Showing posts with label Corfu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Corfu. Show all posts

Tuesday 29 December 2009

Travel Europe

The technique challenge on SCS yesterday was the Van Gogh technique. There were quite a lot of sunflowers out - and they reminded me of this photo from France, 1995 or 96. We took the car over, stayed with friends, camped, and then went back and picked F up to bring her back home with more luggage than she could normally carry when she flew. It was a lovely holiday...this was from the camping part, down in the Loire Valley, somewhere near Angers.


I know it's Christmas, but for lunch today we had Flaounes, which are Easter Cheese Breads from Cyprus. My original recipe called for mozarella, the ones I checked out today called for halloumi, which is much more authentic. But I've tried both, and don't see a significant difference. I can get good mozarella locally, so that's what I go with:
FLAOUNES    makes approximately 12, I halve the amounts.
Ingredients
1 1/2 lb strong white floer
1 sachet yeast (unless you're lucky enough to be able to get fresh easily - I wish!)
1 tsp salt, 2 tsp sugar, 2 tblsp olive oil, lukewarm water to mix.
Make a dough and leave to rise in a warm place till doubled.
Prepare a filling with:
8 oz coarsely grated cheddar cheese
4 oz coarsely grated halloumi or mozarella
1 tblsp plain flour, 1 tblsp or more dried mint, 1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs, lightly beaten.

Mix the cheeses in a bowl, add the eggs and then stir in the flour, baking powder and mint.
Divide the dough into twelve to fourteen pieces, and roll out into 4" circles. Put a generous heaping spoon of the filling into the centre, spread out slightly. You can either gather up the 3 points of the triangle or 4 corners of a square to pinch together at the top, to hold the filling in. I like 4 - it keeps the filling in better for me. Leave to rise again for at least half an hour. Brush with beaten egg, sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake in a hot oven (Gas 8, 220C, 425F) for about 12-15 minutes till golden. I like them warm, and I have to admit I like to have butter on the bready bits. But I wouldn't in Greece - their butter isn't so good, and their flour is different and makes lovely bread.



Never been to Cyprus, but here's a little Corfiot house to go with the Greek theme. When we learned Greek, our teacher was from Cyprus; although he'd been in Ireland most of his life, he was still a proud ambassador of all good things Greek.

Saturday 13 June 2009

Baklava - not for the faint-hearted

We have a friend of C's staying for the weekend. On Thursday I decided to make a big tray of Baklava - turned out to be a good thing as by Thursday evening I knew I was coming down with a bad head-cold, and it was great to have something already done for weekend treats. We had some very disappointing baklava in Paris, bought at the market on Rue de Rennes/ bvd Raspail. Then we had some very nice Kataifi when we happened to find a little Greek deli near the Sacre Coeur - and got to pull out some rusty Greek, too.
For some reason the Asian and Indian shops don't seem to have the regular cinnamon quills at the moment, just what is very definitely bark. Slightly different taste, but not bad...

Baklava
3/4 lb mixed nuts - I use about 4 oz each pistachios (unsalted), pecans and almonds. It's really a matter of personal preference.
1 oz granulated sugar
1/2 - 1 tsp cinnamon (more is my preference)
1/2 lb butter
1 lb filo pastry. ( I use 2 packs of Jus-Rol, 6 sheets in each pack.
1 lb granulated sugar
3/4 pt water
2 large strips of lemon rind
1 cinnamon stick
6 tblsp honey - use a good one, the flavour will be noticeable.
I have a large turkey roasting tin I got when I was catering for an outdoor activity weekend. It's the same width as the filo sheets, but not as long, so I lay one down and then fold it back about a third of the way.
Chop the nuts finely, leaving a few more coarsely chopped for texture. Add the single ounce of sugar and cinnamon and stir together.
Melt the butter.
Spread about 5 layers of pastry in the roasting tin, brushing each layer lightly with butter. Continue for another 4 layers or so, alternating nuts with each layer, and continuing to brush with butter. Finish off with another 5 or 6 layers of pastry, keeping the top layer as perfect as possible. With a very sharp knife, mark into diamond shapes (about 2" each side). Pour any remaining butter over, and cook in a preheated oven at 170C for half an hour. Reduce the heat to about 150, and continue cooking for another half hour or so, till a good golden brown colour.
While it is cooking, make a syrup by combining the water, sugar, lemon rind and cinnamon stick together in a large pan. Bring to the boil, boil (not simmer) for 5 minutes and remove from the heat. Remove the cinnamon stick and lemon peel, and stir in the honey.
Remove the baklava from the oven when it's ready, and while it's still hot, pour over the syrup. Allow to cool before serving.
To go with this, here are a couple of photos from Corfu last year.