Patsavouropita is a traditional Greek Tyropita (cheese pie) but before giving the recipe let me explain what it means because I know it’s all Greek to you.
Patsavoura means something which is not neatly stacked in an orderly way and also a rug used to mop up dirt and metaphorically it is a demeanor for an ugly woman but also for a woman of low ethics.
This means that this tyropita, which is made with store bought phyllo, requires no special skills or care and attention for its preparation, it is easy to make plus it tastes terrific.
Feta is the main ingredient but you can add any other cheese you like. I added some dried mint in mine because I love to pair mint with halloumi and feta but if you like you can add some other fresh herbs like spring onions, dill, parsley, thyme, oregano, fennel fronds etc.
Ι used a round baking tin but you can also use a square or rectangle one. Just stack each phyllo with cheese next to each other until you fill the baking tin.
Patsavouropita
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Makes: 1 tin 35 cm / 14 inches diametre
Ingredients:
1 packet (15 phyllo sheets – 400 grams)
350 grams crumbled feta
250 grams halloumi or graviera, grated
¾ cup olive oil
3 eggs
½ cup milk
1 tbsp dried mint or 4 – 5 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped
Freshly grated black pepper
Directions:
Preheat oven to 180ο C / 350o F.
Mix the two cheeses together with mint.
Brush a baking tin with olive oil.
On your working surface open the phyllo and brush it lightly with olive oil.
Sprinkle cheese to cover the entire surface.
Fold the phyllo in the middle from its narrow part and then fold it once again.
Place it in the baking tin, starting from the sides of the baking tin, forming a circle and keep adding going towards the centre.
When done, brush the surface with olive oil.
Beat the eggs with a fork and mix in the milk, salt and pepper.
Using a spoon, wet all the phyllos.
Bake for about 25 – 30 minutes or until golden brown on top.
Other relevant recipes:
Tyropita me Maratho (with fennel)
Tiganopsomo (fried Cheese Bread)
Kopiaste and Kali Orexi!
Tags: Easy recipes, made with phyllo, patsavouropita, pies, pites, tyropita
I made this savoury cheesecake during the Christmas holidays. I was inspired by Greek Dakos which is a Cretan appetizer made on a barley rusk called dakos, with feta or myzithra and tomato on top.
As a base I used a dakos rusk called kritharokoulouro, ordinary rusks and PICK salty biscuits which are similar to Tuc savoury biscuits. I prepared the base the same way we make cheesecakes, only I added some olive oil as well.
For the filling I used two Greek cheeses: feta and anthotyros (myzithra) as well as some cream cheese with herbs.
As a topping I used marinated and baked cherry tomatoes, some roasted red sweet peppers (Piperies Florinis) and gherkins. Instead of gherkins you can add Kalamata or green olives or capers. However, I preferred this colour combination as it was for the Christmas table.
I did not over bake the cherry tomatoes because I merely wanted to remove the skin, as my husband has a problem digesting it but also when cutting a slice it would be easier to cut the tomato when soft, as by pressing it with the knife on top of soft cream cheese, I think it would sink and spoil the piece.
Dakos Savoury Greek Cheesecake, recipe by Ivy
Ingredients:
Crust:
60 grams kritharokoulouro (barley rusk)
30 grams krispies (ordinary rusks with no sugar)
50 grams pick salted biscuits
45 grams almonds
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
Cheese Mixture:
200 grams cream cheese with garlic and herbs
450 grams anthotyros
250 grams feta
1 egg
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp dill, finely chopped
For Marinating Cherry tomatoes:
300 grams cherry tomatoes, halved
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt and freshly grated black pepper
A pinch of oregano
Topping:
2 – 3 Piperies Florinis
6 Gherkins
Salt, pepper a pinch of oregano
Directions:
Preheat oven to 180o C / 350o F.
In a small baking tin half cherry tomatoes and marinate with all the ingredients. Arrange cut side facing down and cover with aluminum foil and set aside.
Powder both rusks and biscuits as well as almonds, separately in a food processor. Put them in a spring form pan and add butter and olive oil and rub them with your fingers. Wet your hands with water and press the rusks on the base and sides of the baking tin.
Put the tin with tomatoes in the oven, covered with aluminum foil and on top place the tin with crust. Bake the crust for 15 minutes. Remove the crust from the oven and continue baking the tomatoes for 15 more minutes.
Meantime in the bowl of your mixer add the three cheeses and egg and whisk until creamy. Mix in the remaining ingredients.
