Nesibe - Hasan Pasa Koftesi

Ingredients

Meatballs

·         2 lb Ground Beef

·         1 Yellow Onion, finely minced

·         2 Tbsp Flour

·         Salt (1tsp or so)

·         1 tsp Black Pepper

Mashed Potato

·         2 Medium Sized Boiled Potatoes

·         1 Tbsp Butter

·         ½ tsp Salt

·         Enough Milk

Sauce

·         ¼ cup Butter

·         2 Tbsp Tomato Paste

·         ½ Tbsp Pepper Paste (I use it but it's optional. Available at wholesome choice)

·         3 Cups Boiling Water

·         Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Combine all Meatball ingredients together. Mix well and roll the meat into ping pong ball sized balls. Then shape them into cups and place them in a greased baking dish. Bake in oven for about 15-20 minutes.

In the meantime prepare the mashed potato filling. Mash all mashed potato ingredients together. Add enough milk to easily fill the baked meatballs.

Once the meat "cups" are cooked, remove from oven and using a tsp fill the cups with the mashed potato. I like to over stuff them.

Sprinkle the tops with shredded mozzarella cheese. (If you want to be more authentic for the cheese, you have to find "kasar peyniri") Set aside.

Finally prepare the sauce. In a saucepan melt the butter while stirring constantly until it becomes clear. Add the tomato and pepper paste and stir for about a minute. Add the boiling water and salt and pepper. Remove from heat.

Using a spoon, pour some sauce over each meatball. Pour the remainder of the sauce in the bottom of the dish.

Bake in 400 degree oven until the top of the potatoes becomes golden.

Enjoy!

Saman - Borek with Chicken and White Sauce Filling

Recipe for big Pyrex baking dish (9"X11") approx. 16 servings

Ingredients

·         1 pack of 25 spring roll sheets

·         Greased baking dish

·         3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (I used Trader Joe’s organic low fat cheese)

Chicken filling

·         1.5 - 2 pounds boneless chicken cut into 1/2" cubes (use breast pieces for lower fat content, but I mixed breast and leg pieces)

·         1 medium chopped onion

·         2 tbsp oil

·         1/2 tsp garlic powder

·         Salt and black pepper to taste

·         1 cup mixed frozen veggies (I used peas, carrots, corn and beans - you can be creative and anything you such as mushrooms or broccoli)

White Sauce

·         3 tbsp butter (I used whipped)

·         3 tbsp flour (I used unbleached)

·         3 cups milk (I used 2% milk)

·         Sprinkle salt and pepper

Egg Wash

Whisk the following ingredients together:

·         1 egg (I used brown veggie fed cage free eggs from Costco)

·         4 tbsp yogurt (I used nonfat yogurt)

·         1 tsp olive oil

Directions

Preheat Oven to 400 degrees F

Chicken filling
Put oil in a large fry pan on the stove and add the chopped onions. Sauté onions a little so they become translucent. Next add the chicken, garlic powder, salt and onions to the pan. Stir and put a lid on and leave to cook on low heat. Chicken and onions will release their own water and cook in it. After the chicken is cooked you can add in the veggies and cover with lid and let them steam and absorb the pan juices for a few min. Finally dry remaining liquids in pan. If there are any large chicken chunks you can break them gently with your utensil.

White sauce
In a small saucepan melt 3tbsp butter. Add 3 tbsp flour. Fry the flour in the butter on low heat till it slowly brings on shades of pink (that's what my aunt said and I just pretended I knew what she meant, she said if its brown then it’s been too late, so I just pulled it off before that could ever happen). It starts giving off this yummy 'cookies-being-baked' aroma. Now slowly add milk while stirring at the same time to break any clumps, REMEMBER to pull it off the stove before you start adding milk. Put it back on low fire and let it gently start boiling, watch the pot to make sure it doesn't spill over, mine almost did. Find the right flame to keep the milk in the pan. Stir occasionally; add a very little amount of salt and pepper. Keep simmering it until you bring it to a thick consistency, like a thick melted cheesy sauce - I think that is when it has  boiled to half the original amount, turn off the flame.

Assembling the Borek
Grease the baking dish. One by one start layering the dish with the spring roll sheets. (Tip: While using the sheets keep them covered with a wet towel to prevent drying). The first bottom layer arrange the sheets so some of them are hanging over the baking dish, its okay if the sheets are overlapping. Brush the egg wash over them. Now add the second layer of sheets (also with edges hanging over) and brush them with egg wash. Make 4 total layers. Put in the chicken and veggie mixture, top it off with the white sauce so that it covers all of the chicken and sprinkle with mozzarella. Make the 4 top covering layers one-by-one by bringing over the hanging parts of the sheets to cover the chicken and adding two sheets to cover any open middle area. Brush the egg wash over each layer to help them stick together too. Finally when all the layers are complete you can drizzle the remaining egg wash over the Borek to keep the spring rolls moist. Bake for about 20-25 min until the top turns golden. Cut into squares and serve.

To make half this recipe, you can halve everything except the egg wash, the same amount can be used.