This dessert pairs bananas and chocolate along with a standard semolina custard cream, similar to what’s found in Bougatsa. Last week I made phyllo cups and this week it’s phyllo bundles – look like beggar’s purses. The recipe begins by making the custard and once it cools I add some coarely mashed bananas then form the bundles around the custard and bake until just golden.

The time it takes for the phyllo bundles to become golden in the oven gives me just enough time to make a chocolate sauce with some cinnamon notes to finish this easy and economical dessert. Dust with some icing sugar and drizzle some chocolate sauce over each portion.

Banana Cream Custard Phyllo Bundles

(makes 9)

Banana Cream Filling

4 ripe bananas coarsely mashed

1 stick of unsalted butter

1/2 cup of fine semolina flour

1/4 cup sugar

splash of vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups warm milk

Phyllo Bundles

4 sheets of phyllo pastry (thawed overnight in your fridge)

1/2 stick of unsalted butter

sugar

1/2 cup ground almonds

1 muffin tin

Chocolate Sauce

1/2 cup of chocolate pieces (70% semi-sweet chocolate)

pinch of salt

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

icing sugar for garnish

1. In a deep pot over medium heat, heat 2 Tbsp. of  butter and then add the semolina, sugar and vanilla extract. Cook, stirring for a couple of minutes until the butter’s absorbed and the semolina is golden but not browned.
2. While whisking, add the warm milk in a steady stream until absorbed. Cook while stirring for 3-4 minutes, until the custard has the texture of loose cream of wheat. Remove from the heat, transfer to a bowl and allow to cool then mix in the mashed banana, reserve.
3. Paint the insides of the muffin moulds with melted butter and pre-heat your oven to 325F. Lay a sheet of phyllo on work surface then brush with butter than sprinkle sugar and ground almonds. Repeat with remaining three sheets of phyllo then cut into nine squares (approx. 5″ X 5″).  Pre-heat your oven to 325F (middle rack position).
4. Carefully transfer each square to a muffin mould and with a spoon, place equal amounts of the banana custard into the center of each square and lift the phyllo corners up to the center and twist to close, forming a purse shape with a ruffled top. Brush the tops with any remaining butter and bake for 15-20 minutes or until just golden.
5. In the meantime, place the chocolate chunks, pinch of salt in a medium bow. Now add your cream and cinnamon to a small pot and bring to just scalding over medium heat. Pour the cream over the chocolate and allow the chocolate to melt for a minute then whisk until chocolate has melted into a velvety sauce.
6. When your phyllo bundles are golden and flaky, remove from the oven and allow to cool for five minutes before serving.

*Try making some savory Tyropitakia (Feta cheese phyllo triangles) if you have leftover phyllo

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

© 2012, 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.

One can also make their own egg nog but most households just buy the stuff from the supermarket, as I have done. I found some extra egg nog in the fridge and I was craving ice cream. This recipe is really easy, your only prerequisite being to own an ice cream maker. Perhaps you received one for Christmas? If you’re thinking of splurging on an ice cream maker, I recommend this Cuisinart model.

Ice cream usually has dairy, eggs and flavouring – egg nog already has all those components in the carton so all I’m doing here is accentuating what I like in egg nog: creamyness, nutmeg, sweetness and the booze! I’ve add some cream, grated nutmeg, honey and some rum-soaked raisins (borrowing from rum & raisin ice cream). This recipe is easy, pragmatic as you can adjust the ingredients to your tastes but i insist you make the salted caramel rum sauce as I’ve laid-out for you below. I add the coarse sea salt to the warm caramel sauce at the end so that I get that crunch and burst of salt that goes so well with caramel.

Egg Nog Ice Cream With Salted Caramel Rum Sauce

3 1/2 cups of good egg nog

1 cup heavy cream

1/3 cup honey

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 cup raisins

rum

Salted Caramel Rum Sauce

1 1/2 cups plain white sugar

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

2 Tbsp. light corn syrup

coarse sea salt

1. Place your raisins in a cup and fill with enough water to just cover them and allow to steep for 5 minutes. Strain the water and place back in a mug and pour a just enough rum to cover the raisins. Allow to steep in the rum for at least 1 hour, reserve.  In a bowl, add the egg nog, cream, honey and nutmeg and stir. Adjust flavours with  nutmeg and honey. Pour into your ice cream maker and churn for 25 minutes then add the rum-soaked raisins (plus rum) into the mixture and churn for an extra 5 minutes.
2. Empty your ice cream into a tub a freeze overnight. To make the caramel rum sauce, place the sugar in a medium pot with some water and melt the sugar over medium heat. Continue to simmer the sugar until a copper-toned colour has been achieved then take away from the heat and pour in the cream and stir, followed by the vanilla, cinnamon, butter and corn syrup. Allow to cool to warm before serving or reserve and gently reheat for future use.
3. The next day, serve with a drizzle of slightly warmed caramel sauce and sprinkle some coarse sea salt on top.