When the crust has cooled add the cheeses and spread.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
When the tomatoes can be handled, remove the skin.
Decorate with baked cherry tomatoes, piperies Florinis and thin slices of gherkins and season with salt, pepper and oregano.
Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.
On a different note, I wiould like to draw your attention to a banner I have added on my side bar called MixReq
«Make Money by only spending a few minutes a day making surveys». I know beforehand that you will say that this is a scam and you may be right. However, I have google searched it and until now I have not read anything negative about it. Some speculations that it might be a scam do exist but it does not require you to pay any money or give a credit card number. That is a good sign, at least others doing surveys emphasize on this.
With the economical crisis in Greece, things are bad and even if there is even a slight chance that it is for real, I am willing to take the chance. I will explain how this works and it’s up to you to register. I was told of this link from a friend blogger, who was told by another friend of hers who saw his colleague earn income and could prove it as cash was paid in his Paypal account.
How this works: When you register you obtain your own affiliate link, which you can promote. You then earn money through Surveying. Additionally, you earn extra cash if your friends click your link which you have created with your code so each time they do a survey you get 15% of their income. Payment is made when reaching 500 USD after 45 days automatically in your Paypal account. This is not unusual as Foodbuzz and the Foodie Blogroll pay us after 60 days.
We can then make 4 surveys a day. Each survey is paid $4. You watch four commercials and are asked to answer the survey which lasts about 5 minutes. Today the ads I saw were for Coca Cola, Old Spice, Audi and Toshiba. Within 15 – 20 minutes you can earn at least $16 x 30 days = $480. Not bad if it is for real.
I thought I would share this with you after I participated to see how it works. Now all I have to do is wait until my amount reaches the target and see if there is any cash in. In case it is a scam, the worse scenario would be that I or you have lost some time.
More information can also be found in their FAQ.
The site does not provide a banner but I’ve made one and added it on my blog. If you want to join you can download it from there and just addd your code to it. The decision to register or not is entirely up to you.
Kopiaste and Kali Orexi!
Tags: affiliate, Anthotyros, appetizer, cash, Cheesecake, cherry tomatoes, Dakos, gherkins, Greek, Greek cheeses, herbs, ideas for Christmas, Mix-req, Mix-reqq, Myzithra, Side dish, surveys
Chronia Polla,
Chronia Polla, is a Greek wish, which literally means wishing you many years. It i’s used on most occasions where there is a celebration, like today, on birthdays, name days, Christmas, Easter etc, wishing the other person longevity. Today Epiphany day, in Greek Theophaneia and those whose name is Theofanis, Theofania, Photis, Photini, Fani, Theano, Theoni, Ourania, Rania, Iordanis, etc., celebrate their name day.
I chose this recipe today as for a start I always want my first post of the year to be symbolic, so may the days ahead of us be sweet and wonderful as this dessert.
The second reason is that yesterday we went for a quick visit to Sparta for family matters which I do not wish to mention, at least at this moment. The weather was beautiful, sunny all day and I captured a few clicks of Mount Taygettus which was white with snow and was covered with clouds, probably snowing even more.
Today the weather is totally different from yesterday, cold, cloudy, windy, expecting storms and even snow at the northern suburbs of Athens. This morning when I uploaded the photos and was thinking of what dessert to post, I remembered this dessert which I think is very suitable with today’s weather and which I made over a year ago.
For those of you who do not know what a Mont Blanc is, it is a dessert made with meringues and whipped cream, resembling the mountain top of the highest peak of the Alps, which means White Mountain. It is assembled with sweetened chestnuts which are then puréed.
Here is what you will need to make the dessert.
A. Meringues: After making the meringue, I drawed circles with a pencil on the parchment paper and using a piping bag, formed the meringues.
B. Truffles: I made some similar truffles with leftover cookies, which I sandwiched between two meringues.
C. Chestnut puree. After boiling the chestnuts in milk, I pureed them in a food processor adding some quince fruit preserve and syrup from the preserve, until it reached the consistency I wanted. I then piped it on top of the meringue.
D. Whipped cream: Finally, whipped cream was added on top.
Some of us ate it with Quince fruit preserve, others with Spicy Dried Fruit and some preferred it with Chestnut Fruit Preserve.
Other relevant posts:
Xerotigana (Cypriot tradition on Theophaneia)
Kopiaste and Kali Orexi!
Tags: celebration, chronia polla, dessert, Epiphany, longevity, Mont Blanc, name day, Theophaneia
It’s another New Year again.
