Spinach and Cheese Triangles (Burek)

In the school holidays I let my kids know they would be responsible for cooking one dinner each per week

While they’ve been cooking in the kitchen with me since they were wee little things, they were yet responsible for cooking an entire meal from start to finish (as well as doing the dishes) until now.

They were both excited to get stuck in and they immediately knew what they wanted to cook for week one.

My son studied food technology at high school this year, and really loved a recipe for Burek they created. Sadly, I lost the recipe, so my son set out to recreate it, with a little helping hand from me. They worked out perfectly, so tasty and crispy,  so we’ve decided to share his recipe. My daughter made us a delicious Mushroom Soup and Focaccia, both Thermomix recipes.

During school term kids really do have enough on their plate (see what I did there) and I am concerned that the balance is never quite right – there just never seems enough time for it all – earthing outside, running around, eating their greens, studying, memorising, doing assignments… &nbspWhile my kids still do lots of cooking during term, making a whole meal from scratch just hasn’t made the cut.

But we’ve got to shift the thinking, because cooking from scratch is as important as reading or swimming or doing maths – everyone should grow up with this skill. It’s a matter of health and culture. And this means it is our duty as parents to introduce culinary literacy to our kids from a young age and provide more an more opportunities for them to learn the skills.

For us the school holidays offers more space for these opportunities, and kids cooking dinners means parents get more time off! Here’s my son on Facebook Live strutting his stuff in his kitchen and making the Cheese and Spinach Triangles.  It’s worth a look if you’re not sure how to cut and fold the pastry.

Many of the ingredients in this recipe can be sourced from my one-stop-favourite, organic wholefoods online store, The Wholefood Collective. They go to great lengths to ensure everything they source is amazing quality, they stock all my favorite products and I don’t even have to leave the house! Oh and the cherry on the cake is they donate profits to improve food security for vulnerable Aussies.

Here are some of the ingredients you’ll need:

Olive oil
Sea salt
Cracked black pepper
Milk
Sesame seeds

Cheese and Spinach Triangles

Orlando Janschek (with a bit of help from mum!)

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Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 25 mins

Total Time 45 mins

Ingredients

  

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 350 grams spinach chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley chopped
• 350 grams feta cheese
• 200 grams ricotta cheese
• sea salt and cracked black pepper
• 2 sheets of pastry we used Careme butter puff pastry because it's made from real butter and not margarine. It's expensive, but I'm having more and more trouble finding Pampas Butter Pastry which was more affordable
• 1 egg with a splash of milk lightly beaten to be used as egg wash on the pastry
• sesame seeds and poppy seeds for sprinkling

Instructions

 

• Heat olive oil in large frying pan over medium heat
• Saute onion for a few minutes then add garlic and spinach and saute for another few minutes until spinach is soft, then add parsley and stir together. Allow to cool.
• In a medium bowl stir together the feta and ricotta cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Stir through the cooled spinach mixture.
• Preheat oven to 200 degrees C
• Pop some baking paper over two baking trays
• Cut pastry in half, then each half into quarters, so you end up with 8 triangles per sheet of pastry.
• Pop a couple of heaped tablespoons of the cheese and spinach mixture along one of the shorter sides of the triangle, and fold over.
• Secure pastry together and seal the edges using the back of a fork ( Best to watch the Facebook Live video to see best way to fill, fold and secure).
• Brush some egg wash over each triangle and sprinkle over the sesame and poppyseeds.
• Place triangles on baking tray and cook for approximately 25 minutes or until golden brown
• Serve with a big side of salad.
• Enjoy!

Notes

These are delicious hot or cold, and make a perfect lunchbox addtion.

I love seeing you create my recipes, so please send me your photos.  And if you share on social please tag me on instagram @brendajanschek or facebook at Brenda Janschek Health and Lifestyle.

Bren x