One couple that stood out was Su and Gokhan, ever-smiling and promoting their Zei olive oil from the Aegean coast of Turkey (just across from Mytilini). The olive oil was being well-received but the stand-out products were in these jars and samples were being given out on these small spoons. No, they weren’t giving out caviar but samples of hazelnut, almond and pistachio spreads. All three are sweet but the pistachio paste is the front-runner with its bright green colour, natural sweetness and honey.

A few weeks later I finally caught-up again with Su and Gokhan where we discussed Turkey and Greece, our love of the two countries, the similarity and uniqueness of each cuisine and ultimately the pistachio spread and how to showcase/feature it. I was given some samples and off I went to create a dish that would draw attention that this product merited.

Here in Toronto, you can find pistachio spread at McEwan’s, Alex Farms (2594 Yonge north of Eglintion), Cheese Boutique, Mercantile on Roncesvalles, Geri’s Eatin’ Centre, Market Fresh in Guelph and Vincenzo’s in Kitchener.

There’s some prep involved with making this light dessert which used layers of phyllo pastry to make up the three layers of this dessert with the pistachio spread, some raspberries and Creme Anglaise. I had some leftover phyllo and rather than throw it out, I used in lieu of opening a package of puff pastry (which you may still do)! Creme Anglaise is basically a saucier egg custard that can be used to top a pound cakes, some berries or a steamed pudding. For those that like to have dessert out of the way, you should prep this dessert the day before and simply assemble come dessert time.

The soft crunch of phyllo, rich and nutty pistachio spread, tart raspberries and velvet Creme Anglaise all play with your taste buds…dance on the tongue!

Mille Feuille With Pistachio Paste & Creme Anglaise

(makes 6)

8 sheets of phyllo, thawed overnight in the fridge

1/2 cup melted butter

1/4 cup sugar

Creme Anglaise

2 cups of half & half cream

2 tsp. of pure vanilla extract

1/3 cup sugar

5 large egg yolks

1-180 gr. jar of pistachio spread

2 pints of raspberries

1. Allow the phyllo 15 minutes to come to room temperature. Place a sheet of phyllo on your work surface and brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar. Repeat with 3 more sheets of phyllo then cut into 9 equal squares. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and then place another sheet of parchment and lay another baking tray on top to weigh down. Place in your pre-heated 325F oven for approx. 15 minutes or until golden. Carefully remove the phyllo squares and allow to cool.
2. Repeat above procedure to make the second batch of phyllo squares.
3. To make your crème anglaise, add your cream into a medium pot and bring to just scalding over medium heat. In the medium, add the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl and whisk until thoroughly creamed. As soon as the milk comes to the scalding stage, add the vanilla and take off the heat. While whisking the creamed eggs and sugar, slowly add the hot cream then pour everything back in the pot and simmer while stirring over medium heat until the crème anglaise just coats a spoon.
4. Remove from the heat, pour through a strainer (along with any settled cream on the bottom) and place in a bowl with plastic film covering it. Refrigerate overnight to set and thicken.
5. To assemble, place a spoon of crème anglaise on each plate to secure the bottom layer of phyllo then place the first layer of phyllo followed by some berries then some crème anglaise. Repeat for a total of 3 layers topped with berries, crème anglaise and a sprig of mint for garnish and sprinkle ground pistachios on top and around the plate.

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I was greeted by strangers like I was a long-lost relative (that’s Greek hospitality for you) and the young girl immediately went to play with the puppies and I was chatting with “kuria” Theodosia and her daughter, Nana. Kura (Mrs.) Theodosia is the grandmother of the home, Nana the daughter and their pretty young granddaughter is Sissy (short form from Theodosia). While one lady kept me occupied with questions, conversation the other disappeared into the kitchen for 15 minutes  – only to reemerge with coffee, cookies, water and a “glyko”, a dessert.

Nana brought out today’s dessert called Aspro/Mavro. Aspro is white and Mavro is black in Greek – a simple dessert of alternative chocolate & vanilla creams layered between Greek petit beurre cookies. In Greece, the petit beurre cookie is very popular with the children and adults will use them frequently in dessert recipes. I’ve seen petit beurre cookies used to make chocolate logs, bases for cheesecakes or for parfait – it’s a handy ingredient!

I immediately loved the look, the taste and simple name of this dessert – Aspro/Mavro. I asked kuria Theodosia for the recipe and she quickly deferred me to her daughter Nana. I was afraid I was going to get the run-around for the recipe but Nana did in fact have the recipe and she would recite it to me. I dashed back over to my home to grab my notepad and I started jotting down the recipe.

