Sami’s bourekas

When I was a little girl growing up in Tel Aviv, my father would often take us at weekends to Jaffa to have breakfast at Sami Bourekas. This was a small, bustling place filled with checked Formica tables. There we would eat the most wonderful, crisp, cheese-filled bourekas, served freshly baked from the oven on a tray with hard-boiled eggs, Israeli salad and a tall glass of delicious hot chocolate.

1 HOUR | MAKES 10 12 | EASY | V

all-butter puff pastry sheets (if you can’t find all-butter puff pastry, before filling, brush each pastry square in the middle lightly with melted butter) 3 x 320g FILLING

feta 300g, crumbled

emmental 100g, finely grated

soft cheese 2 tbsp

potato 1 small, peeled, boiled and mashed while warm

egg 1

GLAZE

egg 1, beaten

sesame seeds 2-3 tsp

1 Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Line two large baking trays with baking paper. Cut the pastry sheets into 10-12 squares, each about 13cm across. Mix together the three cheeses, cooled mashed potato and egg. Season, mixing well.

2 Place 1 heaped tbsp of the filling in the centre of each pastry square. Fold the pastry over the filling to form triangular parcels, pressing the edges down and crimp to seal well.

3 Put the parcels on the baking trays with plenty of space between them. Brush with the beaten egg, being careful not to brush right to the edge of the bourekas. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden. Serve warm from the oven.

PER SERVING 12 431 kcals | fat 28.5G saturates 19G | carbs 30.7G | sugars 1.1G fibre 1G | protein 12.3G | salt 1.3G