I do not like making resolutions I will not keep but here are a few things to keep in mind.
Look back at the past, with FORGIVENESS, ahead to the future with HOPE and OPTIMISM, look down with UNDERSTANDING, and keep your heads up with GRATITUDE!
Wishing you all a Happy New Year full of joy and fulfillment!
Tags: 2012, ideas for New Year, new year, wishes
It’s New Year’s Eve today and wanted to make a last post to thank all of you who have become my friends, through our common love, which is blogging, even if we are scattered in the four corners of this small world. With some of you, we’ve met in person and I cherish this friendship even more. Even if we haven’t met, I’ve learned so many things about your culture, food and traditions and have realized over these years what a wonderful thing it is to have love and support from people I have never met but always hope that this day will come in the future. Some of you I’ve lost during the course of the year mainly because I was busy trying to write my cookbooks but also reach my goal of losing weight. I tried hard to visit back, may be not all the times because all your wonderful and delicious recipes were very tempting and I needed to stay away, in order to achieve that goal.
The Christmas holiday period is one of the most difficult of the whole year and is the period I usually used to gain most of my weight. I know I’ve baked a lot but I am trying very hard not to eat too much and after the holidays, I will go back to my healthy eating habits again:)
Like every year, this year as well I’ve made our favourite cookies and desserts. I made a bigger dose for each of our traditional desserts, which part of it, I gave as gifts to friends together with a jar of My Mixed Citrus Ginger Marmalade and Citrus Spoon Sweets.
I made the Marmalade and Fruit Preserves earlier in December, when we visited our house in Nafplion and picked lots of citrus fruit from our trees and this time I experimented using ginger and some other flavours.
I used this Marmalade as well as Citrus Fruit Preserve in some of the desserts I made. I even printed out some labels, which I glued on the jars, dreaming that may be, one day in the future, I could make a business, selling some of these products!!!! Wishful thinking!
As much as we love all these desserts, no matter how many we eat, there are bound to be leftovers. Each year I make something different with the leftovers. One year I dipped the Kourabiedes and Melomakarona in chocolate, another year I used them as a base for cheesecake, last year I used some in a Black Lava Orange Gateau.
Due to the economic crisis in Greece, the new trend in Greece on T.V. food shows and magazines is showing people ways to use their leftovers and save money. I am glad that I was way ahead as I’ve been doing this for years.
As usual, I made Kourabiedes, which are buttery shortbread cookies with almonds, wrapped in icing sugar, Melomakarona, which are olive oil-based cookies, flavoured with orange and traditionally brandy but this year I used an orange liqueur, they are then bathed in a sweet honey syrup and topped with chopped walnuts, (here is an older recipe), I made Amygdalota, which are no bake almond cookies flavoured with orange blossom water (this year I filled them with citrus and bathed them in chocolate, I made my traditional Christmas Cake (this year it had an amazing citrus flavour), I made 2 chocolate cookies using my fruit preserves and marmalade and last but not least, I made Kydonopasto (Quince Paste), using the leftover honey syrup from Melomakarona.
The recipes (or similar recipes) of the Christmas Cake, Orange liqueur, Citrus Fruit preserves, Four citrus Marmalade, Amygdalota, Kydonopasto, Μelomakarona and Kourabiedes are all included in my e-cookbook Mint, Cinnamon & Blossom Water, Flavours of Cyprus, Kopiaste! Volume 2.
I decided to make truffles using some of the above desserts. Truffles are a good way of using any of your leftover desserts but his was not the reason I made them.
The other day when I had some guests coming over, although I had most of the desserts I mentioned above, I decided to make something new, which would not remind them of the traditional desserts. I know at this time of the holidays, they are probably fed up of eating Kourabiedes and Melomakarona at home but also at any houses they visit. I used a few melomakarona together with lots of leftover walnuts in the platter, some Kourabiedes and a large piece of Christmas cake, which has lots of spoon sweets, nuts, raisins and spices and of course some almond paste and royal icing on top. I crashed and mixed up all these desserts and prepared a ganache which I mixed with the cookies. I then formed them into small balls and finally I rolled some in sifted cocoa and some in different colours of sprinkles.
The taste and flavour was totally something amazing and new, which reminded none of the above desserts. They disappeared in no time as when you try them you surely cannot stop at just one!
