Potato pita is a very simple dish with few ingredients, and it’s definitely one of my favorite meals. It’s a comfort food…soft, buttery potatoes surrounded by a flaky filo pastry shell. It’s not a heavy meal at all, and my stomach always purrs after eating it. It’s very simple to make, and if you’re potato lovers like we are, you’re going to make this again and again. Are you ready to fall head-over-heals? 
Potato Pita (Krompirusa)
Ingredients:
- filo dough (one 16 oz. package)
- potatoes, 5 large
- onions, 3 small
- butter (or olive oil)
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
Instructions:
- Remove the filo dough from the freezer several hours before you’re ready to cook. Leave it on your counter top for about 30 minutes and then put it in the refrigerator to thaw out slowly.
- When you’re ready to cook, grease your baking pan with butter.
- Wash and peel your potatoes.
- Then grate the potatoes on a metal vegetable grater.
- Now you want to squeeze all the excess water out of the potatoes by picking up a handful of grated potatoes and squeezing the water out of it. You can do this over the sink if you like, and after squeezing the potatoes put them in large bowl.
- Peel your onions and dice them into small pieces, adding the onion to the bowl of shredded potatoes.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Melt some butter in a small sauce pan add some to the potatoes and onions while keeping some of it aside for brushing your pan and the filo. (It’s up to you how much you want to add to the potatoes and onions. We are very generous with the butter because it adds a lot of taste.)
- Mix the butter into the potatoes and onions.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
- Brush your baking pan with some of the butter you melted. I used a 12 inch by 17 inch pan.
- Remove the filo dough from the refrigerator, and after you unwrap it, roll it out on your counter top.
- Now that you have your filo dough rolled out on the counter, brush the top sheet generously with butter.
- Now you’re going grab a handful of the raw potato mixture and sprinkle it down the middle of the filo. (Don’t put the potatoes right on the edges; leave about an inch on each side empty.) How much you want to put on your filo sheet is up to you, but in general, it’s better if you don’t over-stuff it, so if you just use a handful, that should be fine.
- Then you fold the filo sheet in half and roll it into a snake shape if you like. If you prefer, you can just leave it rolled without the snake shape. Click here to see a 1-minute video that will show you how to stuff and roll your pita. The pita that’s being made in the video is meat pita (burek). She made her dough from scratch…something I still haven’t tried yet. Anyway, you make stuff and roll the potato pita by using the same technique shown in the video. You can see how easy it is.
- Now, place the stuffed and rolled pita into the greased baking pan.
- Repeat the process, sprinkling the potato mixture on the remaining filo dough sheet and then roll them like you did the first one.
- When you’ve finished, brush the tops of all the filo dough with melted butter.
- Bake covered for about 30 minutes.
- Then uncover and cook until the filo pastry is golden brown.
- While the potato pita is baking uncovered, you want to occasionally moisten it so it doesn’t dry out. I use a plastic water bottle that’s used for misting plants. Fill the bottle with water, and then mist the pita by spraying a little water on it. If you don’t have a plastic spray bottle, just sprinkle a little water on it with your fingers.
- When the pita is golden brown, remove it from the oven and let it cool for about 15 minutes. Then cut the pita and enjoy either warm or cold.
