found in the Balkans, Middle East and Central Asia. The pastry is made of a thin flaky dough such as filo with a variety of fillings, such as meat, cheese, spinach, or potatoes. Boreks are mainly associated with the Middle East, Armenia, and also with the former Ottoman Empire, including the Balkans and the South Caucasus, Eastern European and Central European countries, Northern Africa and Central Asia.
Greek cuisine is the cuisine of Greece and the Greek diaspora. In common with many other cuisines of the Mediterranean, it is founded on the triad of wheat, olive oil, and wine. It uses vegetables, olive oil, grains, fish, and meat, including pork, poultry, veal and beef, lamb, rabbit, and goat. Other important ingredients include pasta, cheeses, herbs, lemon juice, olives and olive oil, and yogurt. Bread made of wheat is ubiquitous; other grains, notably barley, are also used, especially for paximathia. Common dessert ingredients include nuts, honey, fruits, sesame, and filo pastries. It continues traditions from Ancient Greek and Byzantine cuisine, while incorporating Asian, Turkish, Balkan, and Italian influences.
Turkish cuisine is the cuisine of Turkey and the Turkish diaspora. Although the cuisine took its current rich form after numerous cultural interactions throughout centuries, it should not be confused with other cuisines such as Ottoman cuisine or Seljuk cuisine. Turkish cuisine with traditional Turkic elements such as yogurt, ayran, kaymak, exerts and gains influences to and from Mediterranean, Balkan, Middle Eastern, Central Asian and Eastern European cuisines.
Pirozhki are Eastern European baked or fried yeast-leavened boat-shaped buns with a variety of fillings. Pirozhki are a popular street food and comfort food in Eastern Europe.
Filo is a very thin unleavened dough used for making pastries such as baklava and börek in Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisines. Filo-based pastries are made by layering many sheets of filo brushed with oil or butter; the pastry is then baked.
Galette is a term used in French cuisine to designate various types of flat round or freeform crusty cakes, or, in the case of a Breton galette, a pancake made with buckwheat flour usually with a savoury filling. Of the cake type of galette, one notable variety is the galette des Rois eaten on the day of Epiphany. In French Canada the term galette is usually applied to pastries best described as large cookies.
Pastitsio is a Greek baked pasta dish with ground meat and béchamel sauce, with variations of the dish found in other countries of the Mediterranean Sea.
Bulgarian cuisine is part of the cuisine of Southeast Europe, sharing characteristics with other Balkan cuisines. Bulgarian cooking traditions are diverse because of geographical factors such as climatic conditions suitable for a variety of vegetables, herbs, and fruit. Aside from the variety of local Bulgarian dishes, Bulgarian cuisine shares a number of dishes with its neighboring countries, in particular with Turkish and Greek cuisine.
Serbian cuisine is a Balkan cuisine that consists of the culinary methods and traditions of Serbia. Its roots lie in Serbian history, including centuries of cultural contact and influence with the Greeks and the Byzantine Empire, the Ottomans, and Serbia's Balkan neighbours, especially during the existence of Yugoslavia. Historically, Serbian food develops from pastoral customs that involved the keeping of sheep in mountain highlands, in a climate and regional context that favoured animal husbandry over vegetable farming; Serbian food is therefore traditionally richer in animal products and basic grains—corn, wheat and oats—than fresh vegetable dishes. Following the abandonment of widely practiced pastoral lifestyles, Serbian food emerged through the Middle Ages heavily dependent not on lamb or mutton, but on the keeping of pigs for the annual cull and the production of various cured meats, such as sausages, bacon and ham products.
Banitsa, also transliterated as banica and banitza, is a traditional pastry made in Bulgaria. It is also made in Budjak, where it is known as milina by Ukrainian Bulgarians; North Macedonia; and southeastern Serbia. In southeastern Serbia, it may also be known as gibanica. Banitsa is prepared by layering a mixture of whisked eggs, plain yogurt, and pieces of white brined cheese between filo pastry and then baking it in an oven.
Börek or burek is a family of pastries or pies found in the Balkans, Turkey, Armenia, the Levant, Northern Africa and Central Asia. The pastry is made of a thin flaky dough such as filo with a variety of fillings, such as meat, cheese, spinach, or potatoes. A borek may be prepared in a large pan and cut into portions after baking, or as individual pastries. They are usually baked but some varieties can be fried. Borek is sometimes sprinkled with sesame or nigella seeds, and it can be served hot or cold.
Gözleme is a savory Turkish stuffed turnover. The dough is usually unleavened, and made only with flour, salt and water, but gözleme can be made from yeast dough as well. It is similar to bazlama, but is lightly brushed with butter or oil, whereas bazlama is prepared without fat. The dough is rolled thin, then filled with various toppings, sealed, and cooked over a griddle. Gözleme may sometimes be made from prepackaged hand-rolled leaves of yufka dough.
Bougatsa is a Greek breakfast food, or mid-morning snack, or midday snack. Bougatsa has several versions with their own filling, with the most popular the bougatsa krema that has semolina custard filling used as a sweet food and dessert.
Bourekas or burekas are a popular baked pastry in Sephardic Jewish cuisine and Israeli cuisine. A variation of the burek, a popular pastry throughout southern Europe, northern Africa and the Middle East, Israeli bourekas are made in a wide variety of shapes and a vast selection of fillings, and are typically made with either puff pastry, filo dough, or brik pastry, depending on the origin of the baker.
Bosnian cuisine is the traditional cuisine of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is influenced by Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian and Balkan cuisines.
Zelnik is a traditional pastry eaten in Bulgaria and North Macedonia. It is composed of layers of thinly-rolled leavened wheat flour dough, or possibly phyllo pastry, filled with various combinations of sirene, feta cheese, eggs, sorrel, browned meat, leeks, spring onions and/or rice. In winter, the filling traditionally includes pickled cabbage, from which the dish derives its name. Bulgarian zelnik could be made also with various wild and cultivated leafy greens like collard, lettuce, orache, rumex, Chenopodium album, spearmint and many others. Zelnik is sometimes served with yogurt and it is best eaten warm.
Sephardic Jewish cuisine, belonging to the Sephardic Jews—descendants of the Jewish population of the Iberian Peninsula until their expulsion in 1492—encompassing traditional dishes developed as they resettled in the Ottoman Empire, North Africa, and the Mediterranean, including Jewish communities in Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, and Syria, as well as the Sephardic community in the Land of Israel. It may also refer to the culinary traditions of the Western Sephardim, who settled in Holland, England, and from these places elsewhere. The cuisine of Jerusalem, in particular, is considered predominantly Sephardic.
The cuisine of Kosovo is a representative of the cuisine of the Balkans and consists of traditional dishes by ethnic groups native to Kosovo. Due to ethnic connections with Albania, it has been significantly influenced by Albanian cuisine and has adopted elements of other Balkan countries.
Lakror is a traditional and common regional Albanian pie dish of Albania made with different fillings consisting of various vegetables or meat.
The peinirli is an elongated, open pie made in a boat shape. They contain a substantial amount of yellow cheese and optionally, meats or vegetables. Peinirli originated in Turkey, where it is known as peynirli. There are two types of pide: peynirli pide, in which cheese entirely covers the surface of the filling and karışık pide, which has cheese only as part of the filling.
Bulemas or boulemas, also rodanches or burmaikos, are a traditional baked pastry in Sephardic Jewish cuisine. They are made from a yeast dough that is thinly stretched and filled with a savory mixture, and then rolled into a spiral shape. Once baked, the pastry boasts a delicate and flaky texture akin to that of phyllo-based pastries, like the Turkish Kol böreği and the Greek spanakopita.