Name: Talas Borek (Middle Eastern Lamb Ragout with a Filo Crust)
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: Greece
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper; ¼ cup (or as needed) olive oil; 2 pounds lamb shoulder, trimmed well and cut into 1-inch cubes; 1 tablespoon cinnamon; 1 teaspoon dried oregano; ½ cup olive oil; 1 tablespoon (or to taste) dried oregano; 2 cups diced canned Italian plum tomatoes with ½ cup of the juices; 2 teaspoons (or to taste) cinnamon; 6 cloves garlic, minced; 2 large onions, chopped; ¼ cup unsalted butter; ¼ pound feta cheese; ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley for garnish; ½ cup clarified butter (see Note); Salt and freshly ground pepper; 2 cups Lamb or Chicken Stock

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Complex

Appears in

The Mediterranean Kitchen

By Joyce Goldstein

Published 1998

About

Versions of this dish appear in both Greek and Turkish cuisines. The original recipes have you enclose the ragout in sheets of filo, which is not too tricky if you do it just before serving. But this is a bit hazardous if you like to get things assembled ahead of time, as the juices from the ragout will leak through the filo. As a compromise, we heat the lamb in a ramekin (you may use a single deep-dish pie or gratin mold) and bake the filo crust separately. The crust stays crisp and lamb s