Slavka’s recipe

Series: Slavka’s filo pastries

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It’s a week before Xmas Eve and it is time for Slavka’s banitsa recipe and ideas. Slavka, as do I, often improvises and creates her own recipe.  Perhaps she, like me, learned it back home, when one had to use whatever was available on the market that day. But when I asked her to send me her recipe, she sent me this one. Comments in brackets are mine:

Ingredients:

4 eggs

200 g feta cheese

200 g cottage cheese (we call it izvara)

100g butter

50ml vegetable oil (sunflower or olive)

A pinch of baking soda

(Now as I mentioned in the previous post this is rich filling)

1 package of thawed filo pastry

(Slavka often uses half of the package, see preparation below)

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 Preparation

Mix the whisked eggs with crumbled feta cheese and the cottage cheese. Add a pinch of baking soda.

Thaw the butter and add the oil. Keep it warm.

Depending on your preparation speed and the time your oven would preheat, you can turn it to preheat before you start layering the banitsa. Preheat to 375F.

Brush the bottom of large baking sheet or pan with oil.

Oil a filo sheet lightly (usually about a tablespoon) and spread 2 to 3 tablespoons of the filling evenly across it. Roll up the sheet loosely.

If your pan is rectangular, you can now lay it in the pan. For a round pan, curl the roll into a spiral and then place it in the pan.

Repeat this until your filo sheets are used. (If you have leftover filling, brush it on the top.). Brush top with oil and bake for about 40 min (it all depends on your oven) until well toasted on top.

(Note: I’ve watched Slavka making banitsa. She usually uses only half of a filo sheet for a piece of banitsa, or shall I say banichka, so it is rich of filling)

Variations:

Salmon Banitsa: Same as the regular banitsa recipe, adding 100g smoked salmon, in tiny cubes mixed with the filling.

Spinach Banitsa: Same as the regular banitsa recipe, adding about 200g baby spinach, washed, cut and sprinkled on top of the filling on each sheet of phyllo.

Leek Banitsa: Same as the regular banitsa recipe, but substitute eggs with 2-3 leek stalks, cubed and lightly fried (no more than ten minutes).

Sweet Banitsa: Substitute the filling with peeled and grated apples or butternut squash (2 cups), crushed walnuts (1/2 cup), brown sugar (1/2 cup) and cinnamon (optional, 2 tsp)