Easy Chocolate Truffles from Christmas Leftovers, recipe by Ivy
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Preparation time: about 1 hour
Makes: about 40
Ingredients:
- 3 kourabiedes
- 3 Melomakarona
- 1 large piece of Christmas Cake
- 200 grams couverture chocolate
- 1/3 cup milk (or single cream)
- 1 tbsp butter
- 40 grams cocoa
- ½ cup sprinkles
Directions:
- Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Add butter and milk (or cream) and mix until smooth.
- Crumble the cookies and cake. Add the melted chocolate and mix. If the mixture is too runny crumble some ordinary biscuits or add a couple tablespoons dried breadcrumbs. Set aside for the chocolate to cool for about five minutes.
- Meantime sift cocoa and in separate plates add the sprinkles. I used three different kinds.
- Using a teaspoon, scrape up some of the mixture and using your hands form mixture into a ball (approximately 3 cm / 1″ diameter) and lay on the plates.
- Continue rolling mixture into balls adding some in the sprinkles and some in the cocoa and just roll to coat them. Remove them on parchment paper.
- By the time you finish with all, the chocolate will harden.
- Wash and dry your sticky hands and reshape them again and place them on a platter.
Note: You can make them with any other leftover cookies or just plain biscuits (see older recipe below) and add roasted nuts, dried fruit, candy etc. If you make them during summer, it is best to refrigerate them before serving.
My best wishes to all of you for Personal Happiness and a Peaceful and Happy New Year,
Kopiaste and Kali Orexi,
Other Relevant Posts:
Uses of Christmas leftovers: Part I – Cookies
Tags: Chocolate Ganache, Chocolates, Christmas, ideas for Christmas, ideas for New Year, Leftovers, trouffes, Truffles, Use of leftovers
Vassilopita Tsoureki is a brioche kind of Greek Sweet Bread made for New Year’s Day. After midnight and the change of the Year, the head of the family cuts this bread (or cake). Whoever finds the coin is considered to be lucky during the next year. If you would like to learn more about the tradition, read an older post here.
Αlthough we love tsourekia and always make them during Easter, I’ve never made a Vassilopita Tsoureki as we prefer the Vassilopita Cake type.
As this bread has been mentioned many times in older Vassilopita posts, I decided that it was time to post this recipe as well. I made this bread today, in order to have time to post it ahead, for my readers. I will update it with some better photos tomorrow as when I attempted to take a photo, the battery of my other camera had depleted.
The recipe is based on Tsourekia filled with Chestnuts which I made a couple of years ago.
For a start, I adjusted the recipe and made a smaller dose, as I just wanted one tsoureki. I also made some minor changes, like adding ordinary butter and not ewe’s and goat milk butter, which we use during Easter and changed the flavour by not adding anise seeds and adding orange zest, instead of lemon zest. After adding all the ingredients I added the flour last, from a 1 kilo packet and weighed the leftover to see how much I used.
One tip I want to share with you is that whenever I bake during winter, using yeast, I always plan my day’s meal to be something cooked before in the oven, so that the kitchen is warm so that the yeast will rise much easier.
Vassilopita Tsoureki, recipe by Ivy
Preparation time: 1 hour
Baking time: 45 minutes
Makes: 1 tsoureki (diametre 23 cm / 9 inches)
Ingredients:
For the yeast
42 grams (1 package) fresh yeast
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/3 cup lukewarm milk
2 tablespoons flour (out of the whole flour used)
For the dough
765 grams all purpose flour (including the 2 tbsp used above)
1/3 cup lukewarm milk
150 grams brown sugar
150 grams butter
4 egg whites and 3 yolks
¼ tsp mahleb seeds
1/8 tsp whole mastic resin
¼ tsp salt
2 tbsp orange zest
Egg wash
1 egg yolk mixed with a spoonful of milk for glazing
About 1 tbsp brown sugar for sprinkling on top
½ cup blanched and cut almonds
Directions:
In a small bowl dissolve the yeast with milk and add a couple spoonfuls of flour together with the sugar and mix. Cover with cling film and a napkin and leave it to rise (about fifteen minutes).
Until this is ready, heat the milk, grate the orange, pound the mastic resin and the mahleb together with 1 tbsp sugar and blanche and cut the almonds into two thin slices.
In the mixer beat the butter and sugar until white and fluffy. Add the yeast mixture and add the eggs, one at a time, until incorporated, the salt, the mastic and mahleb and orange rind, as well as the milk and mix.