The original recipe is very easy but Nana used creams made from packets where you just have to add milk and sugar. I wanted to avoid using packets and what you have here is my all home-made version of Aspro/Mavro, made with creme patisserie…chocolate and vanilla.

Aspro/Mavro (Ασπρο/Μαυρο)

3 packages of Papadopoulo brand or any other Petit Beurre cookies

approx. 1 cup of room temp. milk (for dunking cookies in)

Chocolate Cream

4 cups whole (or 2%) milk

4 egg yolks

5 Tbsp. corn starch

3 Tbsp. cocoa powder

3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

splash of vanilla extract

11 oz. of bitter-sweet chocolate pieces (about 1 1/2  cups)

Vanilla Cream

2 cups whole (or 2%) milk

2 egg yolks

2 1/2 Tbsp. corn starch

1 1/2 Tbsp. flour

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/3 cup sugar

approx. 8″ x 13″ baking/casserole dish (deep)

approx. 8oz. block of white chocolate

1. To make your chocolate cream, add the egg yolks, corn starch, sugar , cocoa powder and flour into a bowl and whisk until creamed. Add the milk and vanilla  into a pot and place on your stove-top over medium heat until the milk is just scalded. While whisking the creamed egg mixture, slowly add the scalded milk into the bowl then return the whole mixture back into the pot and stir over medium heat. Add the bitter-sweet chocolate in increments while stirring until the chocolate has melted and the cream has thickened (at least coat the back of a spoon). Remove from the heat, cover with plastic wrap and allow to cool to warm temp.
2. To make the vanilla cream, add the egg yolks, corn starch, sugar and flour into a bowl and whisk until creamed. Add the milk and vanilla into a pot and place on your stove-top over medium heat until the milk is just scalded. While whisking the creamed egg mixture, slowly add the scalded milk into a bowl and then return the whole mixture back into the pot and stir over medium heat until thick and creamy (enough to coat the back of wooden spoon). Remove from the heat and cover with plastic wrap and allow to cool to warm temp.
3. Dip your petit beurre cookies into some milk and layer the bottom of your baking dish with the cookies (don’t be afraid to trim some cookies to fit into the pan). Cover and evenly spread the cookies with half of your chocolate cream. An offset spatula is handy for spreading the cream evenly.
4. Now top with another layer of milk-dipped petit beurre cookies and now cover with all the vanilla cream and spread evenly over the cookies.
5. Dip the last batch of cookies into milk and arrange your final layer of petit beurre and then cover with your remaining chocolate cream and spread evenly. Allow to cool before placing in the fridge then cover with plastic wrap (ensure the plastic does not touch your top layer of chocolate cream). Place in the fridge overnight.
6. To make your garnish of white chocolate curls, the chocolate must soften a bit. Place your block of white chocolate in the microwave for 10-second intervals until it is just soft. Shave off the curls from the top with a vegetable peeler (with a plate underneath to catch the curls). Place your white chocolate back in the microwave if you’ve shaved off all the warmed chocolate. Repeat until you have enough chocolate curls to cover your dessert.
7. Take the Aspro/Mavro out of the fridge and spread your white chocolate curls over the surface of the dessert. Cut into desired portion sizes and serve cool.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at  http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.

© 2007-2011 Peter Minakis

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My previous post featured an Apple Crumble Pie and I think we’re all in agreement that Apple Pies are best in the cooler months. Apple Pies are also best accompanied  with ice cream – vanilla ice cream for sure. I finally splurged on buying an ice cream machine last year and I’ve been delighted with the results so far. Being a foodie that likes making as much of my food as possible at home, I now proudly make my own ice cream. Homemade Apple Pie is better with homemade ice cream.

When walking down the aisle in the supermarket and perusing the almost endless varieties of ice cream, you’ll usually see both vanilla ice cream and French Vanilla ice cream. What’s the difference? The regular vanilla ice cream tastes okay but it’s dumber, more generic version of it’s rich cousin, French Vanilla ice cream. French Vanilla ice cream contains real vanilla seeds, scraped from pod(s), egg yolks, whole milk and cream and sugar (obviously). When making French Vanilla ice cream, you’ll smell the difference as soon as the milk begins to warm up and the vanilla perfumes your kitchen. Splurge on vanilla beans…they are worth the money!

Making your own ice cream is not more economical that buying ready-made ice cream, rather you make it so that you know exactly what’s in the ice cream, you make the flavours you like and the flavour is far superior than most commercial ice creams. The process hasn’t changed from when only hand-cranked ice cream makers were around – electricity has taken the place of manpower. I like the experimentation that’s allowed with ice cream – it’s usually very forgiving, the flavours are limited only by your imagination and the end result will be tasted each and every time, with each rich and velvety scoop. I now know what real French Vanilla ice cream taste like.