* I don’t use corn syrup that much and its presence in this recipe is to keep the sauce from hardening. You may omit but I’m keeping it in to keep the smooth texture of the sauce. It’s only 2 Tbsp. for a whole tub of ice cream!

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

© 2011, 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.

Let’s face it – pork tenderloin is the equivalent of chicken breast: lean/little fat, mild in flavour and a healthy protein. The down side is that it needs help with flavours as it’s lacking fat. So, opportunity abounds with pork tenderloin and today I’m adding lots of flavour in three ways: by browning the meat, serving it with an easy but flavourful mushroom sauce and finally – created a flavourful crust. The “crust” becomes a second skin to the meat and in this instance I’ve taken some dried mushrooms and ground them to a powder using an electric coffee mill I have dedicated to spices and such.

The mushroom crust is blended with coriander seeds, black peppercorns, thyme and rosemary, sea salt and some sugar. The sugar is in there so that the meat browns quicker. Pork tenderloin is not that thick and I do not want to overcook this lean meat – sugar aids in the browner and no…there’s no sweetness in the dish! The final step in this quick yet fancy and delicious dish is to make a pan sauce with drippings, onions, garlic, mushroom broth, wine and some cream at the end.

You can buy dried mushrooms at most supermarkets and they range for Cremini to exotic Morels and Porcini. For grinding, use the less expensive dried mushrooms and re-hydrate the more exotic funghi to make your flavourful broth. Dried mushrooms are an excellent flavour enhancer to your dishes and you should consider stocking some in your pantry. Look what I did hear – I made a flavourful mushroom broth with them, created a crust for pork tenderloin begging for more flavour and they enhanced my creamy mushroom sauce. Go update your shopping list!

Pork Tenderloin Seared With a Mushroom Crust

(serves 4)

2 pork tenderloin, trimmed of silver skin

olive oil

approx 2 tsp. fine sea salt

2 tsp. of sugar

1 tsp. of whole peppercorns

1/4 cup dried mushrooms (your choice)

2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves, chopped

1 tsp. fresh rosemary leaves, chopped

Pre-heated 400F oven

Mushroom Sauce

2 Tbsp.  extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup diced red onions

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 cup of mushrooms (sliced Cremini plus your choice of other mushrooms

1/3 cup re-hydrated dried mushrooms

1 tsp. all-purpose flour

1/4 cup dry white wine

3/4 cup of mushroom stock (from re-hydrating the dried mushrooms)

salt and pepper to taste

2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves

1/4 cup heavy cream

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

1. Pre-heat your oven. Place your dried mushrooms, peppercorns, coriander seeds, thyme and rosemary leaves in coffee grinder and process into a powder (you may use a mortar & pestle). Rub the pork with some olive oil and season with salt and sugar then place your ground dry mushroom mixture in a plate and roll the pork until well-coated.
2. Place an oven-safe skillet on your stove-top and pre-heat your stove-top to medium-high heat and add 2-3 turns of olive oil and when hot, sear the pork tenderloin until golden on all sides. Transfer to your pre-heated oven (middle rack) and roast for 6-8 minutes then carefully remove the skillet, remove the pork from the pan and cover with foil and keep warm.
3. In the same skillet, add some more oil (if needed) and add the onions and garlic over medium heat and stir and sweat for about three minutes. Add the mushrooms, some salt and stir until just browned for another couple of minutes (add more olive oil if needed). Now add the flour and stir-in for about a minute. Now add the wine, stock, thyme leaves, salt and pepper and bring up to a simmer and reduce until the sauce is thick enough to just coat the back of a wooden spoon. Add the cream and simmer for another 2 minutes and adjust seasoning once again. Add the chopped fresh parsley into sauce and reserve.
4. Cut your pork tenderloin into medallions and pour the sauce into a platter and place the the medallions on top of the sauce and serve with a rice pilaf or scalloped potatoes. A bottle of  Aidarinis Xinomavro-Negoska blend from Goumenissa.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

© 2011, 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.

I came up with ‘Nacho’ macaroni & cheese and discovering that making your own cheese sauce for macaroni tasted and looked similar to the cheese sauce that one gets in a jar or served with nachos at Tex/Mex eateries. I used elbow macaroni as they are hollow and I would recommend using a similar hollow pasta so that cheezy sauce can get in the pasta too!

Macaroni & cheese is an easy dish that starts out with making a roux with butter and flour then whisking in some warm milk until it thickens then the grated cheeses are added.  I used two cheeses here: grated Parmesan and an aged white cheddar cheese. The better the cheese, the more flavour you’ll get without having to use excessive amounts of cheese.

