Yummy!!
Tonight was my first Balkan cooking adventure. My mom and I made "banista" (the Bulgarian recipe), otherwise know as cheese pie. (mittelfeld, have you ever had this?) This tasty little dish also goes by "burek" and "gibanica" in Serbia and the former Yugoslavia, and "tiropita" in Greece (the friendly cousin of spanakopita). It's basically phyllo dough with a feta/white cheese mixture in the middle. When you make the crust yourself, it's soft but if you use store bought stuff it comes out really flaky (not good!). So after spending too much money and time trying to find authentic gibanica/banista in restaurants, I decided to do it at home. I had talked to a Bulgarian lady last weekend and she convinced me that it was super easy to make (if you were using pre-made phyllo, I found out!) and that was enough to get me going on that tonight. Anyway, it's cooling so I haven't had the chance to try it yet, but I can't wait!!! It smells so amazing. This'll be a good way to start my week of salad and exercise.