My car always has sand in it.  Regardless of season, it’s obvious to the naked eye where I like to spend my spare moments.  As my three-year-old and I pack up our towels and toys, she is quick to remind me to pack beach snacks.  For her, this can be anything from pretzels to chips to grapes, but because she is not too picky and gives me some latitude, more recently I’ve been substituting boregi into our stash of beach snacks.

Getting knocked over by the foaming surf, hiding “gold doubloons” in the fortresses of a newly-crafted sandcastle, collecting shells and stones scattered on the sands, watching the fishing boats come back through the inlet from a long day – there are layers upon layers of activities in this simple setting.  And that’s kind of like boregi – a simple food with added dimension, created by layers upon layers of yufka and savory filling.  Just like trying to mold sand, it’s beautifully imprecise and incredibly forgiving.  So if your yufka has a jagged edge, don’t fret!  The imperfections all get lost in the layers and come together to make the best savory beach snack imaginable.

Ingredients

Filling:

• 18 oz pack of yufka, or phyllo dough
• 2-3 medium yukon gold potatoes, peeled
• 1 small onion
• 1/3 cup spinach or kale
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tbspn olive oil

Mix for brushing on yufka:

• 1/2 cup milk
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Instructions

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. finely chop potato and onion in a food processor
3. sautee potato and onion on medium heat with olive oil, salt, and pepper until slightly golden brown
4. add chopped spinach or kale, sautee for another 5 minutes
5. brush/spray a 9 x 13-inch pan with olive oil
6. layer one piece of yufka, covering the entire bottom of the pan
7. generously brush the milk/egg/olive oil mixture over the yufka
8. then do another 2-3 yufka/milk mixture layers, ending with the mixture
9. next, layer the filling, spreading across the entire pan
10. then do another 2-3 yufka/milk mixture layers
11. spread the remaining milk mixture on top
12. sprinkle with black cumin and bake for about 30-40 minutes, until pastry is golden brown and puffed up (it will shrink back down after it cools!)

before…

…after