Korcula + Burek

On our recent visit to Croatia we spent most of our time on the island of Korcula. A lot of the foliage and sounds reminded me of home. Home is around the inland base of the Santa Cruz mountains, which sadly on the other side are in flames right now! During the summer months the cicadas can be deafeningly loud. It was the same noise I heard on Korcula and it reminded me so much of home. Wine grapes also flourish in both locales...

as do fig trees...

But the thing that reminded me most about California was this ...

There was a time in high school where I spent more time in the water than in class! It's been a long time since I've seen a water polo cage. The Croatians are very good water polo players and with cages littered all over the coast its easy to see why. 

I mentioned in an earlier post that we weren't that impressed with the food in Croatia which was a huge disappointment. They certainly don't do breakfast or much in the department of baked goods ... with the heat its understandable, but I was determined to find something! And, I did. Burek. It's cheese wrapped in phyllo and baked. There are lots of things that can be added to it. We had one for breakfast one day with meat so I recreated my version today.

BUREK

• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1 medium red onion, chopped
• 1 pound ground lamb (beef or pork)
• 1 cup chopped cooked potato (3 small or 1 medium)
• 1 Tbs finely chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 tsp finely minced fresh rosemary
• salt + pepper to taste
• 1 c cottage cheese
• 1/2 c crumbled feta cheese
• 1/2 c melted clarified butter
• 1 box phyllo dough

METHOD

In a large saute pan with olive oil, sweat onion. Add ground lamb and cook through. Add pre-cooked potato, parsley, and rosemary. Season with salt and pepper, keeping in mind that feta will be added and is often quite salty. When all is heated and cooked through set aside to cool.

Once cooled add to a mixing bowl and add cottage and feta cheeses. Set aside. Cut 1 sheet of phyllo in half. One half should be cut in half again. Start with one of the smaller pieces. Brush with butter and put a heaping 1/4 c of the mixture in the center.

Then start with one corner and fold the dough over. Add another bit of the mixture on top and place on the other smaller portion of the phyllo. 

Brush the initial, larger half with butter and wrap the entire package. Brush the tops with butter and bake for about one half hour at 375 F or until golden brown. Serve warm.

It's great eaten cooled too. Perfect for taking the little parcels to the beach for lunch.

Comments

[elra]

Oh I love burek, it's my family's favorite. Love it especially with lamb.

[lisa (dandysugar)]

I've heard Croatians are not big on sweets and things of that sort. I've never had burek, but it looks delicious. I'm such a sucker for savory patries. Meat and potatos wrapped in flakey dough sounds like a perfect treat!

[Jenni]

The cicadas have been very vocal here in NC, too.

Burek sounds wonderful--sort of spanikopita-esque. Anything wrapped in phyllo is pretty much fine with me! :)

[Sophie]

What lovely food & holiday pictures!!

It looks that you are having a great time!!

[Natasha - 5 Star Foodie]

Burek sounds excellent! I just got some nice ground lamb and would love to make it this weekend! Thanks for the recipe!

[Sam]

It looks like a beautiful place, did you try any Croatian wine?

The burek sounds delicious, I'd love to try that.

[lisaiscooking]

Beautiful photos! Too bad the food wasn't better, but your burek looks delicious. That would be great for picnics.

[Tangled Noodle]

Yes! I have all the ingredients for burek, except for potato (no problem!) I love discovering what the local favorite sweets/desserts are, so I'd be quite disappointed to find very little of it. However, this would certainly make up for it.

Thank you for these great photos and info about Croatia - definitely a destination to put on our list!

[vincent]

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[Jamie]

Wow! I've only seen either lamb or cheese burek (or borek as I know it here in France), but the two together looks fabulous! This one I must try! What a wonderful trip!