No, this was not Bosnian Pita!?

[AnnieKyung]

Help.
After having searched the net for a recipe on a meal I had 16 years ago, I thought I finally found it. Now the dish is cooking in my oven, and I can already see it is not the same...
A long time ago I visied this family from eastern Europe, I cant remember from where, maybe Bosnia, Albnia or Yugoslavia.
They served me this dish that looks like Bosnian pita, with layers of some dough and cheese and spinate in between. Sometimes liver as a filling too. The dish was soft with crisp edges, something like a lasagna.
Later three different women from different countries in eastern Europe has given me the exact same dish, so it should be very comon!!!
Can anybody help me, what did I eat, and how can I mke it myself?!?

 

[Nicholas Mosher]

Is it Spanakopita?

 

[Nicholas Mosher]

I haven't cooked much food from that region (so I'm not the one to ask for a recipe), but I believe what you are describing is a greek dish called Spanakopita (popular all over south-eastern Europe - probably in the Bosnia/Herzegovina/Balkans area too) that is made with crispy/tender phyllo dough, goat cheese, spinach, and other mediterranean ingredients. It's either baked in a dish with layers of phyllo like lasagna/baklava, or the filling is wrapped and baked inside the phyllo usually in the shape of a triangle.

Use google to search a few images, and you can probably find a few recipes too.

Of course I might be completely wrong as well...

 

[pdswife]

I've had a lot of spanakopita...but never with liver as mentioned above...

 

[Nicholas Mosher]

Yeah, that seemed a bit off... but everything else fit!
Oh well, it was worth a shot.

 

[AnnieKyung]

Hmm spanakopita?

Yesterday I made this dish exactly like spanakopita/bosnian pita, with phyllo, feta, spinace. It came out flaky like a pie. The one I remember was not flaky, more like lasagnaplates (chewy, moist and not so buttery). So now I have a tonn of spanakopita, but not the dish I wanted...

 

[boufa06]

Obviously what you have eaten is not Spanakopita but a kind of Vegetable Lasagne with spinach, mushrooms and eggplants perhaps in tomato sauce topped with bechamel sauce and cheese.

If you like to try something similar to what you have eaten a long time ago, I can give you the recipe.

P.S. For such a concoction, I do not think liver goes well with it.

 

[Snoop Puss]

Hello. Could it have been burek? Have a look down the pictures in this link:

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=32540

 

[XeniA]

I've had a lot of spanakopita...but never with liver as mentioned above...

Well then, pdswife, you just haven't lived!

Okay, I know, cut the sarcasm. Actually you took the words right from my mouth.

Spanakopita but with liver? I don't think so and I'm pretty sure I'd know about it.

Back to the drawing board.

 

[AnnieKyung]

Thanx for all the informative pictures. What I ate looks just like burek, and I actually made this dish from its recipe. It looked the same, but did not tast the same. Burek was more like pie, what I ate was more chewy. It was homemade dough in all three different cases I ate it, so maybe that was the difference?
And yes, it was with liver, small, cold liverbits, and in fact very good!

 

[Snoop Puss]

Hello AnnieKyung. Have a look at this link. There are links to recipes and a bit of debate on various national variants. There's also a recipe for a type of dough.

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/312849

 

[Biberche]

Phyllo dough bought in the supermarkets here in the USA is too thin and flaky for this kind of pie. For the real deal you would have to make the dough yourself (I have made a New Year's resolution to learn how to do that). If not, try to find ethnic stores, Turkish, Albanian, Serbian - they might carry somewhat thicker version.

The variations that I had were made with cheese, cheese and spinach (or other greens), meat and mushrooms (more modern version, I believe). Throughout Balkans you encounter these pies or boureks, very similar, but very different.

 

[AnnieKyung]

Yes, Biberche, I think we are talking about the same dish. The phyllosheets were to thin and flaky! I will check out the recipes for the dough on chowhound.

 

[boufa06]

Annie, In case you want to try your hand at making your own fillo pastry, below is the recipe:

1/2 kg flour
4 tbsps oil
1 tsp salt
1 cup water

After having put aside a little of the flour for rolling out the dough, mix the rest with oil and salt, combining loosely. Add the water to the dough kneading constantly on a floured surface. Allow to stand 20-30 minutes in a warm place. After this, separate the dough into 6-8 balls, depending on the amounts and the thickness of the pastry you want to use.

Personally, I do not enjoy making my own pastry as it's very time-consuming. I am thankful that where I live, they are available in various types, thin sheets for Baklavas and sweet pies, medium size for savoury pitas (pies) and shortcrust pastry for finger food.

In case you do not know, fillo sheets when freshly baked are very crispy and become soft after a day or so, thereby giving a chewy texture. When that happens, bake them slightly in the oven again.

 

[AnnieKyung]

Thank u Boufa. I like your recipe alot, it seemed very simple, and I dont need to go shopping for ingrediense. I will try it. What I am looking for is that chewy texture, so it seems perfect