Food for your soul- Serbian pie with cheese and spinach

ENG: Today, I’m presenting to you one of the most famous Serbian dishes and one of my favorites- Serbian pie. This puff pastry has origins from the Middle East and can be salty or sweet.  Salty version of this dish can be with cheese, spinach, potatoes, meat  and the sweet one can be with apples, cherries… On Serbian language, pie is called “pita” but there is also some other names for this dish like “gibanica”, “burek”… The origin of the word “pita” is from Greek language ( “pitta” ) and the word ” burek” is from Turkish language ( “börek ” ).  “Burek” is, let’s say, a special type of pie made mostly in South of Serbia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  It’s one of the best dishes on Balkans for sure. 

These pies you can see on this picture , are made by my aunt and my mother. These pies are filled with cheese, cabbage and spinach.  Pie crusts can be hand-made and purchased in a store. These two pies on the left are made of hand-made crusts and the other two are made with crusts bought in the store. Both versions of these pies are equally delicious. The only difference is in the time of their making. You need a lot more time to make pie with home-made crusts, that’s why my mum makes this pie just for special occasions. The taste of these pies will always be my favorite memories from my childhood.

SRB: Danas vam predstavljam jedno od najpopularnijih jela Sprske kuhinje i jedno od mojih omiljenih jela – pitu. Ovo jelo vodi poreklo sa Bliskog istoka i kao što znate može biti slatka ili slana. slane pite mogu biti filovane sirom, spanaćem, kupusom, sosom od mesa a slatke sa višnjama, jabukama itd. Osim pod imenom “pita”, ovo je jelo ima svoje oblike i pod imenom “gibanica” i “burek”. Ime ” pita vodi poreklo iz Grčkg jezika ( “pitta”) a ime “burek ” iz Turskog jezika ( “börek ” ).  Burek se najčešće pravi na jugu Srbije i u Bosni i Hercegovini. Ovo jelo je jedno od obeležja kuhinja sa prostora Balkana. 

Ove dve pite koje vidite na slici, su napravile moja tetka i majka. Pite sa leve strane su napravljene od domaćih kora, koje je razvila moja majka, a pite sa desne strane od kora kupljenih u prodavnici. Obe verzije pite su fenomenalnog ukusa a jedina razlika je u vremenu potrebnom za pripremu istih. Zato moja majka sprema ovu pitu sa zavijanim korama samo za posebne porodične prilike. Ukus ovog jela, uvek će biti jedno od mojih nadražih uspomena iz detinjstva. Nije samo stvar u ukusu jela, već u onome što ono predstavlja. Za mene, ovo jelo predstavlja svečani ručak, praznik, moju porodicu okupljenu oko stola.