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Desserts
By AGLAIA KREMEZIS
Rice Pie with Walnuts and Golden Raisins
RIZOPITA ME KARYDIA KE STAFIDES
This is a Lenten sweet pie that is prepared in Metsovo, but this recipe is my interpretation. Instead of using olive oil, I have used margarine because I think the taste of olive oil is much too strong. Needless to say, it is infinitely better if the phyllo is homemade.
1/2 cup short-grain rice
1 tablespoon margarine or light olive oil
2 cups water
1 cup shelled walnuts
1 cup golden raisins
1 1 /2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
4 sheets Homemade Phyllo, or 1 pound thick commercial phyllo
1/2 -3/4 cup melted margarine or light olive oil, for brushing
SYRUP
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Peel of 1/2 lemon
1 piece cinnamon sticks
SERVES 12-15
Soak the rice for 5 minutes in water to cover. Drain and saute in the margarine until glistening. Pour in the water and cook over low heat for about 12 minutes, or until it becomes very soft and has absorbed all the water. Turn the cooked rice into a bowl and let cool a little.
Preheat the oven to 375 F.
Mix the walnuts, raisins, cinnamon, and cloves with the rice and stir well. Brush a 14 x 9 1/2 -inch baking pan with margarine and lay in 2 sheets of homemade or 8 sheets of commercial phyllo, brushing each sheet with margarine. Let about 2 1/2 inches of dough hang over the edge of the pan, and trim the rest. Pour the filling into the pan, smooth it with a spatula, and lay in the remaining sheets of commercial or 2 sheets of homemade phyllo, brushing each sheet with margarine. Trim the top sheets to no more than 1/2 inch larger than the pan all around. Brush again with margarine, and turn the hanging phyllo inward to seal. Using a very sharp knife or a razor blade, score the top layers to mark the desired sizes of the pieces you will cut later. Place in the oven, and bake for 1 hour, or until golden brown on top. After baking for 30 minutes, start preparing the syrup. Place the sugar, water, lemon juice, lemon peel, and cinnamon stick in a saucepan, bring to a boil, and turn down the heat. Simmer until the pie is baked. The moment you take the pie out of the oven, discard the lemon peel and cinnamon stick, and pour the syrup over the pie. Be very careful-the syrup can bubble vigorously and can burn you. Cover the pie with a clean kitchen towel and let cool completely before serving. This rice pie tastes much better the next day and keeps well for at least a day.
Rolled Baklava with Golden Raisins
BAKLAVAS TYLIKHTOS
Baklava, found in all eastern Mediterranean countries, is probably a refined version of what Aristophanes described in his comedies: baked pastry filled with nuts. In this more than in any other sweets with phyllo pastry, it is important to use the right kind of pastry-not the very thin kind. Strudel pastry works better, and homemade phyllo is best. Since the filling of Baklava contains nothing more than nuts-and golden raisins, in this recipe-if you use commercial thin phyllo, you will end up needing masses of butter to make it tasty. The recipe that follows is my lighter interpretation of a rolled Baklava I tasted in Chania Crete. Instead of flooding it with syrup, as it is the custom in Greece, I found it better to use less, and turn the Baklava in the syrup so the top absorbs some syrup. But this means that you should make Baklava at least one day in advance.
1 cup melted margarine, or a combination of margarine and butter
1 cup unblanched coarsely ground almonds
1 cup coarsely ground walnuts
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup golden raisins
2 tablespoons brandy
4 strudel pastry sheets approximately 18 x 17 inches;
or about 1 pound thick commercial phyllo dough
SYRUP
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Peel of 1/2 lemon
1 cinnamon stick
SERVES 10-12
Brush an 11 - or 12 -inch round pan with margarine. In a bowl mix the nuts, cinnamon, cloves, and raisins. Pour in the brandy and knead with your fingers to mix well. Preheat the oven to
375 F. Cut one 18 x 17-inch sheet of strudel pastry, or 2 sheets of commercial phyllo, in half to obtain two 18 x 8 1/2-inch rectangles. Brush each sheet with margarine. Put 2 rectangles of commercial phyllo, one on top of the other, or 1 rectangle of strudell dough on a counter. Sprinkle 3 heaping tablespoons of filling on the phyllo. Spread the mixture evenly, leaving 2 inches clear on all sides. Fold the left and right short sides of the phyllo to cover part of the stuffing, brush with margarine, and start to roll the long side tightly as you would a strudel, brushing the outer part of the dough with margarine as you turn it. You will end up with a 14-inch-long cylinder. Place it carefully in the buttered pan, and continue with the rest of the sheets. Place the second roll next to the first, curving it to fit the pan, and continue until you fill it with a coillike shape. With a trussing needle, prick the filled rolls in several places. Sprinkle lightly with water and bake for about 1 hour, or until golden brown.
