By Provenir
If you were to ask many Proveniros which type of beef they couldn’t live without, you might expect them to suggest one of the most popular cuts, such as eye fillet or rump steak.
However for us the humble minced beef is definitely a hot contender for the prize. The options for creating a variety of (completely delicious) meals are endless and this staple is the base protein for some of our all-time favourite dishes. Beef borek is one of our favourites and while you can make these delicious pastries with a range of different fillings, beef is definitely our pick.
Made using Provenir’s grass-fed minced beef, this beef borek recipe makes the perfect starter, snack or easy lunch and can often be found in the fridge or freezer ready to heat in the oven and serve. This dish has different names and variations depending on where it is from, including beef burek in countries of the former Yugoslavia, boureki in Greece, burekas in Israel and byorek in Armenia and Bulgaria. Originally hailing from Turkey, beef börek have become very popular in North Africa, the Balkans and even Southern Slavic countries as well as – of course – Australia.
The buttery, flaky pastry combined with delicious and flavoursome beef filling delivers a satiation to rival that of the classic Aussie meat pie. While you can make the pastry from scratch, we’ve taken the easy option and purchased store-bought filo for this recipe. Taking the option of pre-prepared pastry, this Beef Burek recipe is the ultimate in convenience and is also a load of fun to prepare.
In some iterations the meat-filled borek pastry is rolled into a pinwheel shape and then sliced in a similar fashion to a pie. We find simple triangles the easiest to handle, however the choice is yours!
INGREDIENTS
Beef Borek Ingredients
- 250g grass fed beef mince
- ½ onion, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 115g butter
- Pinch ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon pul biber or 1 teaspoon mild chilli flakes, (or to taste)
- 2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
- 7-8 sheets or filo pastry
- salt
- melted butter, for brushing
- freshly ground black pepper
Although we’ve just listed the basic beef burek recipe above, you make like to add toasted pine nuts and currants to these ingredients also. These add some extra texture and flavour as well as a touch of delicious sweetness.
METHOD
Beef Borek Recipe – Method
- Place a splash of olive oil in a frying pan and brown the minced beef over a medium heat, stirring until the meat comes apart into smaller grains.
- In a separate pan, soften the onion and garlic in about 15 grams of the butter, cooking over a medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the cinnamon, cumin and pul biber (or chilli flakes) as well as a decent pinch of salt and several grinds of black pepper. Add the beef to the onion mixture and cook together for five minutes.
- Taste this mixture and adjust the seasonings to your liking, adding more of the spices as required. At this stage you can also add in your extra ingredients such as pine nuts and currants, if you so desire.
- Stir in the chopped parsley along with 100 ml water. Simmer for 8 to 10 minutes and then remove from the heat, setting aside to cool.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200˚C and melt the remaining butter, using this to grease a large baking sheet.
- Remove the filo pastry from its packet, remembering to defrost this first if you are dealing with frozen pastry. Take one sheet from the pile and cover the rest with a slightly damp cloth as the pastry will dry out very quickly.
- Lay the sheet out so one of the longest sides is facing you and cut it in half, leaving you with two rectangles. Brush with melted butter, then fold each in half, longest side to longest side, leaving you with two narrow oblongs. Brush with butter again.
- Place a heaped tablespoon of the meat mixture just below the top right-hand corner of the pastry on one of the oblongs. Bring the top left corner of the pastry down, diagonally over the meat, to touch the right-hand side of the pastry, forming a triangle over the filling. Do the same again from the top right-hand corner, this time picking up the meat in its pocket of pastry too. Brush with butter again. Continue to fold like this, zig-zagging all the way down the pastry oblong, folding diagonally across until you reach the end of the pastry. You need to fold at least 4 times to seal the filling in completely. Brush the last flap with butter to seal and trim off any overhanging pastry if it is too short to fold again.
- Place on the baking sheet while you finish the rest of the borek parcels. Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown all over and serve hot with natural yoghurt or a leafy Greek salad.
Our Suggested Beef for Beef Boreks
Premium Grass-Fed Minced Beef
The Provenir Six Star Promise
Provenir allows consumers to buy beef direct from the farmer and delivers a six star promise;
Highest welfare
Provenir farmers utilise low stress handling techniques and raise their livestock on open pastures within a familiar herd structure; allowing the animals to express their natural character.
On-farm processed
Instead of the livestock being transported, the abattoir comes to the farm. Eliminates unnecessary stress on animals associated with live transport. Less stress means less adrenalin produced, and thus more retained glycogen stores in the meat, leading to exceptional eating quality, taste and tenderness.
Full traceability & true provenance
Provenir oversees the whole operation from purchasing livestock on farm direct from our partnering farmers, to the on-farm processing, into our butchery and on to you. By processing on-farm and utilising the latest in digital traceability technology we are able provide full transparency and guaranteed provenance.
Grass-fed & free range
Provenir partners with farmers who raise their livestock free range and grass-fed. For cattle and lamb this means they are fed on natural grasses, pasture, hay or silage.
Exceptional eating quality
Our on-farm process and artisan butchery techniques ensures that the quality of the meat is retained and maximised throughout the whole process.
No and hormones, herd antibiotics or intensive feedlots
Provenir farmers raise their livestock naturally: they do not feedlot, nor do they add hormones or antibiotics to the feed as growth promotants.
How to Purchase Provenir
If you do care about animal welfare, and of course great tasting, high quality meat, visit the Provenir online butcher shop now and find out for yourself why people are trusting Provenir. Provenir enables a connection between you and the farmer, via a unique QR code on each meat pack, that tells you the entire paddock to plate story behind each cut of meat online.
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