Cookbook:Albanian Vegetable Pie

| Albanian Cuisine

Albanian vegetable pie (Albanian: Byrek Shqipëtar me perime), is an Albanian recipe for cooking pies. Albanian pies are generally made of thin pastry leaves which can be rolled out at home or bought as filo dough at a supermarket. Most of the pies prepared by Albanian cooks are not sweet; instead, pie fillings are almost always savory. Thus, a piece of such a pie may well serve as the main dish of a meal.

Ingredients
Serves 4–6:
 * 1 cup (240 ml) oil, preferably olive oil
 * 1½ packets (or about 30 ea.) filo pastry leaves
 * 1½ pounds (680 g) spinach, chopped
 * 1 cup (240 ml) diced feta cheese
 * ½ cup (120 ml) chopped green onions
 * 2–3 eggs
 * 1½ tsp (7.5 ml) salt

Procedure

 * 1) Brush a medium-sized baking pan with some of the oil, and start layering the pastry leaves inside. First, lay two leaves, sprinkle or brush with oil, then lay two more leaves, and repeat the procedure until half of the leaves are in place. Make sure that they cover the pan by hanging them about one inch over the edges of the pan.
 * 2) Sprinkle spinach with salt, then mix well by hand. Add the feta cheese, oil, onions, eggs and salt, and spread this mixture over the already laid pastry leaves. Finish by covering the spinach with the rest of the pastry leaves, repeating the first-half procedure.
 * 3) Roll the hanging edges of the bottom leaves over the pie (think of a pizza crust).
 * 4) Sprinkle top with oil and bake moderately at 350°F (175°C) for about 45 minutes, or until golden brown.
 * 5) Serve hot, accompanied with buttermilk, or beaten yogurt, thinned down in cold water or with chilled stewed prunes. Sometimes a green salad adds to the meal!

Notes, tips, and variations

 * A medium-sized, round baking pan is recommended because it's more authentic, but any medium-sized baking pan will do.