Birthday Dinner – Bourekas + Kale Salad | Total City Girl

Earlier this week was my daughter’s 12th birthday. Wow! 12 – it’s so crazy to me! I can’t handle how fast she’s growing up.

Each year I let the girls choose what they want for their family birthday dinner.

There have been some weird combinations in the past but this year was pretty straightforward – Bourekas and Kale Salad.

Straightforward except for one thing – I never made bourekas before!!

If you don’t know what bourekas are, don’t feel bad. I didn’t either until a few years ago. I learned about them from my Israeli brother-in-law. For Thanksgiving dinner, he always brings something that he knows he can eat. He’s not a big fan of the American Turkey day! Crazy, right?!? So, the tradition has been that they bring bourekas and we eat them as an appetizer – while we’re still getting everything else ready.

They’re basically puff pastry pockets filled with meat or potatoes. I’m sure there are many other varieties but these are the 2 that I made.

Both the meat and potato fillings need sauteed onions so I did that first. I diced a sweet onion and cooked it in a pan with a little canola oil until it got golden brown just like in this recipe. I divided it in half to use in both the potatoes and meat.

For the potato filling: (you’re basically making mashed potatoes)

3 regular potatoes (russet) – peel and cut into chunks
Place into pot of water with some kosher salt
Boil until fork tender, drain and put back into pot
add a couple tablespoons of butter and half the onions. Start to mash and slowly add some milk or half and half. You don’t want it to be completely smooth but still a bit chunky.
Salt & pepper to taste
Set aside

For the meat filling:

In a pan with a little canola oil, brown one pound of ground meat.
Drain excess fat
Add in the onions and seasonings. My sister gave me this Israeli seasoning to use but of you don’t have this, either use your favorite or you can use taco seasoning. I smelled the Israeli stuff and it definitely reminded me of taco seasoning. I would say start with a teaspoon and if you need more just keep adding.

Add a little bit of water – maybe half a cup or so and let it cook down until the water is absorbed.
Taste before adding salt because the seasoning may have enough salt
Set aside

I used puff pastry but I saw online that some people use phyllo dough.

I bought the Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry sheets – there are 2 sheets to a box so I bought 2 boxes. Look for them in the freezer dept of the grocery store. You can get 9 bourekas per sheet.

Let the puff pastry defrost for a while before using – about an hour or so.

Unfold the sheet, roll it out with a rolling pin just to thin it out a bit and make it a little bigger, then cut into 9 squares.

This was my last sheet and I wanted to show you how each filling would look otherwise I would use the same filling for each sheet of puff pastry.

Place a spoonful of filling in the middle of each square.

I made them different shapes so I could tell the difference between the meat and the potato.

I made the potato ones triangular by taking a corner of the dough and placing it over the filling to the opposite corner. Press the sides together to create a seal.

For the meat ones I made them rectangular in shape so I took one whole side of the dough and folded it over the filling to the other side. Press the sides together to create a seal.

Don’t worry if they don’t look perfect. It bakes up to look much nicer!

I covered each sheet pan with foil and sprayed with a non stick cooking spray. I was able to fit 9 on each sheet. They expand a bit so you don’t want to overcrowd them.