For visiting family yesterday, a light lunch of soup and personal favourite of Turkish breads (Borek).

Cheesy and oozy, they are even more than half healthy, filled as they are with fresh picked spinach, ricotta, spring onion, parsley and Parmesan.

With two big trays full baked, there’s ample left for lunch tomorrow. Bonus.

Here’s the recipe:

TURKISH BREADS (Borek)

For the dough

3 cups plain flour

3 teaspoons dried yeast

1½ teaspoons salt

1½ teaspoons sugar

1½ tablespoons vegetable or olive oil

1¼ cups warm water, approximately

For the filling

8 spinach or silver beet leaves

½ cup fresh breadcrumbs

1 egg, lightly whisked

2 teaspoons cornflour

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1 tablespoon grated Parmesan

100g ricotta

¾ cup grated tasty cheese

½ cup grated tasty cheese, extra – approximately

Method

Place the flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a bowl and mix well. Make a well in the centre and pour in the oil and 1 cup of the water. Mix to a soft dough, adding the extra ¼ cup water if needed.

Cover the bowl with a tea towel or cling wrap and leave to rise until about doubled (approximately 1 hour.

Meanwhile, make the filling: remove tough stalks from spinach or silver beet leaves (discard stalks). Chop the leaves roughly and pour boiling water over. Leave to stand 2 minutes, drain well, squeezing out all liquid, then chop finely.

Stir in the remaining ingredients, except extra cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.

To assemble:

Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for about 2 minutes until smooth.

Cut the dough into 12 equal pieces and shape each into an oval 10cm x 8cm approximately.

Place 2 large teaspoonfuls of the filling in the centre of each. Dampen one edge of each rectangle.

Bring the dough over in the middle to meet, pinching edges together well (dry edge to damp), then pinch dough together at each end. The parcel should look like a pastie with two open sections on the top through which the filling will show.

Place on trays, allowing room for spreading and leave to rise, loosely covered with a tea towel, for 20 minutes.

Sprinkle with the extra grated cheese, then bake at 200 degrees C (fan forced) for 20 minutes until golden.

Five minutes before the end of baking time, check to see if any of the parcels have opened out during baking. If so, sprinkle the filling part with extra grated cheese and bake 5 minutes more.