Showing posts with label Dessert. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dessert. Show all posts

Karydópita - spiced walnut cake soaked in syrup

Dec 11, 2012


   


  Karydópita is one of those desserts that really smell like Christmas. It is a spiced walnut cake soaked in syrup and versions of it are found all over Greece. Almost every home cook has his or her own version using different proportions of the same ingredients, or using different basic ingredients; some prefer finely grated dry breadcrumbs instead of flour! This version is really fluffy but calls for too many eggs. 
     The recipe I am giving you is the one my grandmother used to make and happens to be my favorite. It is the recipe we still use to make the karydópita we serve at the tavern.




Melópita – Honey pie from Sifnos island

Dec 2, 2012


 



    Sifnos, located in the south Aegean sea, is a beautiful island famous for its ceramic workshops; ceramic bowls, plates, vases and cooking pots that bake wonderful oven stews.






     Al though it can be also found in other Aegean islands, honey pie is famous as a specialty of Sifnos. It is one of those traditional desserts made with simple ingredients found in any agricultural community: homemade myzithra cheese, honey (μέλι) from their own bees and free range eggs. These ingredients were enough to make people creative and turn an old fashioned cheesecake into something we may nowadays call a gourmet dessert. The addition of more honey and some cinnamon when served makes it even more impressive. 
    Myzithra (also called anthótyro)  is a low fat soft and fresh cheese made from both goat and sheep's milk, but if you can't find it abroad it could be substituted by Italian ricotta cheese with similar results.





Quince jelly, beautiful red jelly flavored with rose geranium

Oct 27, 2012


    





     Quinces are ideal fruits for jellies and jams because they have a wonderfully perfumed flesh and, most importantly, because they are full of pectin. In Greece we also make a sweet preserve with pieces of quince, but we also use them in cooking, for example in festive stews with pork or game, the same way you would use potatoes.
In different areas of the country quince jelly is flavored with rose geranium ( Pelargonium  graveolens) or lemon verbena, but you can also flavor it with cinnamon and cloves, vanilla, or something to your own taste.
     This jelly, popular all over the planet, can be used as a jam on toasted bread, to accompany cheese on a cheese plate, or as a natural jelly to gloss fruit tarts. It has a wonderful red color and, properly preserved, can be stored for up to a year. 











Halvas Rinas - semolina and almond cake flavored with Grand Marnier

Sep 28, 2012


  


   We call halvas confections made with semolina, oil, and syrup as basic ingredients. The result is a compact shaped bar. Halvas Rinas, though, is a very fluffy cake made with the basic ingredients of halvas but with the addition of eggs and milk and with the syrup added after baking.
     This cake resembles ravani, but it’s flourless and that produces an airy cake; at the same time the semolina, absorbs the syrup evenly. We made Halvas Rinas for the first time when looking for a dessert to enhance the taste of our new crop of almonds, and it turned out to be really good. Grand Marnier or any other liqueur you prefer gives an especially nice taste to the syrup. 
     Although I asked and even googled about Rina, the inventor of this cake, I found absolutely nothing, but her recipe has made her famous.





Mosaico - Mum's chocolate log

Jun 8, 2012



    


  Our country cottage is in a small village. There was no shop to buy anything, and we had to visit the nearest town to get supplies. Of course we always would buy goods in advance, but there was one thing that as a kid I was missing in summer and that thing was ICE CREAM!!!.

      As you know, mums don’t like their children to be miserable, so I had a favorite ice cream substitute that my mother could easily make at our cottage with no special equipment. This was her chocolate and biscuits log; she called it mosaico. It is not her own invention; it’s actually a quite popular dessert all mothers used to make since the 70’s. 

     My mother makes this delicious dessert with vegetable margarine, cocoa, eggs and a couple table spoons of brandy to eliminate the egg flavor but, as an adult, I prefer to use less fat and  make it with dark chocolate and whipping cream. I will give you both recipes to decide which one fits better to your taste.

      I like this dessert all year long and specially on Christmas an easy to make dessert is always welcomed. 



