Hmm, found this while blundering around on the tastespotting site. The picture caught my attention first, and it was posted by steven (who I don't know, but this looks yummy)
a sort of turkish pastry/tortilla/flatbread/thing with a spinach and cheese filling. not unlike spanakopita, really, but i really dislike phyllo (too greasy, too crackly). i got the recipe here, but my slightly revised and annotated version is behind the cut.
120 g flour (i guess there are metric measuring cups that measure in grams? i don't understand how that would work, but i guess that's how they do it in europe or the entire rest of the world or wherever. i happened to have a food scale, and it worked out just about exactly to 3/4 cup).
1/2 tsp salt
1 tb olive oil
~90 ml warm water (a liquid measure cup should have milliliters on it, but if yours doesn't or you only have solid measure cups, this is about 6 tbs).
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
~1tb butter (the original recipe ask for a "knob of butter"--this is preferable terminology for many reasons, but not... informative).
.5 lb / 8 oz. / 500g frozen chopped spinach, thawed (microwaved on high for about 5 min, in my experience)
1.2 tsp. kırmızı biber (yeah, i know, what? the definition i found sounded suspiciously like chilli powder to me--if you can find the real turkish stuff, rock on, otherwise sub with 1 scant tsp. chilli powder)
1 pinch nutmeg
1 scant tb flour
100-125 ml milk (1/2 cup)
3 tb kaşar peyniri or parmesan (what i actually used was 1/4 c of freshly grated romano, but, whatever i was using, i would use at least 1/4 c, but that's just me)
salt and pepper to taste
combine flour and salt in a medium-sized mixing bowl
make a well in the flour and add oil and water
mix with hands until you get a firm, elastic, and unsticky dough, adding a little more flour or water, if necessary.
divide into four balls and leave to rest 20 minutes under a damp towel
while dough is resting. melt butter in a skillet over medium-high heat.
add garlic and onions, cook until softened, about 5 minutes
add spinach, kırmızı biber/chilli powder, nutmeg and flour. stir until well combined.
add milk and stir until smooth.
add cheese and stir until melted and well mixed-in.
when dough is well-rested, turn each ball individually out onto a floured pastry board and roll into "12- to 15-inch rounds" (this seems overly ambitious to me, i didn't exceed 12" and was none the worse off for it). the rounds will be exceedingly thin and somewhat translucent. add more flour to board as necessary.
heat a large griddle or skillet (medium/medium-high). the dough isn't sticky, but if you don't have a nonstick or want a somewhat greasier, crispier result, you can add a little bit of olive oil. in my experience, the pan has reached temperature when it starts to smoke a little, but the first of any batch is always a bit of a crapshoot. usually i try and start before the pan is fully heated.
brush one side of the dough round with olive oil. place the dough oiled side up onto the pan. it should start to bubble up pretty dramatically.
when one side is browned nicely, flip the dough and spread 1/4 of the spinach mixture over it, almost all the way to the edges. if the dough slides around while you're spreading the spinach, hold it in place with a fork, not your hand. (it took awhile for this to occur to me. oops).
when the underside is browned (in a hot pan, this should take, like, 30 seconds, tops), fold the dough in half, and then in half once more (quarters). transfer to a plate, or, if desired, to a warm oven (200 degrees f or less) until all four are done.
serve hot.
these would probably be good with like a yogurt sauce, or something (do turkish people use yogurt sauce? i feel like it's very dangerous to confuse greek and turkish cuisine), but they were absolutely delightful plain.
i don't know how well they keep, and i may not find out, as i really am thinking about number three, and my brother will probably want the last one. i suspect they could be reheated in a toaster oven. how successfully, i don't know.
alternate fillings include goat cheese and fresh herbs, various meats, and so forth. there are two alternate fillings listed here (their dough recipe seems way too complicated. i don't do yeast.
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