French Vanilla Ice Cream

2 1/2 cups of whole (homogenized milk)

4 egg yolks

1 cup granulated sugar

2 cups heavy (whipping cream)

1 vanilla bean

Equipment needed: 2 quart ice cream maker

1. Pour your milk into a heavy-bottomed medium-sized pot and then carefully cut your vanilla pod in half with a paring knife. Use the back of the knife to scrape and remove the vanilla seeds and drop into your milk. Place the pot on your stove top over medium heat and warm up to just scalding (don’t throw out the leftover pod, add it to your sugar and you’ll have vanilla sugar).
2. In the meantime, separate the whites (reserve for an egg white omelet) from your eggs and add yolks into a bowl with the sugar and whisk until creamed. As soon as your milk has reached a scalding stage (just before coming to a bowl), use a ladle to slowly add milk into the creamed egg and sugar mixture. While whisking the egg/sugar mixture, very slowly add one ladle at a time of milk to it (add 4 ladles).
3. Now pour the the contents of the bowl into the pot and while constantly stirring, simmer the custard mixture until it thickens (thick enough to coat a wooden spoon). Allow the custard to cool (place in pot in an ice bath if you want to speed up this process).
4. Once the custard has cooled, pass through a medium-wired mesh strainer (to remove any lumps but allow the vanilla seeds to still pass through) and add the cream and mix. Cover custard mixture and place in the fridge to chill for at least a couple of hours.
5. Assuming that you’ve placed the ice cream maker’s freezer bowl in your freezer overnight, you’re now ready to turn your custard mixture into ice cream. Pour the custard mixture into the ice cream maker and churn for 25-30 minutes. You now should have a thick but creamy ice cream. You may serve it immediately or empty into a plastic tub and cover. Place in the freezer for a couple of hours (minimum). If serving your ice cream from the freezer, your ice cream will be firmer. Allow the ice cream to soften at room temperature for about 5 minutes before scooping out.
6. Serve with your favourite warm apple pie.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at  http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.

© 2007-2010 Peter Minakis

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At the Greek/Turkish border crossing over the Evros River

Ekmek, as served in Istanbul

In Turkey, the dessert is simply Ekmek, a bread pudding soaked in syrup and topped with Kaimak (Kaimaki), a sweetened clotted cream. The Greek take on this dessert consists of a kataifi pastry base/bottom, a semolina cream center and a topping of whipped cream. Toasted almonds or chopped pistachios are usually the crowning glory…oh nuts & joy!

Kataifi pastry (also called Kataifi phyllo) is looks like vermicelli or shredded wheat. It’s sold in Greek, Turkish and Middle Eastern stores and I even saw it sold at a Loblaws Superstore! Kaitaifi pastry is made by drizzling rows of thin streams of flour and water batter on to a revolving hot platter. They dry into strands on wire-thin pastry. This other type of “phyllo” is popular from Greece to the Levant and it usually appears in desserts and now appearing more often in savory dishes. Just last week I made a Kunefe and last year I made the classic Kataifi (similar to Baklava).

Watch this Turkish dude make Kataifi pastry:

Pretty cool, eh? No worries, this recipe doesn’t require you to make your own kataifi. What you will have to do is defrost the kataifi overnight in your fridge as soon as you’re ready to make the dessert, take the Kataifi out of the fridge for 1o minutes to come to room temperature. The first thing that should be made for this dessert is the syrup. Just like with Baklava and other syrupy desserts featuring phyllo, either the pastry has be cold/syrup hot OR pastry hot/syrup cold. In this case, the logical approach to this recipe is making the syrup first, allowing it to cool to room temperature and then pouring it over the just out of the oven hot kataifi.

The center of the dessert is a custard made with a semolina flour base and some corn starch. There’s sugar, shredded coconut and the wonderful and aromatic spice called Mastic (or mastiha, Masticha, mastika). Mastic (Mastiha in Greek) comes from the island of Chios and it is exclusively produced in the 24 villages on the southern part of the island.

Mastiha does grown on other parts of the world but as my friend (and mastiha expert) Artemis points out,

“the resin from these specific trees has a distinct aroma, color and importantly, antibacterial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties not found in the other resins. In fact, the trees in this portion of Chios have been given “var. Chia” as their scientific variety name because of their production of this unique resin.”

