Salmon in a puff pastry blanket

(Burekas)

Recipe by Chef Dalia

Every fall, Jews around the world celebrate the festival of Sukkot by constructing a temporary dwelling called a Sukkah. Building a Sukkah is an icon of Sukkot.

Celebrating Sukkot in Israel is much more than a Sukkah; it is really one big carnival. I could feel a new holiday spirit in the air, a spirit that exists nowhere else. You will see Sukkahs built in the yards and balconies of many homes across the country during Sukkot in Israel as well as people dancing in the streets with the Arba Minim or four kinds (Etrog, Lulav, Hadas, Arava).

One of the most fun, traditional ways Israelis symbolically honor the overflowing abundance of the harvest season on Sukkot is to serve stuffed foods. Some families, like my family, prepare burekas, a stuffed savory pastry, perfect for embracing the stuffed food tradition of Sukkot.

Warm, melt-in-your-mouth burekas are one of the culinary “sins” that it is definitely recommended to sin for. And to our delight, the Sukkot holiday is upon us, a holiday in which it is customary to serve hot and fragrant burekas while sitting in the Sukkah. The custom was born sometime around the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and, since then, it has been zealously preserved among the Spanish communities. For them, hospitality with a tray of warm and crispy burekas, which crackles in the mouth, testifies to the talent of the cook and demonstrates the respect of the hosts to the guests, as stuffed food symbolizes abundance and wealth. Burekas symbolize hospitality, developed culinary culture and style.

Personal Chef Dalia Hemed can be reached at daliahemed@msn.com.

Two elements of the Sukkot holiday have been a highlight of my life in Israel. One is the celebration of the Sukkah at my grandmother’s (Safta’s) house with all my uncles, aunts and cousins. The other is Safta’s secret recipe of the salmon burekas she served for dinner in the Sukkah on the first night.

When I was a child, Safta lived in the heart of Jaffa, a Jaffa very different from today’s modern city. My grandmother had 13 children, most of whom were already married with children of their own — my uncles, aunts and cousins.

Every year, when the Day of Atonement ended, after sunset and after we broke the fast with a meal, the whole family would get into my dad’s car and drive to Grandma’s to build a Sukkah.

Within a few hours, a Sukkah was standing. The adults hung white sheets on the wooden walls and a white curtain on the small window, then the children hung the decorations. From that evening until Sukkot (about 4 days), we would come every day to Grandma’s house with additional decorations and paper chains we made at home or bought at the store, until there was no more room for more, and the Sukkah was adorned like a queen.

On the eve of the holiday, we would all gather at Grandma’s house; each family would come with its own food, but my grandmother’s special secret recipe for salmon burekas was the highlight of the evening. As far as my grandmother was concerned, it was obvious that everyone was coming. There was no other option. And my grandmother, who was like a queen, simply said to her children that she would make her famous salmon burekas.

Everyone would come – about 40 people – and sit inside the Sukkah. For my grandmother, who was a religious woman, we were the honored guests (Ushpizin) of the Sukkah. For her, we were the main decorations of the evening. And by the way, amazingly, I managed to get Grandma’s special secret recipe for salmon burekas before she passed.

Have you ever had a salmon bureka? No? You’re missing out! Take your salmon to the next level and make these gorgeous salmon burekas.

This is an elaborate dish that requires time, patience and a little skill to prepare. Some will serve small burekas, like delicate and beautiful jewels, which, however tiny their size may be, are equal to each other as if they were made by a machine. Some will serve one large tray with large burekas that look like a challah loaf.

The secret to serving good burekas is in baking — the burekas should be well baked on the inside and come out with a brown and crispy coating.

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp. yellow mustard

• 1 Tbsp. honey

• 1 tsp. dried thyme

• 1 (or 4 small pieces) salmon fillet, skin removed

• 8 cloves garlic

• 1 tsp. salt

• ¼ tsp. ground black pepper

• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed in the fridge

• 1 Tbsp. mayonnaise

• 1 egg, beaten

Instructions

1. First, make the filling sauce. In a small bowl combine the yellow mustard, honey and thyme. Mix together.

2. Lay the salmon fillet on the cooking tray and dry it with a paper towel. Cut 8 slits, spaced evenly in 2 rows in the fillet that are large enough to place the garlic cloves in, being careful not to cut all the way through the fillet.

3. Season the salmon fillets with salt and pepper. Then roll out the pastry sheet on your counter in a size that’s good enough to fit the salmon (or cut it into halves). Spread mayonnaise on top of the pastry.

4. Place salmon fillet in the center of the puff pastry sheet, leaving about 2 inches around the edges. If the puff pastry sheet is not big enough, you can roll it out.

5. Top the salmon fillet with the sauce mixture using a spoon, spreading it evenly. Brush the edges of the puff pastry sheets with a beaten egg and fold it by taking one side over the filling and then other side overlapping the first side.

6. Place the salmon on a greased, or lined with parchment paper, baking sheet, seam side down. Make crosshatch slits on the top of each salmon burekas using a sharp knife.

7. Bake at 400°F for 30 minutes or until the pastry is golden.