Serbian Meat Burek Sa Mesom Recipes

BUREK RECIPE CARD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• In a small frying pan heat the olive oil and add the onions. Cook on medium heat for about 3-5 minutes until the onions are translucent.
• Add the beef and the rest of the ingredients. Cook until the beef is browned.
• Remove beef mixture from heat and place in a bowl and chill in the refrigerator. Warm meat with juice will ruin the delicate phyllo and make it soggy.
• Take phyllo dough and unroll carefully. Cut in half. Cover with a moist tea towel to avoid drying.
• Take 3 sheets of phyllo at a time and place a good amount of meat down the center, leaving about 2" at both top and bottom. Using a pastry brush, brush all around the edges of the dough. Fold in once all around. Fold from the short side up and roll tightly like a cigar. Brush with melted butter and place seam side down on a baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes or until the burek are golden brown. Serve with a side of plain yogurt.
• Any leftover phyllo can be stored again in the freezer. Make sure you wrap it tightly so it doesn't dry out.

TRADITIONAL ROLLED BUREK (BOREK) RECIPE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Heat a large frying pan over medium-low to medium heat and add the oil.
• Sauté the onion until soft and then add the ground beef, allspice , paprika , salt , and pepper to taste.
• Cook until the meat is crumbly but not dry. Cool completely before you continue. While ground beef mixture is cooling, preheat oven to 375 F.
• Once cooled, lay one sheet of phyllo dough on the counter. Keep the remaining sheets of phyllo dough covered with a damp kitchen towel, and work quickly to prevent it from drying out.
• Brush sheet with some of the melted butter. Place a heaping 1/3 cup of meat mixture on the sheet along the long side, 2 inches from the edge.
• Fold the bottom over the meat mixture and roll into a snake shape. Cut the roll in half and coil each roll into a snail shape.
• Place rolled dough and ground beef pinwheel on a nonstick baking sheet and butt the end up against the edge of the pan to prevent uncoiling. Brush with additional butter. Continue until you've used all the ground beef.
• Bake in a preheated oven 15 to 20 minutes or until just golden. A hint for handling phyllo dough: Be sure the dough is at room temperature before you open the box. Place the sheets of dough on a large cookie sheet and cover them with plastic wrap and then a heavy towel. In this way, they will not dry out while you are working with them. Work fast for best results and do not have the butter too hot when brushing the dough. Recipe Source: The Frugal Gourmet On Our Immigrant Ancestors by Jeff Smith (Wm Morrow) Reprinted with permission.

SERBIAN MEAT BUREK (SA MESOM)

Steps:

• In a large skillet, cook the meats, onion, and garlic until meat is no longer pink and onions are translucent. Drain in a colander, discarding the fat.
• Return to skillet and mix with salt and pepper to taste. Let cool to room temperature.
• Separate filo dough into 3 piles (about 9 sheets each) and keep covered. Read these tips on Working with Filo Dough.
• Heat oven to 375 F. Lightly coat a 13×9-inch pan with cooking spray. Lay down 3 sheets of filo dough and lightly brush with oil. Repeat two more times until you've used one (9-sheet) pile of filo.
• Spread on half the cooled meat mixture. Then lay down 3 sheets of filo dough from the second pile and lightly brush with oil. Repeat two more times until you've used the second (9-sheet) pile of filo.
• Spread with remaining meat mixture. Then, using the last pile of filo dough, lay down 3 sheets at a time, brushing lightly with oil, until the pile is finished.
• Tuck any straggly ends down the sides of the pan and, using a sawing motion and a serrated knife, cut the burek to the bottom into 12 slices.
• In a medium bowl, mix together the eggs and oil. Add soda water and mix slightly. Pour over the burek and let sit 2 minutes.
• Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour or until golden brown. Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes or so before serving.