Mastiha most commonly appears in the form of tears, little off-white  nuggets that from the harvested resin of the Mastic trees. Mastic often appears in the breads, the Greek Easter bread (Tsoureki), custards and many desserts. Mastiha can also be found in some inventive savory dishes.

The recipe I’ve decided to go with is flavoured mildly with ground mastiha. I placed some mastiha in the freezer  and after a half-hour or so I take them out, place them between two pieces of plastic cling-film and crush with a rolling pin. I then carefully scoop the ground mastiha with an offset spatula and use it in my recipe. The custard is very easy and as soon as it cools, it’s placed on top of the cooled kataifi base and then allowed to set and ultimately placed in the fridge.

The cream center and kataifi base require at least 3-4 hours in the fridge to set – overnight would be best. The next day, Loosen the sides with a knife, invert onto a platter and then revert (cream-side up) onto to your serving/presentation dish. The last step is to simply whip your cream and top your dessert. The flavouring of the whipped cream is icing sugar and some vanilla extract. I’ve also experimented with adding some powdered milk as a stabilizer to the whipped cream – I am very happy with the results!

Ekmek (literally means bread in Turkish) Kataifi is a rich dessert but it’s also light at the same time. This recipe comes from a huge cook book from Sofia Skoura. It’s only available in Greek, worth the money and if this recipe is any indication, the recipes work out. The original Skoura recipe is suitable for a party and you would need one of those large, round and deep baking trays (30 cm. circumference). I’ve cut the recipe into a third and I’ve utilized one of those long, thin loaf pans, you know…they are slightly longer than your usual loaf pan, little thinner and they are often used to bake an angel loaf.

I know the photos have already sold you on this dessert, you know where to buy kataifi pastry, you can make a basic custard and you can even order mastiha and have it mailed to your kitchen doorstep but what does this dessert taste like? Think a slightly soft yet crisp kaitaifi base just hints of the syrup that permeated the just hot-out-of-the-oven pastry. The creamy custard with the aroma of mastiha and its unique flavour, bites of shredded coconut for a natural sweetness and finally, the soft, pillowy whipped cream rosettes that are topped with the chopped pistachios.

Ekmek Kataifi (Εκμέκ Καταίφι)

For the Syrup

2 cups of water

2 cups of sugar

peel of 1/2 lemon + juice of 1/2 lemon

For the Kataifi Base

1 angel loaf pan

150gr. of Kataifi pastry

1/2 cup of melted unsalted butter + room temp. butter for greasing the pan

For the custard

2 1/2 cups of whole milk

1/2 tsp. of ground mastiha

2 large eggs

1/4 fine semolina flour

1 tsp. of corn starch

1/4 cup of granulated sugar

1/2 cup of shredded coconut

For the whipped cream topping

1 cup of whipping cream

1 tsp. of vanilla extract

1 tsp. of powdered milk (a stabilzer)

approx. 3 Tbsp. of icing sugar (or to taste

1/2 cup of chopped unsalted pistachios

1. The night before, place your frozen kataifi pastry in the fridge and allow to that overnight. You may make the syrup the night before or a couple of hours prior to making baking the kataifi base. To make the syrup, add the water, sugar and the lemon peel and bring to a boil. Once aboil, reduce to medium and simmer for 8 minutes. Squeeze in the juice of 1/2 lemon, take off the heat and allow to cool. Reserve.
2. Take the kataifi pastry out of your fridge and weigh out about 150gr. of it (I used a Krinos 450gr. package of kataifi, use 1/3) and untangle the pastry with your hands and place in a bowl. Pour the melted butter over the kataifi and toss with your hands to ensure the butter has coated all of the pastry. Grease your loaf pan with butter and lay the kataifi on the loaf pan’s base. Pre-heat your oven to 350F and place the kataifi in thee oven (middle rack) for 30 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven while still hot, pour your cold (room temp.) syrup over the kataifi with a ladle. Allow to cool.
3. In the meantime, add your milk and ground mastiha into a medium-sized pot over medium heat until your milk is just scalding. In large bowl, add your eggs, semolina, corn starch and sugar and whisk until creamed together. Stir with the whisk in one hand and slowly ladle into the bowl 2-3 ladles of the scalded milk (this is called tempering). Now pour the tempered custard mixture into the remaining milk in the pot and turn the heat to medium and stir until the mixture has thickened to a custard consistency and the custard and the coconut and stir in. Remove from the heat, place plastic over the custard so a crust doesn’t form and allow to cool.
4. As soon as the custard has cooled (your kataifi base will have cooled by now as well), pour the custard over the kaitaifi base and spread it out evenly. Allow to cool naturally at room temperature and then place in the fridge for at least 4 hours to set or overnight. Once set, carefully run a knife along the sides of the Ekmek Kataifi and place a platter over it, then invert (it should now be upside down with katiafi bottom facing up). Now place your serving platter on the Kataifi base and flip over so that your custard layer is once again upright.
5. In a clean bowl, add the vanilla extract and your cream and use your hand mixer to whip it up. Gradually add the icing sugar and just as you see your whipped cream about to hit the still peaks stage, sprinkle the powdered milk and continue to mix until stiff peaks are formed. Place your whipped cream in a piping bag with a star a “star tip” and pipe out rosettes on top of the custard. Chop your pistachios or pulse in a food processor and sprinkle over the whipped cream. Serve immediately and place in the fridge until ready to serve.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at  http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.

