Pita zeljanica

The story

Pies are among the most common foods in Serbia, eaten for breakfast, for supper or as a snack, and the one filled with spinach and other greens goes by two names, pita sa zeljem or zeljanica, according to the Wikipedia survey of Serbian cuisine. The name comes from zelje, leafy greens. The Belgrade food site Stvar ukusa calls zeljanica the queen of pies, notes that it is especially popular in Bosnia, and recalls that the thin pastry sheets, kore, were once always made at home. The grandmother-style version published by Informer still does that: eight thin rounds of flour, water and oil are brushed with oil, stacked and rolled out, then layered with 500 g of crumbly fresh cheese, four eggs and two bunches of chopped greens and baked at 220°C. Recepti.com layers pie sheets two or three at a time, salts the greens for an hour and squeezes them dry, and binds the cheese with eggs, kajmak and milk. Informer and Recepti.com both serve the pie with yogurt or kiselo mleko, a tangy cultured milk. Bake the pie in the morning, since it is good warm or at room temperature, and serve it as the first course before an Easter roast.