Cheese Burekas And Vegetable Streudel

When I planned my weekly menus I knew that I wasn't going to find the time to cook every evening. I also like to do one larger shop every couple of weeks (with top-ups before the weekend) rather than shop daily. As I am trying to buy fresh produce rather than many processed foods (for health aswell as budgetary reasons) I do have to make the time to cook before the vegetables start to soften and the cheese begins to fur. What works for me is to cook and freeze on a Thursday evening night.

The first week I was in the kitchen for hours as I wanted to prepare every cooked dish for the week and freeze the things for later in the week. Obviously I don't cook pasta ahead of time and there is always a salad to chop, but the sauces and anything else that will freeze only requires taking out. I make double quantities (or more). This isn't hard when your're only dishing up for two and one of you is a toddler. My most useful kitchen utensils are really small plastic containers - think butter dish size.

On subsequent Thursdays I found I only needed to make half the number of dishes as I had some things in the freezer from the week before. My homemade humus needs making every week, as do the egg salad and potato salad as these don't freeze. This week I made enough cheese burekas and vegetable streudel for the next three weeks (i.e. 20 burekas and 3 streudels).

A note about burekas. Burekas are a national dish in Israel. Basically they are parcels (or rolls) of flakey pastry filled with anything you like. Popular fillings in the shops are cheese (any kind), mushroom, spinach, and mashed potato. DD likes cheese so mine tend to be cheese burekas. Btw, one of these pastries is a burekas and the plural should be burekasim, however Anglos in Israel have long referred to some burekas or one bureka.

Cheese Burekas And Vegetable Streudel.

Roll out some flakey pastry. I buy mine frozen. Spread with cheese, several kinds if you like. Or fry up some mushrooms, or mix cooked spinach with cheese, or use mashed potato. You can pretty much add anything savoury - olives, spring onions, capers. Roll up the pastry like a swiss roll and cut into sectons about 4cm wide. Place on a baking tray and cook in a hot oven until they are golden brown.

For the streudel, instead of spreading the mixture lay it in a sausage shape at one end of the rolled pastry and roll it up. My favourite fillings at the moment are either pre-sauteed mushrooms and onions, or pre-sauteed spinach with pine nuts and camembert cheese (add a pinch of nutmeg to this). Some people brush the rolled pastry with oil/butter and sprinke it with breadcrumbs before adding the filling. This does make the pastry crispier but I like mine more doughy so I don't bother. Again, hot oven until golden brown.

This post has been linked to the Saturday Recipe Swap at Lakes Single Mum and Meal Planning Monday over at At Home with Mrs M.