© 2007-2010 Peter Minakis

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© 2010, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.

During the summer in Greece, meals are prepared the evening before or that morning and simply reheated for lunch, the biggest meal of the day. With Greece’s hot summers, one must drink alot of liquids and fruits and vegetables supplement your water intake.

Personally (and I’m sure the same holds true for many) the heat actually cuts my appetite. I get by with less when I’m in Greece. A salad, some grilled sardines and a cold potato salad do me just fine.

Desserts for Greeks will usually be a platter of whatever is fresh and in season. As we speak, Greeks are enjoying watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew melons.

Us Greeks do not abandon desserts in the summer. One visit to any one of the “zaharaoplasteia” (patisseries) will prove that the desserts business in the summer is quite brisk.

One quick, refreshing and satisfying dessert in the summer is Creme Caramel. The other countries that hug the Mediterranean basin have their own versions of this baked custard dessert and Greece’s version stands proud with the rest.

The very first time I had Creme Caramel was in 1980, the day my family and I returned to Canada. We had flown to Greece with CP Air and we had to change planes to get to/from Thessaloniki.

Back then, Athens had two airport terminals…one that exclusively serviced Olympic Airlines flights and the other serviced the foreign-held airlines. Outside of the  foreign airline terminal was a restaurant that catered to passengers in transit or delayed.

My family had a few hours layover and we decided to grab a lunch to kill time and to spend some the loose Drachmas (Greece’s old currency) we had on hand. We ate a wonderful Pastitsio, shared a Greek salad and for dessert, Creme Caramel.

The “mothership” recipe is pretty basic…eggs, sugar, milk and the flavouring of choice. The most common flavouring in a Greek Creme Caramel would be vanilla but Mastic or lemon or orange zest would also work well.

In keeping with the vanilla flavouring, I grated some tonka beans for the first time. The tonka bean is a black and wrinkled seed. The aroma is dreamy with warm notes of vanilla, cinnamon, almond and clove (all beloved flavours in Greek cuisine). Tonka beans are banned in many countries due to it containing Coumarin and large doses of this can be harmful to humans.

The Coumarin dosage is reduced to about 10% after the tonka beans go through a distilling stage, making them safe for consumption. For this recipe, I used two tonka beans and I’m still standing.

I cannot find tonka beans in Canada or the US but the French use it more in their cooking and there are some sources available on the internet.

Regardless, Creme Caramel is a wonderful and easy dessert to prepare and to offer as a summer dessert. For my recent Canada Day BBQ I was in the mood to use tonka beans…what kind of Creme Caramel will you make?

Tonka Bean Creme Caramel

(12 – 3 inch Ramekins)

5 cups scalded milk

2 tonka beans, grated with a microplane

1 cup sugar (for custard)

4 eggs

8 egg yolks

2/3 cup  sugar (for caramel)

1/4 cup  water (for caramel)

Preheat the oven to 350F

1. Put the eggs and the 1 cup of sugar in a stainless steel bowl and mix them. Put the milk in a small saucepan and add your grated tonka beans. Over a medium-high heat, bring the milk to just below a boil. Remove it from the heat. Pour the milk over the egg mixture while whisking.  Mix well. Let the mixture cool for a few minutes.
2. Meanwhile, make your caramel. Put the sugar (1 cup) and the water in a small pot over a high heat. Wait until the sugar caramelizes and turns a nut-brown colour (colour of a penny). Remove the pot from the heat and pour a small amount of the caramel into the bottom of each ramekin. Allow it to set.
3. Pour the custard mix over the caramel in each ramekin. Cook in a bain-marie filled half way with water. When cooked let the creme caramel rest in the refrigerator over night, then un-mold them by running a knife around the edge, placing the plate on top then inverting the custard onto the plate.

A special thank-you goes out to Stephane of Zen Can Cook who was kind enough to send me some tonka beans, merci!

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© 2009, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.