Change the paddle and attach the hook on your mixer. Add the flour, until the dough does not stick on the bowl or your hands. If your eggs are smaller or bigger, you may need to add more or less flour, if necessary.
Cover the dough with a napkin and leave it to rise and double in volume.
Knead again a couple of times to deflate and divide the dough in three equal parts (about 500 grams each). Form each piece into a large cord about 1 inch diametre and braid them together.
Line a baking tin with parchment paper and place a spring form ring. Place the braid inside, forming a circle.
Brush with the egg-milk mixture on top and sprinkle some sugar and some blanched almonds.
Preheat oven at 180 C / 350 F and bake for about 45 minutes until golden brown and a skewer or a knife, inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Wash a coin, dry and wrap it in a small piece of aluminum foil.
Remove to a wire rack to cool before adding the coin vertically in the cake, from the bottom side.
Wishing you all a Happy New Year,
Kopiaste and Kali Orexi,
Tags: brioche, Christmas, Easter, sweet bread, tsourekia, Vassilopita
How were your Christmas holidays? I hope everyone had an amazing and safe holiday…and are looking forward to next weekend’s holidays.
We had a great time and I am very happy to have all the family again together, as my son came from England and will be staying with us for a month.
I wanted to share with you this amazing pork roast I made yesterday.
We are still lucky to have butcheries in Greece and there is just one around the corner of our house where we’ve been shopping the past twenty years. I am sure this recipe would be even better with a loin but I wanted a cheaper cut so I described to our butcher what I wanted to do and I told him that I wanted the skin on and to score it and cut an opening for the filling. He chose a nice piece of meat from the leg, which he prepared the way I wanted it.
I decided to roast it with skin on as when it comes to the crunch, it’s hard to resist a plate of tender roast pork with perfect crispy crackling.
Although at first sight you may see a lot of ingredients and stages for this recipe, however, this Pork Roast is easy to prepare and tastes fantastic. This recipe is too good to be eaten only at Christmas, so if you haven’t made up your minds what to cook for New Year’s day, this would be a great idea.
I used ingredients I had at home and just followed some tricks I learned over the years to make this succulent, tender meat and crispy rind. First of all I brined the meat, just like I do for turkey and filled it with ingredients we all love. I wrapped the baking tin with an aluminum tent, again the same way as I make stuffed turkey, and when I uncovered it three hours later a fabulous aroma of garlic and rosemary filled the kitchen.
As on New Year’s eve we usually go to bed very late, the good thing about this recipe is that you can start brining procedure one day earlier. The next day prepare the marinade and stuff and tie the meat. Wrap it in cling film and refrigerate overnight. Also, peel, wash and cut potatoes from the previous day and put them in a bowl of water. The next day just put everything in the oven and forget about it for at least three hours.
Unfortunately, we had no leftovers but if you do, leftovers are also great to be eaten cold, add thin slices in sandwiches or make a Bulgar pilaf and add pieces of meat in it.
Orange-Mustard-Garlic, Greek Crispy Pork Roast, recipe by Ivy
Step 1: Brining:
- 2 litres water
- Almost ½ cup salt, mixed with coarse sea salt
- 1 tsp mixed colours peppercorns
- 3 bay leaves
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Baking time: 4 hours
Serves : 10 – 12
Ingredients:
- 1 boneless leg of pork, about 2 – 2 ½ kilos (Mine was 2300 grams)
- Salt, pepper, oregano
- 1 tsp peppercorns (various colours)
- Mustard Marinade (see below)
- 7 large potatoes
- Salt, pepper, oregano
Step 2: Preparing and marinating the pork
Mustard Marinade
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 heaped tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp thyme honey
- Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
- Oregano
Stuffing:
- 4 slices bacon
- 5 prunes
- Half halloumi (about 130 grams) cut into about 10 thin slices
Step 3: Roasting Pork
Sweet and Sour Dressing:
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 1 ½ cups orange juice
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 sprig rosemary (only the leaves)
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 clove garlic
Step 4: Uncovering and making Apple Sauce
Apple Sauce
- 2 granny smith apples, peeled and quartered
- 1 cup pan juices
- 1/3 cup milk
Directions:
- Ask your butcher to score the skin and underlying fat 1/4 inch deep in a cross-hatch pattern at 1-inch intervals or do it yourself using a sharp knife. Also ask him to cut somewhere in the middle, making a large, flat piece of meat, where stuffing will be added.
- Wash the meat and put it in a bowl with brining ingredients. Cover with a lid and brine overnight.