Honey Cookies
MELOMAKARONA
The traditional Greek Christmas cookies, Melomakarona are believed to have originated in antiquity. They are also called phoenikia, and their name suggests that they probably came from the Phoenicians, a people who lived on the Mediterranean shore of the Middle East where Lebanon is today and who had extensive trade with ancient Greeks. My mother's Melomakarona are the best I have tasted, and this is her recipe. She insists on letting the finished biscuits cool overnight before dipping them briefly in the syrup. That way they remain crunchy. Most commercial or homemade Melomakarona are very soggy. In many contemporary households, butter is used instead of the olive oil called for in the old recipes, changing their taste completely- ruining it, in my opinion.
1 1/4cups light olive oil
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup fresh orange juice
3-4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup brandy
1 1/2 cups fine semolina
SYRUP
1 cup sugar
1 cup honey
2 cups water
1 large piece of orange peel
1 large piece of lemon peel
1 cup coarsely ground walnuts
2 teaspoons finely ground cloves
MAKES ABOUT 50
Using an electric mixer, beat the olive oil with the sugar. Add the orange juice. In a separate bowl, mix 2 cups flour with the baking powder, and add to the oil and orange mixture. Beat with the electric mixer adding the branddy, semolina, orange and lemon peel, cloves, and cinnamon. Turn the mixture out onto a floured surface and start kneading, adding more flour, to obtain a soft and elastic dough. Let stand for 20 to 30 minutes, covered with plastic wrap. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Take tablespoonfuls of dough and shape into oval cookies about 2 1/2 inches long. Press them on the top with the back of a fork to mark them with horizontal lines. Place on an oiled cookie sheet and bake for about 25 minutes. Let cool on a rack overnight. The next day make the honey syrup. In a saucepan, mix the sugar, honey, and water and bring to a boil. Add the orange and lemon peels and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat. Place 2 or 3 cookies on a large slotted spoon and dip them in the syrup. Don't let them soak in it; they should absorb only a little syrup, and remain crunchy. Place layers of honey-dipped Melomakarona on a serving dish. Mix the walnuts with the ground cloves, and sprinkle over the cookies. Let cool completely before serving. They keep well for about 10 days.
Fried Pastry Squares from Ithaca
DIPLES ITHAKIS
Using a pastry similar to the one used to make Kserotigana, Greeks in the rest of the country make Diples-square or rectangular pieces of dough that are rolled, fried, and served with honey sauce. I was not going to include a recipe for Diples until my friend Maria Haritopoulou was kind enough to give me the handwritten book of recipes her aunt Xanthipi from Ithaca gave her when she got married. In it I found this magnificent recipe, which I must share with you. Diples can be eaten warm or at room temperature, and they keep well for a week (if you can keep your hands away from them).
4-5 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine or butter
3 eggs
Zest and juice of 2 oranges (1 cup plus 1 tablespoon)
3 tablespoons brandy
HONEY SYRUP
2 cups honey, preferably thyme-scented
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
Olive oil, for deep-frying
1 cup coarsely ground walnuts
MAKES 25-30 7 x 3 1/2 -INCH SQUARES
In a bowl, sift 4 cups of flour with the salt and mix in the margarine or butter, rubbing it with your fingers until you obtain a mixture that looks like bread crumbs. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs lightly and add them to the flour mixture, together with the orange zest, juice, and brandy. Knead well, adding a little water or flour if needed, then turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Knead as you would bread dough, adding more flour if it is too sticky, until you obtain a smooth dough. Color with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 10 to 15 minutes. In a saucepan, mix the honey with the water and sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Heat the oil to 360 F. Take a fist-size piece of the dough and roll out on a floured surface to make phyllo about 1/3-inch thick, or thinner. Using a pastry wheel, cut the dough into rectangles, squares diamonds, or other shapes you like and deep-fry in batches until golden, about 1 minute. Drain on paper towels and transfer to a plate. Pour some of the syrup over each layer of Diples and sprinkle with the walnuts.
Almond Biscuits from Siphno
AMYGDALOTA SIFNEIKA
There are many varieties of amygdalota. In some, the ground almonds are mixed with flour, butter, or eggs and baked. In others, the cookies are not baked at all; the almonds are mixed with rosewater, then shaped and left to dry a little before being dredged in confectioners' sugar. Almond cookies that use no butter or eggs are one of our many Lenten sweets, which Greeks prepare especially on Clean Monday, the first day of Lent. This recipe was given to me by Mrs. Maria Salmaltani, the owner and cook of one of the best old tavernas in Kiffissia, a posh Athens suburb. Although Mrs. Salmaltani comes from Paros, she told me that this recipe originated on Siphnos, another Cycladic island, probably the most beautiful one.
1 pound shelled almonds, bleached, dried well, and finely ground in a food processor (about 2 1/2 cups ground)
1 1/2-2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
1-2 tablespoons orange flower water, plus more to wet fingers as you shape the biscuits
Confectioners' sugar, for sprinkling
MAKES ABOUT 50
In a large heavy pot, heat the ground almonds, sugar, water, and orange flower water. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture no longer sticks to the bottom and sides of the pan, 5 to 8 minutes. Let cool slightly, then wetting your fingers with orange flower water, take tablespoonfuls and shape the biscuits to form small pears about 11/2 inches high. Sprinkle the biscuits with confectioners' sugar until they are completely covered=2E
Note: Keep the mixture covered while you work because it dries out quickly. |
