P?rasa Böre?? (Phyllo Leek Tart), A Stolen Recipe

Earlier this month I was browsing other food blogs and stopped dead in my tracks when I saw a beautiful pastry dish at Indonesian in Turkey. Rounds of phyllo dough were baked up in a beautiful looking tart that was sprinkled with black sesame seeds. It was breath taking. And I knew I'd have to make it, especially when I read on and saw that the phyllo dough was filled with leeks.

I adore leeks. If there's a leek and potato soup in the neighborhood, I'm all over it. I'll add it to soups, stews, just about any dish. The flavor is all onion, but more mildly so. Put leeks together with the light, crisp texture of phyllo dough and it has to be a match made in heaven.

Even though I wanted to make this the next time we had company, I decided I couldn't wait that long so I made it today for lunch. As with just about all phyllo endeavors, the dish isn't difficult to make, but it is a bit time consuming because each sheet is dealt with one at a time. In this case, a bunch of leeks get chopped up and mixed with salt, pepper and oil. A phyllo sheet is put down and brushed with melted butter, then some of the leek mixture is laid on the sheet, which gets rolled into a tight tube. Each tube gets wound around the other, creating a bulls-eye shape. If you want to see it in progress, have a look at Indonesian In Turkey's step-by-step pictures. They are well done.

The phyllo tart gets an egg wash and then sprinkled with the sesame seeds. The tart is baked for about a half hour, or until a nice golden brown, removed and let cool for a few minutes before cutting and serving warm.

This was heavenly. In fact, just writing about it makes me want to go cut a slice, pop it in the microwave for a few minutes and munch away (I might just have to do that). I enjoyed every crispy, tender leeky bite of this beautiful tart. I thought it was delicious. Then Hubby had a go at it and had to spit his bite out. I forgot that he's not really a leek, onion, kinda guy. Oops.

That is the rub with this dish. If you don't like onions, you probably won't like it because it tastes very much like onions. If you do like them, however, this is a heavenly. wonderful tart. So, here is my version of Indonesian In Turkey's P?rasa Böre??, or Turkish Leek Pastry.

P?rasa Böre?? (Phyllo Leek Tart)
adapted from Indonesian in Turkey

 4 - 5 large leeks, white and light green parts only
2 tablespoons olive or canola oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
8-10 sheets of phyllo dough
1 stick melted butter
1 egg beaten, mixed with 2 tablespoons water
Sesame seeds
Butter for greasing the pan

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a 10" round baking pan with butter.

Wash the leeks thoroughly, then chop finely and put in a small bowl. Add salt, pepper and olive oil and mix well.

Take one sheet of phyllo dough; brush with melted butter. Sprinkle evenly with chopped leek, then roll it up tightly into a tube.Coil the tube around itself and place in baking pan. Repeat the brushing with butter, sprinkling with leeks and rolling of a second phyllo sheet. Then add it to the first roll in the baking pan to form bigger coil. Repeat with the phyllo until the pan is filled.

Brush surface with the egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.