- Next morning drain and pat dry meat.
- Put all the mustard marinade ingredients in a food processor and mix to prepare the paste.
- In a non-stick frying pan sauté the bacon and set aside. Cut halloumi into slices.
- Season the pork with salt, pepper and oregano. Brush the inside part of pork with half the mustard paste. Add slices of bacon, halloumi and prunes.
- Fold the meat and tightly tie with kitchen string. Brush with the remaining mustard paste and add peppercorns in the gaps between the skin.
- Refrigerate for an hour.
- Position a rack in the lower third of oven and preheat oven to 200o C / 400o F.
- Peel and wash potatoes. Cut them in the middle and then cut each half diagonally, into 3 or four slices, depending on how big potato is. Each wedge should be about an inch thick. Season potatoes with salt, pepper and oregano.
- Put Sweet and Sour Dressing ingredients in the same food processor and mix. Arrange potatoes in a large baking tin and put the meat in the middle, skin facing down. Pour the dressing on top of the meat and potatoes.
- Join two large pieces of aluminum foil and cover the baking tin.
- Place baking tin in the oven and lower temperature to 180o C / 350° F.
- Roast for 3 hours. Discard foil and turn meat over and add the apples.
- Raise temperature again to 200o C / 400o F
- In half an hour turn over potatoes and remove the apples and about 1 cup of the pan juices. Continue roasting, until skin is browned and crisp and meat is fork-tender, about half an hour more.
- Meantime place apples and pan juices in the food processor and mix to puree. Put the mixture into a small saucepan and washout the food processor with the milk. Add the milk to the apple puree and simmer for about 10 – 15 minutes until the sauce reduces and thickens.
- Transfer pork to a cutting board or platter and let stand 30 minutes before cutting.
- Serve with potatoes and apple sauce.
Wishing you all a Happy New Year,
Kopiaste and Kali Orexi,
Tags: apple sauce, easy, Festive, Greek, ideas for Christmas, ideas for New Year, marinade, mustard marinade, Pork, Roast
The countdown to Christmas is well and truly on, and if you’re looking for inspiration, you’ll find a few ideas here for Christmas and New year, as well as how to use your leftovers.
Agriogourouno sti gastra (Casserole Wild Boar)
Galopoula Gemisti (Stuffed Turkey)
Moschari Noua (Pot Roast Beef) or Beef in Dark Beer with a Pumpkin Sweet & Sour Sauce
Psaronefri Gemisto (Stuffed port tenderloin)
Pork or Lamb wrapped in Vine Leaves
Crusted Salmon with Pumpkin Puree
Salad Bar (A viariety of salads)
No bake Chocolate and Sour Cherries Cheesecake
Here are a few ideas to use your leftovers:
Use of leftovers: Part I: Cookies
Use of leftovers: Part II: What to do with your leftover turkey
If you like my recipes, you can buy my cookbook in print and send it as a gift to friends and relatives.
You can also download it on your smart phone or on your computer with a speciaal offer of 25% discount, which is still valid for all the readers of my blog until the 31st December, 2011 . You can use Code JB99K for Volume 1 and Code EP93W for Volume 2.
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Kopiaste and Kali Orexi,
Similar recipes:
Tags: ideas for Christmas, ideas for New Year, Use of leftovers
During the Christmas period, I indulge into using more butter than I use throughout the whole year. But then what would Christmas be without making cookies and other desserts? After six months of diet I have learned to restrain myself and until today I have only tried a small piece from each to see how they taste.
As Socrates said «Everything in moderation». So let’s all keep this in mind and enjoy the holidays!
A cake I have been making since I was single is Christmas Fruit Cake. I cannot imagine Christmas without it. However, each year I find myself doing something different. This year I made it with citrus flavour. I used bergamot, orange, lemon, bitter orange and kumkuat fruit preserves. I also added my four citrus marmalade before the almond paste and orange liqueur.
This year I experimented by making a batch of some «unconventional» kourabiedes. It’s not the icing sugar and cocoa powder you see outside but it’s what is inside which makes them unconventional. My children who tried them said that although unusual, they were awesome.
Making a bigger dose of Kourabiedes from my Cookbook.
This year Melomakarona were made the classic way but flavoured with orange liqueur. Here is an older recipe.
I also made some traditional Amygdalota, which is a no bake Almond Cookie, wrapped in icing sugar but also some bathed in dark chocolate.
