The Cottage Smallholder

Just to whet your appetite I'll tell you about Borek

This is a kind of Bosnian filo pastry pie which was introduced by the Turks and has similar variations in Greece.

It is widely eaten in Bosnia, perhaps 5 times a week by some people. It's served in the best restaurants and eaten from paper in the streets like chips.   Sometimes it's like a filler course equivalent to pasta, sometimes the main when served with salad, sometimes eaten cold at pic-nics

Their filo pastry is much nicer than the frozen, cardboard stuff we have here but takes a bit of practice to master. It's quite a bit of work to make but is so loved it was even made in the cramped conditions of refugee camps where many would have resorted to simple 'convenience' foods

Basically an unyeasted dough is kneaded up with flour, water and a little oil then allowed to rest.

It is then worked like a pizza base to a circle often with a long, thin rolling pin more like a broomstick then laid onto a tablecloth where it is systematically stretched til you can read a newspaper through it ( that bit needs practice! )

Alitle oilis spread on it then the filling spread along one edge. The pastry is turn over then rolled by lifting the tablecloth. After a few rolls a section is cut off and, looking like a long sausage, coiled in a baking tray ( different regions coil in  different ways)

Several 'sausages' can be made from one sheet and when the baking tray is full it's splashed with a little oil and baked in a hot oven for perhaps 20 mins

Most of the village folk and some townies still use a wood stove and most agree it gives a better result

When removed from the oven the borek is liberally splashed with hot water ( or milk for cheese version ) and covered with a tea towel for trn minutes. This is the trick to give a pastry which is crisp on top and soft underneath - our first efforts missed this and the result was almost too hard to eat!

The filling for Borek would be minced beef with a little garlic and/or onion and sometimes flavoured with a little smoked meat.

The cheese version ( Sirnica ) uses soft white cheese with a little egg

The spinach version ( could be nettles in spring ) has some cheese and is excellent for vegetarians

The peasants version ( krompirska ) has tiny cubes of seasoned potato with a little onion and is very tasty

It can also be made with cucumber, marrow or courgette

A Bosnian/English couple go in for 'Fusion' Borek with turkey or curry

MMMMMMMMmmmm  making me homesick for Bosnia

Don't know of any Bosnian restaurants but I can buy some Bosnian foods at a multi-cultural supermarket in Leeds

Bosnians do often do breakfast as such - often it's just a few coffees to wake up the system. Sometimes accompanied by a Sljvovic (plum Brandy ) to 'cleanse the system'

Often theres a second breakfast or early lunch once youhave been up a few hours - but nothing to compete with your fry-up

One of the things we adopted from Bosnia and are rarely without now is Ajvar

It is a red pepper relish/ puree/ sauce used as a relish with barbeques or as an addition to soups, casseroles etc

I came accross it being made at someones house and it was a sight I will never forget - a huge black pot being stirred on a huge black wood stove but the contents were so vivid orange red it gave the efect of a volcano!

I noted the recipe then:--

10kg Red peppers, flamed and skinned

1kg Aubergine, peeled and chopped

1 litre oil

2 chillies

a few cloves of garlic

salt

50ml concentrated vinegar - added at the end

The peppers are chopped, mixed with the other ingredients and cooked down to make a homogenous puree then bottled

It's wonderfull stuff, the colour and taste lift many dishes

Sadly it's uneconomic to make here because of the cost of the peppers - over there peppers are grown in every garden and can be bought on the markets for about 40p a kilo. Folks there cannot understand how we can live with peppers costing 40p ( and more ) each!

I used to bring boxes of the stuff home with me but now we can buy it in Leeds, even choosing from Bosnian, Macedonian or Bulgarian brands

If you see any - grab a jar and try it!