Sigara Börek with Feta & Parsley

📝 Ingredients

• 8 sheets brick pastry (about 17 g each)
• 200 g feta
• 1 egg
• 30 g fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp water (to seal the cigars)
• Black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Baking sheet
• Baking paper
• Mixing bowl
• Fork
• Pastry brush
• Knife

📖 Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 200 °C and line the baking tray with baking paper. Wash the parsley, dry it thoroughly in a tea towel, then chop it finely, thin stalks included: still-wet herbs would make the brick pastry soggy.
2. Crumble the feta into a bowl with a fork. Add the egg, the parsley and a good grind of pepper, without salt (the feta is salty enough), then mash everything together until you have a chunky filling that holds together.
3. Cut the brick pastry sheets in half, with their separating paper, to make 16 half-moons. Keep them stacked and covered with a dry tea towel while shaping: left uncovered, they dry out in minutes and crack when rolled.
4. Remove the paper from a half-sheet and lay it with the cut edge facing you. Place 1 heaped tbsp filling in a log along this edge, 2 cm in, fold both sides over the filling, then roll up tightly towards the rounded edge. Seal the end with a little water.
5. Arrange the cigars on the tray, seam side down, 2 cm apart. Brush them all over with olive oil, not forgetting the ends, which burn quickly, then sprinkle with sesame seeds.
6. Bake on the middle shelf for 12 to 15 min, turning them carefully halfway through, until golden and crispy all over. Keep an eye on them in the last few minutes: brick pastry goes from golden to burnt very quickly.
7. Leave to cool for 5 min on the tray, as the filling is scalding hot straight out of the oven. Serve 4 cigars per person, warm or cold, as meze or a snack.