The recipes (or similar recipes) of the Christmas Cake, Orange liqueur, Fruit preserves, Four citrus Marmalade, Amygdalota Μelomakarona and Kourabiedes are included in my e-cookbook Mint, Cinnamon & Blossom Water, Flavours of Cyprus, Kopiaste! Volume 2. All the above recipes, except the Four Citrus Marmalade are also included in the printed cookbook.
Both cookie recipes, which follow, are so easy to make.
I usually make them round but as it is Christmas I made some star shaped cookies as well and added some of my Spoon Sweets (fruit preserves) to add a Christmas touch.
Chocolate Fruit Preserve Cookies, recipe by Ivy
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Baking time: 12 minutes
Makes : about 48
Ingredients:
- 75 grams (1/3 cup) butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- ½ tsp vanilla essence
- 1 ½ cups (220 grams) flour
- ½ cup (50 grams) cocoa powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- Spoon sweets or fruit preserves, cut into small pieces (if you don’t have any you may use other candied fruit or maraschino cherries)
Chocolate Decoration:
- 50 grams couverture chocolate, melted in a double boiler
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 180o C /350o F.
- Cream together butter and sugar on low speed until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and mix well till completely incorporated.
- Stir together flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powderand baking soda; add mixture to butter and sugar mixture and stir until combined.
- Shape dough on parchment paper into a roll and cut into thin slices, about ¾ of a centimetre. Shape them into balls and flatten using your fingers. Use a cookie cutter if your want to shape them or just press them with your fingers about ½ cm thick.
- Drain the spoon sweets and half the cherries and cut the remaining into small pieces.
- Make a dent in the middle of each cookie with the back of your knife and put a piece in the middle of each cookie.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Cook for a few minutes in the baking tin before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Decorate with melted chocolate.
These melt in your mouth cookies were adapted from my Lemon Cookies recipe, which I made two and a half years ago. My children have been begging me since then to make them again but as I avoid using butter often I gave up and made them this year:) The buttercream was more than I needed, so I used the leftover over the almond paste and before the Royal Icing, on my Christmas Cake.
Choco Orange cookies, recipe by Ivy
Makes: 16 double cookies
Ingredients:
- 125 grams butter, softened
- 1 tbsp finely grated lemon zest
- 90 grams icing sugar
- 150 grams all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 25 grams cocoa powder
- ½ tsp vanilla essence
For the filling:
10075 grams butter, softened32 heaped tablespoons mixed citrus marmalade
Icing:
- 2 tbsp sifted icing sugar
- A few tbsp orange juice
Directions:
- In the bowl of your mixer cream the butter until smooth. Add the lemon zest and icing sugar and beat on high speed until smooth and creamy (about five minutes).
- Sieve flour with cocoa and baking powder.
- Reduce speed and gently fold in the flour, salt and vanilla until fully incorporated.
- Remove to your working surface and knead until smooth. Wrap in cling film and chill for about 30 minutes until firm.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
- Roll out the dough between sheets of cling film and using a star-shaped cutter or cutter of your choice, cut out the cookies. Add any scraps of dough to the remaining dough and roll out as before and continue until all the dough is used. To make the hole, use a round small cutter. (I used the back of my vegetable peeler).
- Line the baking tin with parchment paper and place the cookies, leaving a gap between each cookie so as not to stick together when baked.
- Bake for about 8 -10 minutes, depending on your oven.
- Remove to a wire rack to cool and continue baking the remaining.
- Put all the filling ingredients into a food processor and mix until smooth and creamy.
- Spread the filling on one of the cookies and sandwich with the top.
- Decorate with icing.
Wishing you all Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Kopiaste and Kali Orexi,
Tags: Choco Orange cookies, chocolate, Chocolate Fruit Preserve Cookies, Christmas, Cookies, Easy recipes, fruit preserves, glyka tou koutaliou, orange buttercream, shortbread, shortbread cookies, Spoon Sweets
Kotopita is one of many types of meat pites. This particular pie is made with a horiatiko (village) phyllo pastry crust, which is very easy to handle and roll. I make kotopita with different kinds of fillings and two similar recipes are included in Volume 2 of my e-cookbook.
You can serve this Kotopita during the holidays as a starter. If you like you can make smaller ones. Grease your muffin tins with olive oil, line it with phyllo, add the filling and cheese on top and form into mini galettes.
The previous video, where I made Spanakopita, was in English but it wasn’t fair for the readers of my Greek blog, so this time I preferred not to speak but to add subtitles in both languages.
