(*Reader Recipe)
Remember Nancy Mehagian, author of the riotous culinary memoir Siren’s Feast and the inspiration for our wonderful Armenian feast/book group (the recipes are at the end of this post)? Well, Nancy and I have become friends, and Bruce and I went to a wonderful party at her house this past summer in honor of Bastille Day. Nancy made a huge pot of steamed mussels plus several of her Armenian family recipes, Cheese Beorag among them. Suffice it to say, we each helped ourselves to multiple servings (and this, despite being in LA where almost nobody eats, let alone pigs out, in public!). It’s the Armenian version of Greek Spanikopita, but—and we all agreed at the U-C Dinner–better. Parsley stands in for spinach and the mix of feta and jack cheeses is…well…perfect with the filo. Fortunately, Nancy loves to cook for a crowd so there were plenty of leftovers, which she generously left for us. We had it for breakfast the morning after, and Emma begged me to pack her a piece for school lunch. We’ll probably have the rest for dinner tonight, and then I’ll probably try making it myself so we can indulge whenever we please.
Serves 12 or more
1 pound filo dough (if dough is frozen, thaw overnight in the refrigerator)
½ cup butter, melted
Filling:
½ lb. feta cheese (Nancy prefers French or Bulgarian, which are less salty)
½ lb. jack cheese, grated
1 bunch parsley, chopped very finely
½ tsp. black pepper
2 eggs, beaten
Custard:
1 cup milk
1 egg
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a mixing bowl, crumble feta. Add grated jack cheese. Next add the eggs, parsley and black pepper. Blend well and set aside.
Set up a workspace. Filo dough is paper-thin and dries out when exposed to air so it will be necessary to work quickly. Have enough room on counter for dough, melted butter and baking dish. Nancy uses a clay baking dish approximately 10” x 14” x 2”. Glass and stainless steel are also good. Lay sheets of filo on a piece of wax paper or foil. Place two sheets in the baking dish. Using a pastry brush, brush dough with the melted butter. Continue layering dough in this manner, two sheets at a time, brushing every two sheets with melted butter until half of the dough is used.
Next spread the cheese mixture evenly over the buttered dough. Then continue layering dough and brushing with butter until all the dough is used.
Place baking dish in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour to harden the butter. Using a sharp knife cut the unbaked beorag into serving-sized pieces (about 2-inch squares). Blend milk and egg together and pour over the top so that the liquid meanders down inside the cuts.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until pastry rises and turns golden brown. Remove from oven and serve hot.
Yummy, never had it before.
By: Hélène on October 12, 2009
at 3:37 pm
The pastry sounds delicious with the cheeses & egg, something my daughter would really love!
By: Natasha - 5 Star Foodie on October 12, 2009
at 4:21 pm
Mmm…anything from Nancy sounds great and this is no exception! Filo dough is notoriously finicky, but I think it would be worth dealing with for this recipe!
By: Phoo-D on October 12, 2009
at 5:28 pm
This looks so incredibly flaky. I’d so eat that for breakfst, lunch or dinner.
By: Monica H on October 12, 2009
at 7:48 pm
cheese and eggs are two of my fave things!
By: peachkins on October 12, 2009
at 10:06 pm
wow. I don’t recognize anything here, but they all look amazing. I think I could live in Armenia just fine!
By: burpexcuzme on October 12, 2009
at 11:32 pm
Mouth-watering photos! I do love working with phyllo; interesting to use parsley instead of spinach.
By: Barbara on October 13, 2009
at 8:21 am
I’m afraid of the filo–don’t know why? I’ve never had Armenian food before…it looks good!
By: TheKitchenWitch on October 13, 2009
at 9:08 am
Never heard of this before, it looks wicked good. Love filo.
By: Bob on October 13, 2009
at 10:18 am
These look perfect for a cozy dinner for two!
By: Blond Duck on October 13, 2009
at 11:12 am
Oh! I had these before, but yours look much tastier…yummie!
By: Juliana on October 13, 2009
at 12:31 pm
The feta and jack together sound heavenly!
By: noble pig on October 13, 2009
at 3:57 pm
I am not a huge fan of Spanakopita (I find feta cheese too salty) so for me, this dish was a revelation. I loved it!!
BTW – some people recommend covering the pile of pre-buttered filo with a slightly damp tea towel to keep it from drying out. But I guess if you work quickly, it should be fine.
By: Pauline on October 13, 2009
at 4:05 pm
This does look better than Spanokopita – love the jack cheese in it! What a special lunch box treat!
By: Reeni on October 13, 2009
at 5:10 pm
Wow, I love the phyllo dough and cheese dish. Emma is lucky to have such a deluxe lunch, her friends will be so jealous!
All the food looks amazing!
By: Jenn@slim-shoppin on October 14, 2009
at 9:37 am
Whenever I get my puppy/horse ranch, ya’ll are welcome to visit any time!
By: Blond Duck on October 14, 2009
at 12:46 pm
wow this looks SO good! this must be beyond delicious!
By: Dorothy on October 14, 2009
at 4:46 pm
MMMMMMMMMM,….this dish looks fabulous!!
What a lot of work though but so worth it!!
By: Sophie on October 15, 2009
at 12:31 am
We should all having baking spiders…
By: Blond Duck on October 15, 2009
at 10:22 am
You can’t go wrong with light flaky pastry and cheese! Those look good!
By: Kevin on October 17, 2009
at 12:13 pm