Börek with Spinach and Chanterelles

I got acquainted with börek at a Turkish friend's place - she served me an unbelievably delicious dish called börek. Then I ate another, very different kind of Turkish dish made by another friend - and surprisingly enough, it was also called börek. So I suppose there are very different varieties of this iconic Turkish dish!

This is my first attempt to make börek. Most of the vegetarian recipes I found combine spinach and feta, but I wanted to try out a 100% vegan version. I initially thought of using tofu, but somehow it would have been too obvious - and then I found frozen chanterelles at the supermarket. Chanterelles are my favourite mushrooms by far. They are just incredibly tasty, and combine perfectly with spinach (oh well, is there anything spinach would not combine with?!).

To me, this is a perfect kind of vegan dish. It's extremely rich and tasty, and really doesn't feel like substitute to anything - it stands on its own. It's proudly vegan!

For four people you need:

• 4 large sheets of filo dough (about the size of a A3-sheet)

For the filling:

• 2 Tbsp olive oil


• 1/2 of a large onion or 1 small onion


• 2-3 garlic cloves


• 700g frozen spinach


• 200g frozen chanterelles


• 2 tsp grated lemon zest


• 3 Tbsp almond cream


• a pinch of grated nutmeg (or a bit more if you like!)


• salt and pepper to taste


• lots of chopped fresh parsley (or other herbs of your liking)

For the brushing:

• 50g vegan margarine


• 125ml olive oil


• 4 Tbsp almond cream


• 1-2 crushed garlic cloves


• salt and pepper to taste

Begin with the filling: heat the oil in a heavy pan and sauté the onion 3-4 minutes. Then add the garlic, stir 1-2 minutes, and then add the frozen spinach and mushrooms. Let melt and then simmer over a low heat for a couple of minutes. Add lemon zest, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and stir. Sprinkle with the chopped herbs and set aside.

Then make the liquid for the brushing: combine all ingredients in a saucepan and heat until the margarine has melted. Set aside.

Now, place one sheet (I used double sheets...) of the filo dough on the bottom of a lasagne form. Brush it evenly with the brushing liquid. Spread 1/3 of the filling over the filo dough. Repeat twice. Place the 4th sheet on top of the last filling layer and brush it with the remaining brushing liquid. If there's not enough left, make quickly some more.

Bake your börek in the preheated oven (200C) until it's crispy and golden brown, or about 30 minutes. Serve either hot or at room temperature with a green salad, for example!

 

 

 

 

Day Seven: Pizza Polenta with Spinach and Peas

On the final day of my No Cost Food Week I wanted to use up a polenta package that I had open, to make the easiest of my polenta recipes. I didn’t use to like polenta at all, actually. But after moving to Germany I decided to give it another try - and I loved it! Best of all: the kids did as well.

This dish is yet another alternative to pizza, and even simpler and quicker than Flammkuchen. And very, very tasty! As toppings I used spinach and green peas that had been lying on the bottom of my freezer for ages. Just like with the Shepherd’s pie recipe, this first time combination of ingredients (thank you No Cost Week!) beats the one I would normally make, by far. Normally I would use garlicky mushrooms, but spinach really gives the Pizza polenta a fresh taste!

For four portions you need:

• 250g polenta


• 100g frozen spinach


• a handful of frozen peas


• ¼ onion, cut in thin rings


• 1 mozzarella (125g - or more if you have!)


• any grated cheese available - I used Parmesan


• salt and pepper to taste


• 2 Tbsp olive oil

Boil 1 liter of water in a pan. Add 1 tsp salt and 2 Tbsp olive, then add the polenta and whisk. Turn the heat down and let simmer a couple of minutes. Pour polenta on an oven tray covered with a parchment paper and spread it out about 1cm thick using a spatula. Place spinach, peas, and onion rings evenly on top of polenta, then the mozzarella cut in slices and finally grated (Parmesan) cheese, salt, and pepper.

Bake in a preheated oven (200 C) until the cheese melts and starts to get brown. Serve piping hot with some salad - if you've got any left. I didn’t :)

Pancakes with Carrot and Spinach

Pancakes are an excellent place to hide any veggies that the kids don’t want to eat. As a kid, I used to eat pancakes with carrot, spinach, and even blood in them (yes, you read right - just Google to find out that it’s a traditional Finnish dish and that I’m not kidding). A friend told me her kids sure would protest because of the green colour in spinach pancakes - mine don’t, but you still could consider eating in candle light to avoid this..!

Here’s the basic recipe, feel free to use any other veggies of your liking (and/or of your kids’ disliking):

• 400ml milk


• 130g flour


• 2 eggs


• 1 medium-sized carrot, peeled and grated


• 100g frozen spinach


• ½ tsp salt


• oil or butter for baking

Unfreeze the spinach. Measure flour and salt in a baking bowl, add milk and mix. Then add the eggs and vegetables and  mix again until smooth. Let the batter rest about 15-30 minutes. Then bake the pancakes on both sides in a frying pan (or two, to make the process quicker) with either oil or butter and set aside on an oven-proof plate - this is handy if you’re making a lot of them and need to warm them up before serving. Serve with sliced cucumber and tomatoes. Or with strawberry jam :)

Green Käsespätzle

When you go to a restaurant in Germany, there’s normally only one vegetarian dish on the menu: Käsespätzle.  Vegans have it even worse off (or better, depends on how you see it), the only vegan thing you usually get in restaurants being beer.

Spätzle is an amazingly tasty, easy and quick dish to prepare at home as well, as long as your kitchen is equipped with a special device for making Spätzle. I got one of these myself as a birthday present this year, and I’ve been using it quite a lot! Kids also love Spätzle - even my new specialty, Green Spätzle, which funnily enough tastes exactly the same as the normal one but is green! Now how could that be..? ;)

Count with 100g flour, 1 egg, 50ml water, and about 70g grated cheese (I use a mixture of Parmesan and local Bergkäse), per person, plus some 20g frozen spinach (melted first) if you want green Spätzle, and salt to taste. Spätzle is normally served with fried onions, so you’ll need one medium-sized onion per person, plus some butter and olive oil for frying.

Start with the onions: peel them and cut into thin slices. Melt butter in a pan with olive oil, then add onions and fry over a low heat until golden brown - this takes about 20-30 minutes. Stir once in a while.

Now it’s time to boil some 3 liters of water in a large pan and preheat your oven to 150 C. While you’re waiting for the water to boil, measure the flour and salt (I use 1 tsp for 500g flour, and that’s quite little, feel free to use more) into a baking bowl, make a hole in the middle, pour the eggs and water (and spinach) into it, and mix well - I use a spiral whisk to do this. If your water is boiling already, just add 2 tsp salt in it and you’re set to go!

Set your Spätzle maker on top of the pan and fill it with batter, then scrape the batter with a spatula into the boiling water. Repeat twice, stir, and wait until the Spätzle comes on top - it doesn’t take long, 1-2 minutes or so. Move the cooked ones into an oven dish and cover with a layer of grated cheese. Repeat until all your Spätzle is cooked and topped with the rest of the cheese. You can put your Spätzle in the oven for a couple of minutes to make sure all the cheese has melted and that your Spätzle is piping hot.

Decorate with fried onions and some parsley, and serve with a green salad.