Feta and spinach borek

This baked borek recipe blends feta, spinach and cream cheese for a luxuriously creamy filling wrapped in golden, flaky filo.

Every buffet spread or picnic needs a vegetarian dish – and this is one of my favourites. I fell in love with borek while on holiday in Turkey and sought to recreate it using a combination of feta, spinach, garlic and filo pastry.

The addition of cream cheese, though unconventional, makes the filling extra creamy and creates a flavour profile not too dissimilar from creamed spinach.

Everything You Need To Know To Make Feta And Spinach Borek

• Chef Catling’s recipe notes
• Recipe: Feta and spinach borek
• Frequently asked questions

Tips & Notes To Know

• Keep the filo pastry covered: The sheets dry out fast, so cover unused wrappers with a damp tea towel while assembling.
• Prep ahead: If you want to make a batch in advance, simply assemble the borek and freeze it before baking. To cook it straight from frozen, just add a few more minutes to the baking time.
• Make it vegan: You can make a plant-based version of borek by using a cheese substitute, such as vegan feta or a tofu-based filling. Instead of egg wash, use a little olive oil or non-dairy milk to brush the tops.

Feta and spinach borek

Serves: 4 Prep time: 30 mins Cook time: 30 mins 30 mins

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Ingredients

1/2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for brushing
2 baby shallots, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
200g baby spinach
75g feta cheese, crumbled
1 tbsp light cream cheese
1/2 preserved lemon, deseeded and finely chopped
25g pine nuts, plus extra to serve
A few sprigs of fresh mint, leaves picked and chopped, plus extra to serve
4 sheets of filo pastry
25g white sesame seeds

Instructions

Step 1
Remove the filo pastry from the fridge. Heat the olive oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Add the shallots and sauté for 5 minutes until softened but not coloured. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute more.

Step 2
Add the spinach in batches and cook over a low heat until wilted. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool.

Step 3
Tip the mixture into a bowl and add the feta cheese, cream cheese, preserved lemon, pine nuts and mint. Stir to combine and season to taste.

Step 4
Preheat the oven to 180C. Working as quick as you can, lay one sheet of filo pastry out on a clean work surface and slice lengthways into three strips. Brush each piece with olive oil and place a small mound of the spinach and feta mixture at the top right corner of each strip.

Step 5
Diagonally fold over the pastry to enclose the filling and form a triangle. Continue to fold down the length of the pastry to form a neat parcel. Repeat with the remaining filling and pastry (this recipe makes 12 borek).

Step 6
Arrange each borek on a baking tray lined with parchment and brush the tops with more olive oil. Scatter with sesame seeds and bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes until golden brown and crisp. Serve warm or cold, garnished with mint leaves.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do You Stop Filo Pastry From Ripping And Cacking?

I don’t consider myself much of a baker, which is why I learned the hard way that you need to work smart and fast while working with filo pastry.

Before opening the packaging, make sure you bring the filo pastry to room temperature and prep all your ingredients beforehand. As you remove one sheet at a time, cover the remainder with a damp (not wet) tea towel and move quick to stop the sheets from drying out.

Very rarely will I go through a whole pack without tearing a few sheets, but the beauty of filo is that you can easily patch a few pieces together without it affecting the final product. Believe me, I’ve done it.