This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to the winners: Lori A., Teri G., and Betty P.
I love dairy. And I love carbs.
And oh my goodness, I love dairy and carbs together.
Which is why when I lived in Israel, my absolute favorite indulgence was a cheese bourekas from Angel Bakery.
It’s been five years since I lived in Israel – and I have yet to experience that same deliciousness. But this recipe, from the new cookbook, Jewish Traditional Cooking by Ruth Joseph, looks like it might just do the trick.
And wouldn’t it be perfect for Shavuot?!
The Perfect Bourekas
Makes about 40 bourekas
Ingredients
2 16-oz packs of phyllo dough
2–3 tablespoons olive oil, for brushing
1 egg, to glaze
sesame or poppy seeds, to sprinkle
For the cheese filling
4 oz (1 cup) soft white cheese, such as ricotta, mozzarella, or feta
8 oz stronger cheese, such as Gouda or pecorino
1 large egg
2 tablespoons natural yogurt
salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the potato filling
1 cup mashed potato
1⁄2 cup fresh dill, finely chopped
1⁄2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsely, finely chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the spinach filling
2 lb spinach
2 eggs
11⁄2 cups Emmental, Gouda, or mozzarella, grated
salt and freshly ground black pepper
finely grated nutmeg
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Ensure that the dough is defrosted and ready to use.
First prepare the fillings. Grate or chop the cheeses for the cheese filling and combine with the egg, yogurt, and seasoning in a bowl. Set aside. Season the mashed potato with the herbs and salt and pepper, and set aside. To make the spinach filling, wash the spinach and wilt in a large pan over medium heat. Drain in a colander and squeeze out all the moisture with the back of a spoon.
Leave to cool. Roughly chop the spinach, and combine with the eggs and cheese. Season with salt, pepper, and a little nutmeg.
To assemble the bourekas, remove two sheets of phyllo dough from the stack and cover the rest with a damp cloth to stop them drying out. Place the sheets of dough on top of each other, cut into strips 6 inches wide and brush with olive oil. Place a tablespoon of filling in one corner, fold over the corner at an angle to form a triangle, and then wrap up tightly to form a neat little triangular parcel. Repeat with the rest of the dough and fillings.
Place the filled bourekas on your prepared baking sheets, glaze on both sides with beaten egg, and sprinkle generously all over with sesame or poppy seeds. Bake in the oven for 15–20 minutes until golden brown.
Variations
Include slivers of brie instead of soft white cheese, or some chopped nuts or roasted peppers for extra flavor. To liven up the potato filling, add a handful of chopped olives, a tablespoon of pesto sauce, or some sliced and cooked mushroom.
If you’d like to see more recipes like these, you’re in luck! I am giving away three copies of Jewish Traditional Cooking: Over 150 Nostalgic & Contemporary Recipes (retail value: $29.95).
Here’s how to enter this giveaway:
Required Entry: Leave a comment on this post with the dish you most like to cook for Shavuot (For eg., I like to make eggplant parmesan — and bourekas!) This is a required entry form, so make sure you do this first.
Optional Entry: Pin or repin this recipe on Pinterest — then let me know you have done so by leaving a separate comment.
This giveaway will be open until Wednesday, May 1st at 11:59 p.m. CST. The winners must be at least 18 years of age and live in the United States (sorry, folks!). They will be selected randomly and notified by email immediately. Good luck!
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of the Jewish Traditional Cooking cookbook. The publisher will provide each of the three winners with their copy as well. I was not compensated in any other way to host this giveaway.
Photo Courtesy of the Jewish Traditional Cooking
spanikopita
Last year I made cauliflower au gratin instead of my usual mac and cheese and it was amazing! I also make baked rainbow trout with roasted vegetables. My mom used to make it for break fast after Yom Kippur and now I make it for Shavuos. Yummy!
Technically speaking, I don’t actually ever make anything for Shavous myself…or at all. I am not a cooking/baking type of person. My sister however is an amazing cook and collects cookbooks. She makes a delicious blintze souffle! But after reading everyone else’s posts I may have a few other requests for her this year…
ziti and tofu cheesecake. 🙂
Cheesecake!!!! And spinach enchiladas.
Cheesecake with mascarpone cheese!
Pizza and ice cream!
it has to be cheesecake!!! made an amazing one last year going to try the recipe again and hopefully it wasn’t a fluke
Pinned it on Pinterest!
Eggplant Parm bourekas?!? Let me at ’em!
Veggie Chicken Parmesan
Ordinary fish dinner, with homemade CHEESECAKE (!) for dessert!
Sour cream crumb cake. Delicious!
These bourekas look amazing! My shavuos favorites include cheese delkalach, choc cheese babka, cream cheese rugelach, french onion soup, greek salad, ceasar salad, butter lemon sole, blueberry cheese butter cookies, blintz custard souffle butter pound cake and ofcourse cheescake… as you can tell we love shavuos!!;)
“Easy Fish Stew With Mediterranean Flavors” — to allow for dairy foods elsewhere in the meal, although since I’m lactose-intolerant, even my dairy recipes are mostly non-dairy. The fish recipe was in the New York Times in 2009.
I like to my potato blintzes!
Our go to meal is baked macaroni and cheese and onion soup. Heaven!
Cheesecake, of course!
Definitely cheesecake and blintzes!
Stuffed shells
Blintz Souffle.
Repinned the recipe.
Repinned! http://pinterest.com/pin/527061962611008775/
cheesecake, of course!
I love to make greek salad.
I usually make quiche.
Mushroom Quiche
cheesecake!
I love to make blintzes!
Cheesecake!!
Cheesecake!!!
My grandmother’s sour cream cheesecake recipe!
cheescake and lasagne
cheescake
My oreo cheesecake!!
would love to have this cookbook and i can’t wait to make the bourekas!
Blintz casserole and ice cream cake
I love to make freshly grilled salmon
Chocolate Cheese cake. I am going to try this Boreka recipie for my husband. They sounf yummy. 🙂
Avocado soup!
I love making baked ziti and fried fish!
Cheese blintzes with berries sauce: Delicious!
My husband and our 11 month old love my eggplant parm, but my new favorite is spinach and cheese swirls (rolled puff pastry).
Cheesecake!
I am a cook book addict and would love to add to my collection! scalloped potatoes=yum!
repinned!
cheese danishes
Pinned!
Pinned it
I repinned this recipe. I like making cheesecake,baked ziti and lasagna.