Coconut ravani- coconut semolina cake

May 18, 2012


 


   Sometimes I wonder what makes something traditional in cooking. I suspect it is a combination of factors: local ingredients, eating habits  and  sometimes our ability to incorporate into our own tradition methods and ingredients that come from other countries with different cultures or even a  different climate.
      This flexibility probably keeps traditions alive within generations and endlessly produces more traditions. A good example is spices. They are now widely used all over the planet in all cuisines. Who can imagine pastry making without vanilla? Such ingredients seem to have been in our kitchens since the day we started cooking our food.
      That’s how my grandmother used to make her delicious coconut ravani cake, - without ever wondering what coconut ( καρύδα in Greek) had to do with Greece. We usually make this light dessert when the weather gets warmer because it smells like summer and it’s the very best partner for coffee on hot summer days. Enjoy!! 




Tsourẻki, Easter sweet bread

Apr 12, 2012


        


  This year, Greek Orthodox Easter is on Sunday April 15, a week after the Catholic Easter. 
          During the “ Holy Week" preceeding Easter, my grandmother would make the Easter cookies and sweetbreads. You can imagine the aromas of vanilla, butter, orange zest, and mastic, spreading all over the house and my anticipation to taste everything coming out of the oven. Unfortunately, I was forbidden to touch anything until Sunday because dairy products and eggs were not consumed during the “Holy Week”. So I had to watch all these goodies being wrapped in colorful transparent plastic wrap to keep them fresh and pretty, before half of them would be given to friends and relatives for Easter.  This entire “patience test” didn’t serve to make me any more religious!
         The sweetbreads my grandmother used to make are called “tsourẻkia”.They were once special Easter sweet breads, but nowadays they are made in every bakery in Greece and throughout the Mediterranean world all year long because they really do deserve to be enjoyed every day.  
         The following recipe ALWAYS works but you have to be patient because the dough has to rise twice before baking, three times if you count the starter. 



Galaktoboúreko, time for dessert!

Mar 2, 2012


         




          Some traditional desserts are so popular that there are pastry shops specializing in making only that special one; they often have long queues with customers waiting to buy their favorite. One of those desserts is galaktoboúreko.
          Galaktoboúreko is a traditional dessert made with phyllo pastry crust and filled with semolina custard. Butter and vanilla give to the cream its wonderful taste. 

          Galaktoboúreko was traditionally made at Easter. But it is so tasty that no one could wait until Easter to enjoy it, so now you can find it all year long. Every home cook and pastry shop has its own version of this dessert. Everyone uses different proportions of the same ingredients. The quality of the butter, orange or lemon zest, the thinness of the phyllo pastry, and  the baking time are a few of the  secrets leading to different unique results. It’s not difficult to make. All you’ll need is phyllo pastry from a Greek or Middle Eastern food store and friends to enjoy it.


Risόgalo, rice pudding with mastic

Feb 16, 2012






       Mastic (μαστίχα -mastiha) is a white crystal-like resin obtained from the mastic tree (Pistacia lentiscus ) which grows only in the southern part of the island of Chios. It is a widely used natural flavoring in Greek cuisine, especially in pastry, and has been granted a Protected Designation of Origin status. Attempts to grow mastic trees even in northern parts of the same island were unsuccessful!!

Mastic gives flavor to crèmes, puddings, beverages, sweet breads and it is used the same way you would use vanilla. Our favorite mastic flavored pastry is tsoureki, a sweet Easter bread resembling brioche, and the most characteristic Greek dessert, kaimaki, is ice cream made from full cream scented with mastic.
A nice way to become familiar with the mastic flavor is to try this creamy rice pudding.


Merry Christmas!!! with our favorite cookies

Dec 22, 2011




Christmas is everyone’s favorite time of the year. I enjoy it mostly for the food! Many savory dishes and desserts are made only during the Christmas and New Year festivities. This makes things interesting but it is a pity we can’t enjoy them throughout the entire year.
In Greece we have two favorite cookies which are found in every single house as well as every pastry shop in the country. We just love melomacarona and kourabiedes!! There is no such thing as Christmas without these cookies.



