Recipe of the Week: Cheese Borek

I would book a flight on the only day New York City was expecting snow during spring break.

I planned this trip to Florida about a month ago expecting to leave New York spring weather and arrive in nice Florida heat.

That is not what happened.

Not only did it snow in New York, it snowed in Atlanta, where I was supposed to change flights.

I ended up getting to the airport around 4 in the morning to wait for an earlier flight to leave the storm.

To top it all off, my IPod did this weird thing where I could only play one song on ITunes. I was listening to “Thrift Shop” the entire time. “Thrift Shop.” I barely liked that song in the first place.I’ve never even been to a thrift shop (blasphemous I know).

Long story short, I did wind up in Florida, about 11 hours early. I arrived to one of the chilliest days Florida had seen in weeks.

Because I was staying with friends, I was dependent on them for food. A little too dependent. I ate everything. Freshman fifteen hit me in one week.

Lesson learned: you can take a break from school, but you can’t take a break from eating healthy!

I just came back the other day, to 60-degree weather. Last I checked New York was in the mid-40s.

 

I made some borek (there are many different pronunciations, and variations of these dish, depending on what nationality you are) today because it’s filling, and I can make it tiny, so it’s easy to control how much I eat.

 

Ingredients

-1 packet of filo dough

-1 or 2 sticks of melted butter

-Handful of finely chopped parsley

-Handful of finely chopped cilantro

-1 finely chopped onion

-Handful of sesame seeds

-2 packets of shredded cheese of choice (I chose shredded mixed cheese simply because it’s easier to use. You can choose whichever cheese you want and chop it up yourself if you prefer).

 

Step One: Mix together cheeses, cilantro, parsley, and onion in bowl.

Step Two: lay a piece of filo dough on baking dish. Coat it lightly with melted butter. Lay another piece of filo dough on top of that one and repeat. Depending on the size of your pan, you may have to fold over a single sheet of filo dough a few times to accommodate (you do not have to put extra butter if this happens, though you may wish to). Continue this process until you’ve used about half of your filo dough sheets. Lightly coat the last sheet of filo dough with butter.

Step Three: Empty cheese-mixture on top of the filo dough. Spread evenly. Begin the process of layering the rest of the filo dough on top of each other, on top of the cheese mixture. On the last sheet of filo dough, use the rest of the butter (this should be a thicker coat of butter to allow the top layer of dough). Cut the entire dish into small square segments. It is far easier to cut when uncooked (although it may seem difficult)

Step Four: Spread sesame seeds on top of dish. Set oven to 350-degrees and bake for about 45 minutes, or until it appears golden brown and cheese is melted. Serve and enjoy!

I hope you all enjoyed your break! More recipes to come this week to make up for lost time. Enjoy!