Turkish Gözleme

I saw a gözleme blog post on Almost Bourdain recently and was very inspired to try out the recipe. I think I’ve only ever tried this savoury turkish crepe at a food fair ages ago or maybe it was in a turkish restaurant…I can’t really remember. Similar to the more popular Borek, which is normally baked or fried, the gozleme is a traditional light snack or meal in Turkish families. Just the thought of a combination of freshly made pastry filled with savoury vegetables, cheese and/or meat, and browned on a griddle…was enough to get me preparing for another yeasty roll-out.

Common gozleme fillings include spinach and feta, spinach and mince or spiced potatoes. For my version, I decided to use spinach, spiced mince and ricotta.

I followed Almost Bourdain’s simple to follow pastry instructions and while waiting for the dough to rise, I cooked up some pork mince using spices like cinnamon, cumin and chilli.

Once the dough was ready, I cut them up into equal portions, rolled them out on a floured surface and filled it with the cooked mince, added a few generous dots of the creamy ricotta and a handful of fresh spinach leaves – which were wilted within the pastry while the parcels were cooking.

Each parcel was grilled on a lightly oiled pan over medium heat for 2-3 minutes each side or until it’s nicely browned.

Best eaten fresh off the griddle with a squeeze of lemon juice. Yum, yum – now to plan for a trip to Turkey to try the real thing!

Spiced mince

400g minced pork (or lamb or beef)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp sugar
Juice of half a lemon
Salt and pepper for seasoning
Olive oil

Mix all the ingredients except the lemon juice and olive oil together.

In a hot pan, heat up some olive oil and brown the spiced mince stirring to loosen the meat and get it all evenly cooked through and coloured. Once it’s cooked, squeeze in the lemon juice and stir through to finish.

Cool the mince before filling the dough.

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