Bosnian, Herzegovinian recipe
How to make Spinach pie
zeljanica
All of the country
A savoury pie of thin pastry filled with spinach, or sometimes chard, and fresh white cheese bound with egg. It is eaten warm or cold, for breakfast, lunch or supper.
Ingredients
- 500 g ready-made filo pastry sheets
- 600 g fresh spinach, washed, or 400 g frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
- 300 g fresh white cheese, such as cottage cheese or crumbled feta
- 3 eggs
- 150 ml soured cream or plain yogurt
- 100 ml sunflower oil, plus a little for the tin
- Salt, to taste
Method
- If using fresh spinach, wilt it in a large pan for 2 minutes, drain well, squeeze out the water and chop it.
- Mix the spinach with the cheese, eggs and soured cream. Add salt carefully, as the cheese may already be salty.
- Heat the oven to 200°C and oil a round or square baking tin of about 28 cm.
- Lay a filo sheet on the worktop and brush it lightly with oil. Spread a line of filling along one long edge and roll it up loosely into a long sausage. Coil it in the tin, starting from the middle, and repeat with the rest of the pastry and filling.
- Brush the top with oil and bake for 35 to 40 minutes until deep golden. Rest for 10 minutes, then cut into wedges.
Made it at home? Tick it off and it goes into your kitchen passport.
In a 2023 ranking of the world's best pastries, the food guide TasteAtlas placed zeljanica above burek, sirnica and krompiruša.
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