A VERY HAPPY 2015!!!

As I have been sick with influenza for the last twelve days, please forgive me for not having published the recipes for small lunch and dinner parties, that I had promised in my last post.




Tragic, barbaric events have happened since I wrote the last paragraph.  I shall say no more except that NOUS SOMMES TOUS CHARLIE. 

                               

Here, at last, is a menu for a small, festive dinner party.

                                   Kataifi Shells Filled with Creamed Shrimp

                                                  Small Green Salad

                     
                           Roast Fillet of Beef with Vegetables and Wine Sauce

                                                     Mashed Potatoes

                       Chocolate Swiss Roll with Chestnut Filling and Whipped Cream

            

                             KATAIFI SHELLS FILLED WITH CREAMED SHRIMP

“Kataifi” derives from “kadife” which is Arabic for velvet.   The original way of preparing this pastry was by pouring batter from a perforated tube onto a very hot slab.   After a few minutes, strands of very fine strings of pastry were pulled off the slab, folded and packed for further use.

Today, pastry manufacturers in Greece, use the same concept as their colleagues did, centuries before.    With the help of sophisticated machinery and “know-how”, they produce an excellent kataifi pastry.

I have given you before, several recipes for both sweet and savoury dishes, prepared with Kataifi    Here is an easy recipe for a delicious, gourmet first dish, that will certainly impress your family and friends.

Kataifi shells:

250 g (½ lb) kataifi pastry, fluffed out and covered with a damp dish cloth to prevent it from drying out

125 ml (½ cup) melted butter or more, if necessary

1 egg, beaten with

210 ml (7 fl oz) milk

Salt and freshly ground white pepper 
Freshly grated nutmeg
Twelve 7.5 cm (3 inches) square pieces baking parchment
Twelve tin foil balls large enough to fill the cupcake hollows

Filling:
500 g (1 lb) small shrimp, shelled and de-veined
2 tbsp olive oil
1 sprig rosemary
Very little salt
1 liqueur glass brandy or whisky

Cream Sauce:
4 tbsp butter
1 bay leaf
4 heaped tbsp flour
250 ml (1 cup) warm, full milk
250 ml (1 cup) warm, tasty chicken or vegetable stock
The reserved (about a tablespoonful) brandy or whisky mixture
Freshly ground white pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg
A little salt, if necessary
Double cream, please see below (about 2-3 cups)

3 tbsp grated Graviera or Gruyere or Cheddar for sprinkling over the shells

A day before your dinner party, start preparing the kataifi shells.   Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F).   Cut enough pastry to line each buttered cupcake hollow, separately.   Brush with melted butter and then with the egg/milk mixture.   Cover each hollow with a baking parchment square and secure with a tin foil ball.   Bake for12 minutes or until the pastry has taken the shape of a cup.   Remove the parchment and foil and bake 5 minutes more or until the kataifi is steady and golden.  Cool and store in a covered container in the fridge.

The next day prepare the filling.  First sauté the shrimp and rosemary in olive oil until the shrimp change colour, almost 2 minutes on each side and sprinkle  with salt    Discard the rosemary and place the shrimp on kitchen paper to strain and cool.  Add the liqueur glass of brandy or whisky and deglaze the pan, stirring vigorously to capture the taste and aroma of the shrimp.  Strain and reserve for later.

This is a different way of preparing white sauce,   Over low heat, cook the flour and bay leaf, in butter, stirring for about 4-5 minutes or until no taste of flour is evident.  Add all the warm milk and chicken stock, whisking constantly until the mixture is smooth.    Increase the heat, stirring until the sauce comes to the boil.  Then lower the heat, once more, and simmer very gently for about 20-30 minutes, stirring frequently until the sauce thickens.     Discard the bay leaf, strain the sauce into a clean pan and simmer gently for a few minutes more.  Stir in the reserved brandy or whisky mixture and enough double cream to give the sauce the required consistency.    Taste and add nutmeg, pepper and salt, if necessary.

Place the shrimp in a pan and mask them liberally with the cream sauce and cook for 5 minutes , until piping hot.   Taste once more and season accordingly.    Meanwhile, heat the kataifi shells in the oven.    Sprinkle each pastry shell with a little grated cheese, cover with a heaped tsp of sauce, and top with 2-4 shrimp and more sauce.

Serve with a small green salad and a glass of good white wine.      

