Recipe: a brilliant leek burek with a baklava finish

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This is my second attempt to publish a burek recipe in the magazine, the first having fallen apart (quite literally) at the testing stage.

But I see now that the universe had a plan, and that plan was: wait for a recipe from Helen Graham.

The tray-baked dish she’s devised for the FT does brilliant things with what even seasoned burek makers might not have considered: the vegetables are roasted; the filling chunky rather than finely chopped and there’s a sweet, sticky pour-over sauce to finish it as you would baklava.

It’s so good it’s birthed its own portmanteau: bureklava.

Helen Graham’s leek and feta bureklava with syrup

To serve four

1. Preheat the oven to 180C (fan assist). Place the vegetables on a lined baking tray, toss in the oil, salt and pepper then roast for 30 minutes until golden and soft. Set aside.

2. Bring a pan of water to the boil and blanch spinach for 30 seconds, before rinsing with cold water. Squeeze out any excess water then roughly chop.

3. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and add the feta, dill, basil, cumin, nigella seeds, chilli flakes, oil and garlic. Mix to combine.

4. Now to assemble the pie. Lightly grease a tin or ovenproof glass dish measuring roughly 20cm x 30cm with some oil. Whisk together the egg and oil until thoroughly combined. Take a sheet of filo and, using a pastry brush, cover the whole sheet in the egg mix, before laying on the bottom of the tin, lightly scrunching as you go. The sheet will be too big to fit in the tin without scrunching — that’s fine. Repeat this twice until you have three layers on the bottom.

5. Add half the spinach mix and half the roasted vegetables, distributing evenly. Top with two sheets of egg-washed filo, before adding the remaining roasted vegetables and spinach mix.

6. Top with two more egg-washed sheets of filo, ensuring they’re also slightly scrunched — this will help to make it extra crispy. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds, along with a little nigella and cumin, then bake for 40 minutes until golden and crisp.

7. Add all the ingredients for the lemon syrup to a small pan, stir and bring to the boil. Cook for eight to 10 minutes, until the syrup is reduced by half.

8. Slice and plate the pie then drizzle with the lemon syrup to serve.

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