Byrek me Spinaq

Albania's spinach and cheese pie, hand-stretched pastry layered with brushed oil and a salty white-cheese filling, baked until the top shatters

Origin: Tirana and Albania

From the journey of Spinach.

Byrek is the everyday pie of Albania and it is sold from dedicated shops, the byrektore, that make nothing else. Sheets of very thin pastry are layered with oil or butter and a filling, most classically spinach with salty white cheese, and baked in a wide round tin until the top layers blister and shatter under the knife. It arrived with the Ottomans, who ruled Albania for more than four centuries, and it belongs to the same family as Turkish börek, Bosnian burek, Greek spanakopita, and Kosovar pite. What varies across that family is the filling, the shape, and whether the pastry is coiled or layered flat. Albanians layer flat and argue about the number of sheets. The pastry is properly hand-stretched, petë, rolled with a long thin pin and pulled until you can read through it. Shop-bought filo is the honest domestic shortcut and most Albanian households abroad use it, though the traditional dough contains no butter and is stretched rather than rolled thin, which gives a slightly chewier result. Alongside it Albania eats tavë kosi, lamb baked under a yoghurt and egg custard, which is the national dish proper, and fërgesë, the Tirana dish of peppers and tomatoes baked with cottage cheese.

Ingredients

Pastry

500 g filo pastry sheets
150 ml olive oil, or 120 g melted butter

Filling

900 g spinach, washed and roughly chopped
300 g feta or salty white cheese, crumbled
200 g cottage cheese or ricotta
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 spring onions, sliced
3 eggs, beaten
2 tbsp olive oil, for the filling

Seasoning

0.5 tsp black pepper
0.5 tsp salt, to taste

Method

Wilt the spinach in a dry pan in batches, then tip into a colander and press hard to expel every drop of water. Chop it roughly.
Soften the onion in the two tablespoons of oil for eight minutes, add the spring onions for two more, then cool.
Mix the drained spinach, onions, both cheeses, eggs, pepper, and a little salt. Taste before salting; feta carries a great deal already.
Heat the oven to 190C (fan 170C, gas 5) and brush a wide round tin with oil.
Lay in half the filo sheets one at a time, brushing each with oil, letting them overhang the rim.
Spread the filling evenly over the base, then fold the overhanging edges in over it.
Layer the remaining sheets on top, brushing each, and tuck the edges down inside the tin. Score the top layers into portions with a sharp knife, cutting only through the pastry.
Sprinkle the surface with a little water, then bake for forty to forty-five minutes until deeply golden and crisp.

Notes

Hand-stretched petë is the traditional pastry and gives a chewier, more substantial pie; filo is the standard domestic substitute and is what most households now use. Bosnian burek is properly the meat-filled version of the same family, coiled rather than layered; the spinach version there is zeljanica. Leek, courgette, or minced meat all substitute for the spinach directly.

The Gastrographer

Name: Byrek me Spinaq
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Tirana and Albania
Ingredients: 500 g filo pastry sheets; 150 ml olive oil, or 120 g melted butter; 900 g spinach, washed and roughly chopped; 300 g feta or salty white cheese, crumbled; 200 g cottage cheese or ricotta; 1 large onion, finely chopped; 4 spring onions, sliced; 3 eggs, beaten; 0.5 tsp black pepper; 0.5 tsp salt, to taste; 2 tbsp olive oil, for the filling

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control