There’s some sweet paprika, a pinch of chilli powder and dried oregano to give the dish that “nacho” flavour. Once the grated cheese melts into the béchamel stage of the sauce, your mac n’ cheese is ready. Just toss the cooked pasta, add some oregano and a pinch of chilli flakes and Nacho Macaroni & Cheese is done. For that extra Tex/Mex flavour and texture, I crush some nacho corn chips on top!

This weekend I’ll be at Harbourfront cooking on both Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 & 3:30 pm at the Lakeside Eats Cafe. There’s a skating rink out front, skate rentals and a fantastic view of Toronto’s lakefront. Drop by and see what I’ll cook next!

Nacho Macaroni & Cheese

(serves 4)

2 1/2 cups of elbow macaroni

3 Tbsp. of unsalted butter

2 heaping Tbsp. of flour

1 small onion, finely diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tsp. sweet paprika

pinch of chilli powder

2 cups of whole milk (warm)

1 cup of heavy cream

1 cup grated white cheddar cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

fresh ground pepper and sea salt to taste

pinch of chilli flakes

½  tsp. dried Greek oregano

1/2 cup crushed nacho chips

1. Place a large pot of water on your stove-top and bring to a boil. Add a good amount of salt and add pasta and cool for 8 minutes. In the meantime, add your butter to a large pot over medium heat. Once the butter had melted, add the onions, garlic, chilli powder and paprika and stir. Sweat for 5 minutes or until softened. Now add the flour and stir for a minute. Now add your milk in increments while stirring and turn the heat up to medium-high. Add the cream while stirring and continue to stir until the sauce has thickened enough to just coat a wooden spoon. Add your grated cheeses and stir in until melted. Adjust seasoning with fresh ground pepper, chilli flakes and some oregano (salt if needed).
2. Once your pasta is cooked, strain and add into your sauce along with oregano,  and chilli flakes. Gently toss with a slotted spoon or spatula and divide and plate with a topping of crushed nacho chips.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

© 2011, 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.

One of my favourite dishes is Giouvarlakia soup: beef/veal is mixed with rice and made into meatballs then gently dropped in stock with some rice until cooked. The starches from the rice thicken the stock but the real magic happens when I temper the hot liquid with a beaten eggs and lemon juice and the soup transforms into a creamy, comforting dish that takes me back to when mom made this soup when I sick.

In keeping with the resourceful nature of Greek cookery, I created this dish with the purpose of using up some leftover rice in the fridge and hopefully creating an entirely new one. Inspired by Giouvarlakia, I kneaded some ground beef and added some the cooked rice as binder along with an egg, some grated onion, spices and seasoning. The meatballs were browned in a skillet then I added some stock, some green lentils for a little fiber and simmered it until reduced by half and surely the lentils were tender.

The meatballs are simmered in the stock and rather than finish this dish with beaten eggs and lemon juice, I achieved a similar flavour and texture by adding strained Greek yogurt at the end. Reheated rice was divided among plates, the meatballs placed on top and the thick yogurt sauce is spooned over the meatballs dropping beaneath into the rice, just blanketing it.

I’m very pleased with this dish which pays homage to another Greek dish while using leftovers (rice) and becoming a whole new dish on it’s own!

The Other Giovarlakia (Γιουβαρλάκια Αλλιώς)

(serves 4)

1 lb. lean ground beef

1 medium onion, passed through a box grater

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 egg

1/4 cup leftover cooked rice

1 1/2 tsp. ground allspice

pinch of ground nutmeg

1 tsp. black pepper

2 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. black pepper

flour for dredging

2-3 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 cup green lentils

1 heaping Tbsp. of all purpose flour

2 cups of stock (beef, veal, chicken, vegetable)

2-3 scallions, thinly sliced

1/4 cup chopped fresh dill

1/4-1/2 cup FAGE strained Greek yogurt

1. In a bowl, add the ground beef, grated onion, garlic, salt, pepper, allspice, nutmeg and beaten egg. Mix with your hands and roll into meatballs (you may want to fry a small piece of meat to taste-test and adjust seasoning). Dredge lightly in flour then place add a couple of turns of oil in a skillet and over medium-high meat brown the meatballs on all sides. Reserve the meatballs.
2. Pour off any excess oil (leave some in the pan) and add the flour and stir for a minute then add the stock, scallions and lentils – bring to a boil. Now carefully add the meatballs and simmer uncovered until the liquid is reduced by half and it has thickened. Adjust seasoning and take off the heat.
3. Add the yogurt into the sauce one tablespoon at a table and gently swirl in. Keep adding the yogurt until the sauce has thickened to your liking and tart enough. Add the chopped fresh dill and divide and place the meatballs over the reheated leftover rice and pour sauce over the meatballs. Serve immediately.

As part of the Foodbuzz Featured Publisher program, I have been entered for the chance to win a trip to Greece courtesy of FAGE. You too can enter to win one of three trips to Greece by entering the FAGE Plain Extraordinary Greek Getaway here: http://www.fageusa.com/community/fage-greek-getaway

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

© 2011, 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.