Kotopita (Chicken Galette, Recipe by Ivy
Horiatiko Phyllo
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 500 grams (1.10 lbs) all purpose flour
- 1 egg
- ½ cup olive oil
- ½ cup tepid water plus 2 tbsp
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup halloumi or graviera cheese
Kotopita filling:
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Baking time: about 45 minutes
Makes: 6 – 8 depending on size
- 250 grams (8.80 oz) grated graviera or halloumi (divided). Some in phyllo, some in bechamel sauce and the remaining on top
- Sesame seeds
Ingredients:
- 500 grams (1.10 lbs) chicken breasts, boiled, skinned and cut into small pieces
- 1 cup frozen corn, boiled for 10 minutes
- 1 cup bell peppers (yellow, red, orange, green), julienned
- ¼ cup, finely chopped parsley
- Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp spice mixture
- 1/2 tsp tarragon
- 1/2 tsp sweet paprika
Bechamel sauce:
- 2 cups hot milk
- 2 tbsp olive oil or butter
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- 1 egg
- Salt
- A pinch of nutmeg
- 1 cup graviera or halloumi
Potato and pumpkin puree
This is optional. I had some leftover Potato and pumpkin puree but you can add only some grated cheese one top.
Egg wash:
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp milk
Directions:
Prepare the dough.
Sift the flour and mix in the salt. Put the flour in a large bowl and pour in the oil. Using your fingertips rub the oil until the flour has absorbed the oil. Add the egg and mix. Finally add the water gradually (more or less water may be necessary). Mix until the dough is soft but not sticky on your hands. Place on a floured surface and knead for a few minutes.
You can also make the dough in your stand mixer. Attach the dough paddle. Put all the ingredients, except water, in the mixer bowl and mix on low speed. Gradually add water until the dough is ready and does not stick on the walls of the bowl. Test with your fingers to see if it is sticky. If it is, add more flour. Set aside to rest.
Boil chicken for 30 minutes and when it cools, cut into small pieces.
To make the Bechamel sauce, heat the milk and set aside.
Beat the egg, mixing with a fork and set aside.
In a saucepan heat the olive oil and add the flour and mix thoroughly to make a roux. Add salt and nutmeg.
Add the warm milk, stirring constantly, until the sauce is thick and creamy. Remove from the heat.
Gradually add the beaten egg, a little at a time slowly, but stirring constantly until it is incorporated. Mix in the cheese.
Add the chicken, the parsley, the corn and bell peppers. Add salt, pepper, paprika and seasoning and mix.
Knead the dough for a few minutes and divide it into 6 – 8 pieces. Form them into a ball, dusting each piec with flour.
Flatten the disc and using a dowel rod roll out the dough. Flour your working surface and the dough regularly, each time rotating it and sometimes turning it over.
Place a 20 cm / 8 inch diametre plate on top and cut a round circle. Add 2 heaped spoonfuls of chicken filling in the centre. Then add the puree and finally some grated cheese to cover the filling.
Fold the outer parts of the galette into the centre, forming a round galette.
Line a large baking tin with parchment paper and place the galettes.
Beat the egg with a fork and mix in the milk. Brush with the egg wash and sprinkle some sesame seeds on top.
Bake in a preheated oven to 180o C / 350o F, for about 45 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from the oven and set aside for 10-15 minutes to cool before serving.
The special offer with 25% discount is still valid for all the readers of my blog until the 31st December, 2011 . You can use Code JB99K for Volume 1 and Code EP93W for Volume 2.
Last but not least, if you would like to buy the Cookbook in print and are worried that it will not reach you in time, well if you buy it directly from me paying via Paypal, I will also send you the two e-cookbooks, free of charge, within a few hours. Please contact me by e-mail at ivyliac AT gmail DOT com or through the contact page.
If you buy the book or e-cookbook, a review is always welcome.
Kopiaste and Kali Orexi,
Tags: Chicken, e-cookbook, galette, How to.., Mint Cinnamon & Blossom Water Flavours of Cyprus Kopiaste!, phyllo, Poultry, special offer, tutorial, video
Top Commentluvvers
Recent post : XMAS DESSERT: FESTIVE CHESTNUT, CARDAMOM & MATCHA MONT BL...
Recent post : Why do diets fail?
Recent post : Eggless Chocolate Melting Moments
Recent post : GALETTE DES ROIS AUX POMMES – APPLE MAPLE CINNAMON GALETTE
Recent post : Ten Tips to lose weight?