Cheese & Spinach Borag

Borag is an Armenian pastry that wraps savory fillings in layers of crisp, buttery phyllo dough. This version stacks spinach and two cheeses between sheets of golden phyllo, then gets sliced into squares and baked until shatteringly crispy on top and gooey in the middle.

The filling is straightforward. Blanched spinach, a generous pound of Monterey Jack, a smear of cream cheese, and a hit of cayenne for warmth. Everything binds together with an egg, and the parsley brightens it up.

An egg-and-milk wash brushed over the top before baking is what gives the borag that gorgeous golden sheen.

Chef Tips

• Squeeze every last drop of water out of the blanched spinach. Wet spinach makes the phyllo soggy from the inside out.
• Work quickly with phyllo dough and keep unused sheets covered with a damp towel. Exposed phyllo dries out and cracks within minutes.
• Brush melted butter between every two sheets. This is what creates those impossibly flaky, shattering layers.
• Score the squares before baking so you get clean cuts. Trying to slice baked phyllo always ends in messy crumbling.