 

               

                 ROAST FLLET OF BEEF WITH VEGETABLE AND WINE SAUCE

This is one of my favourite main dishes for a small dinner party

1½ kg beef fillet, centre part, tied at 2½ cm (1 inch) intervals with kitchen thread, brushed with

Olive oil and sprinkled with

Salt and thickly ground black pepper and refrigerated

Rosemary sprigs

Sauce:

2 tbsp olive oil

2 large onions, peeled and sliced

2 coves garlic, peeled and sliced

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

2-3 celery stalks, trimmed and sliced

250 g (½ lb) fresh white mushrooms, sliced

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 bouquet garni made with 2 parsley sprigs, 1 thyme sprigs, 1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper

1 slice of fresh ginger

One 750 ml bottle red wine like Nemea Agiorgitiko or Barollo

500 ml (2 cups) home-made beef stock

A little sugar

You could prepare the sauce up to two days before you need it.   Sauté all the vegetables in olive oil, stirring constantly, until they become soft and dry.   Add the tomato paste and ginger and stir for 2-3 minutes more.    Pour in 250 ml (1 glass) of wine and cook for 5 minutes until all the wine evaporates.   Add the bouquet garni, the remaining wine, and the beef stock.   Lower the heat and simmer gently, for at least 1 – 1 ½ hours.  Remove the bouquet garni and the ginger and blend the sauce with a hand blender, cover and reserve, in the fridge.

Three hours before your guests arrive remove the fillet from the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature, for about 1 hour.    Preheat the oven to 200 C (390 F).     Then attach the rosemary sprigs to the meat with the kitchen thread and sauté it over high heat until browned on all sides.   Place the fillet on a rack, in a roasting tin and add a little water in the tin.   Roast for 15-20 minutes for rare, 20-25 for medium and 25-30 for well done.   Then remove from the oven and cover the meat with foil and let it rest for 10 - 12 minutes.

Meanwhile heat the sauce.   Strain the juices from the roasting tin into a jug, stir a little into the sauce and bring to the boil.  Taste the sauce and season with salt pepper and a little sugar if necessary.  Also add more of the roasting juices.

Just before serving, slice the fillet, arrange it on a hot serving dish and masque it, liberally, with sauce.     Serve with mashed potatoes.   

      CHOCOLATE SWISS ROLL FILLED WITH CHESTNUT AND WHIPPED CREAM

This a very popular Christmas dessert that I, often, prepare, during the winter months.

Chocolate roll:

5 medium-sized eggs, separated, whites whipped stiff with a pinch of salt

5 tbsp sugar

Vanilla

4 heaped tbsp self raising flour sifted with

1 tbsp cocoa

9 tbsp water mixed with

1 tbsp dark Jamaican rum

Fillings:

1.  Sweet chestnut cream

     6-7 chestnuts in rum and syrup* ( please see recipe below), pureed and combined with

     2 heaped tbsp whipped cream,

 2.   500 ml (2 cups) double cream, whipped with

       2 tbsp icing sugar

Extra icing sugar for dusting over the roll

Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F).

First prepare the roll.  Whip the egg yolks with sugar and vanilla until light and doubled in bulk.

Sift in the flour/cocoa mixture in three portions alternately with the water and Jamaican rum solution, mixing very well after each addition.

Finally fold in the whipped egg whites, until no traces of white are visible.   Pour evenly in a Swiss roll tin, lined with buttered baking parchment, bake for15 – 20 minutes and remove from the oven.    Peel off the baking parchment, cover with a clean sheet of a parchment and roll up like a Swiss roll, until the cake is cold.

Roll out the roll and spread it first, with the chestnut filling, then cover with 3-4 tbsp whipped cream. Roll it up, again, in baking parchment and refrigerate.

One hour before serving, remove the dessert from the fridge, discard the baking parchment and sprinkle with icing sugar.   Serve with the remaining whipped cream.

                             *   CHESTNUTS IN SYRUP AND RUM

Zena Patelis, a dear friend gave me this lovely recipe.  

1½ kg (3 lbs) chestnuts, parboiled with a tsp of salt and a lemon peel, and peeled

330 g (11 oz) sugar

2½ cups water

1 vanilla bean

½ tsp salt

1 cup dark Jamaican rum

 In a large saucepan place the sugar and water and simmer stirring until the sugar melts.   Add the parboiled chestnuts and slit the vanilla pod and place it over the chestnuts.   Gently simmer for about 15 minutes, then remove from the fire, cover the saucepan and set aside for 12 hours, at least.

 The next day, remove the chestnuts with a slotted spoon, and simmer the syrup for 15 minutes until it thickens.  Place the chestnuts back into saucepan and simmer very, very gently for 12 minutes more.  Check a chestnut. It should be quite soft, but not falling apart.  Remove from the fire, cover the sauce pan and set aside overnight.

Finally, on the third day remove the chestnuts with a slotted spoon, and place them,  into sterilized jars.   Divide the rum, evenly over the chestnuts and cover with syrup.  Cover the jars tightly and refrigerate.