Melomacarona are egg free cookies scented with cinnamon, clove and orange. After baking they are immediately dipped into thick honey syrup that makes them irresistible.
Kourabiedes are very simple to make, since they are made only with flour, butter and sugar and are scented with vanilla and brandy or rum. Very good quality butter gives these cookies their characteristic taste and aroma. In Greece we use goat or sheep’s milk butter both of which have a very intense aroma, but any good quality milk butter will do.


















































 Every home has its own version of these cookies. For example, in melomacarona some use only flour, whereas we use both semolina flour and all purpose flour. Semolina flour helps the cookies stay crispy and syrupy inside, but the choice is yours.
I hope you will enjoy them both. Merry Christmas!!!

Quince, a fruit for gods!!!

Dec 14, 2011

Quinces have been used in Greek cuisine for thousands of years. Ancient Greeks used to call them ‘’apples’’ and they used to combine them with meat in savory dishes or in simple desserts like baked quinces stuffed with honey and almonds’’.























In mythology quince was the fruit dedicated to the goddess Aphrodite (Venus)  and the ‘apple’ given to her by Paris in the famous beauty contest.. Plutarch tells us that Solon (a lawgiver and poet) suggested that brides bite into a slice of quince before they met with their husbands to ensure  a memorable and pleasant first kiss!
Nowadays we still use quinces in cooking, in festive dishes with pork or beef or in desserts the same way you would use apples.
The following recipe is a ‘’spoon sweet’’ which is quince cooked in syrup. It is the simplest way to preserve fruits and then use them in pastry. Quinces make a very tasty preserve with a vibrant red color that matches perfectly with yogurt, cheesecake, or as it is.



Fanouropita- Lost and found!

Nov 21, 2011

Religious traditions often influence the eating habits of a nation. In Greece, Orthodox tradition has influenced our cuisine to such a degree that even those who are not religious keep the traditions. Family memories and customs keep them alive but, mostly, it is the pleasure that traditional food offers.
 Fanouropita is a cake made on the 27th of August,- St. Fanourios Day. It is also made every time we have lost something or when we want to make a wish about something, - for example, good health or a new job. We used to make Fanouropita often at home because it’s a nice cake with coffee (Okay, we would make a wish from time to time!).

















Fanouropita is an egg and dairy free cake and according to tradition only 9 ingredients must be used to make it. Others believe that 12 is the correct number. I will give you the 9 ingredients version I know and also a twist with syrup to make it as a dessert.  Even if you haven’t lost anything, don’t lose the chance to make this!


Galatopita - Milkpie

Oct 17, 2011




The four basic ingredients in pastry are sugar, eggs, flour, and milk. There are endless variations and proportions in which these four ingredients can be mixed to become different desserts. Nowadays there is a great variety of special pastry ingredients but in the old days people had to use their creativity, four basic ingredients, and maybe some spices and natural flavorings to make different desserts. Such a simple dessert in Greek cuisine is Galatopita (milk pie), a sweet baked cream with ingredients found in every house
My grandmother had goats in our cottage house and galatopita with goats milk was often on the menu.
The ideal combination to flavor a Galatopita is vanilla in the cream and some cinnamon to dust the pie just before baking. There are several variations to make this pie, like using semolina flour instead of all purpose flour, pie crust or fyllo as a base or simply flavoring it with lemon zest instead of vanilla.



Galatopita

Serves 4-5

500gr milk
100gr flour
80gr sugar
2 eggs
¼ tsp salt
vanilla flavoring to taste
cinnamon to dust the pie  

Combine in a saucepan sugar and half of the milk and bring to a simmer. Meanwhile, in a bowl beat together the eggs, vanilla, salt, remaining milk (250gr) and flour until it becomes smooth. Gradually pour half of the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking to combine. Scrape the egg mixture back into the pan with the remaining hot milk and cook over low heat, whisking constantly until it is thickened. Then pour the thickened mixture into a 20cm round greased pie pan and dust with cinnamon. Preheat the oven to 180˚ C and bake for about 30 minutes until golden brown.




How many roses did you have for breakfast? - Rose jam

Sep 5, 2011

Rosa Damascena

In the old days when modern methods of preserving fruits all year long didn’t exist, there was still a need to serve your guests some always available dessert. This led people to invent fruits preserved in syrup. A spoonful of such a preserve and a cup of Greek coffee were and still are the common welcoming treat.

''...add the lemon juice and magically your jam turns to a beautiful red''