EASTER 2017

Red Easter Eggs With a Spring Sky Background

Lilacs and Matching Easter Eggs 

Warm Easter wishes to all those who celebrate!   May all the people in this turbulent world and of all denominations be healthy, happy, peaceful and sane....  



My daughter-in-law Elpida and my son Yiannis invited me to their beautiful home for Easter lunch.  I thoroughly enjoyed the good company, because, besides my children and my grandsons Alex and Chris (Joy stayed in London this year),  Elpida's parents and her sister Alexandra with her son Antonis were there.   We were offered fabulous traditional Greek Easter dishes with a modern touch.



                                                              MENU 
                                               
                                                   Easter Mushroom Soup
                                                                                               
                                                 Roast Lamb with Potatoes

                                                Elpida's Kataifi Cheese Pie

                                                        A Mixed Salad

                                                      Custard Cream Pie

                                                           Banoffee Pie

                                          EASTER MUSHROOM SOUP

                                             

An Easter Mushroom Soup

This can be a delicious vegetarian soup if prepared with olive oil and vegetable stock.  It has been inspired by “Mayiritsa”, the famous Easter soup, without “avgolemono”.

500 g (1 lb) fresh mushrooms finely chopped

6 dried porcini, soaked and chopped, soaking water strained and reserved

2 tbsp olive oil or butter

1 medium onion, grated

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

2 tbsp flour

The tender leaves of 1 cos lettuce, shredded and finely chopped

2 tbsp dill or fennel leaves, chopped

3-4 spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped

250 ml (1 cup) white wine

1.500 litre (6 cups) well-seasoned chicken or vegetable stock

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Lemon juice to taste

2-3 mushrooms sliced and sauteed and fresh parsley for garnish

In a medium saucepan, sauté the grated onion in 2 tablespoons olive oil or butter.   Add the fresh mushrooms, the porcini and the garlic and cook until all the liquid evaporates.   Stir in the flour and cook for 2-3 minutes more.  Then pour in half the wine and keep on cooking and stirring, until the alcohol evaporates.   Pour in 2 ladlefuls of chicken or vegetable stock and the reserved porcini liquid and simmer for about 15 minutes. It should have the consistency of a thick mushroom sauce.

  

In a large saucepan, sauté the spring onions in the remaining oil or butter, add a pinch of salt and the lettuce and cook for 5 minutes more.   Pour in the remaining wine and let it evaporate.   Add the remaining stock and simmer, until the vegetables are almost done and combine with the mushroom mixture.

   

Add the chopped fennel or dill and cook the soup for a few minutes more.  Sprinkle with lemon juice, according to taste.  Correct seasoning with salt, if necessary.   Also, add a little hot water if the soup is too thick.   Bring the soup to a gentle simmer and sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper.  Serve immediately garnished with the sliced sauteed mushrooms and parsley. 

                                    

                           LEG OF LAMB ROASTED IN BAKING PARCHMENT

                                                

An Easter Must

This is one of our favourite meals and very easy to prepare.

A 2 kg (4 lb) leg of lamb, trimmed of excess fat
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 clove garlic, peeled and sliced

1 lemon, juice only

Salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
4 fresh rosemary twigs 

50 g (1¾ oz) butter + a little extra (melted)

Place the leg of lamb on a large piece of baking parchment.  Make small insitions in the meat and fill them with salt and pepper and tiny pieces of garlic,   Rub the lamb with lemon juice and sprinkle all over with salt, pepper and thyme, cover with rosemary twigs, and dot with butter.   Wrap it, first with the sheet of baking parchment, then cover the packet firmly with a double layer of foil and place in a baking dish.

Roast the leg of lamb in an oven preheated to 190 C (375 F) for 1½ hours. Then uncover the meat. brush it with melted butter and roast for 15 minutes more or until it turns golden brown.   Serve with roast potatoes, mint sauce, apple and thyme sauce, mustard and a green salad.

                                                  

                                              ELPIDA'S KATAIFI CHEESE PIE

                                               

Elpida's Delicious Cheese Pie

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

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

Usually, kataifi is used to make luscious sweets with custard cream or nuts and honey. Here is Elpida's modern kataifi recipe, with cheese.

500 g (1 lb) kataifi pastry, defrosted, fluffed out and covered with a damp cloth to prevent it from drying out

250 g (1 cup) melted butter

2 tbsp melted clarified butter, optional

2 tbsp dried breadcrumbs for the dish

250 g (½ lb) coarsely grated bland kasseri cheese or Emmenthal

250 g (½ lb) equal amounts of coarsely grated Graviera from Crete and Gouda

125 g (1/4 lb) finely grated kephalotyri or Parmesan

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste

625 ml (2½) cups milk

3 eggs

Salt to taste

Brush a 35x25 cm (14x10 in) baking dish with clarified butter or just hot, melted butter and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Also, preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F). 

Mix the three kinds of grated cheese, pepper and nutmeg together.  Spread half the kataifi in the baking dish and drench it with half the butter.    Cover lavishly and evenly with the cheese mixture, place the remaining kataifi on top and brush it evenly with melted butter.

Meanwhile, beat the eggs with the milk and a little salt and spoon carefully over the whole pie.   Cover, and refrigerate for at least three hours. Remove from the refrigerator an hour before needed.

Brush the surface with clarified butter, optional, and bake for about 50 minutes or until the kataifi is golden brown and crispy.    Serve immediately.

To clarify butter:

Melt 150 g (5 oz) butter very slowly over low heat, without letting it brown.  Remove from the heat and let it rest for a minute. Skim off the foam and spoon the clear butter into a bowl and set aside. Discard the solids from the bottom of the pan.

   

                                                     A MIXED SALAD

                          

The dressing of this salad thickens and tastes like a mayonnaise.  It keeps well in the fridge for about 3 days.

1 large Cos lettuce, the inner tender leaves only, torn into bite-sized pieces

2 avocados, peeled, pitted, diced and drenched with lemon juice

20 cherry tomatoes, halved
2-3 hard-boiled eggs,  peeled and chopped

½ cup pine nuts, roasted

Salad dressing

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp evaporated or fresh milk

1 tsp Dijon mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

First whip all the ingredients for the dressing together, until it thickens.

In a large salad bowl place the lettuce, avocados, cherry tomatoes and chopped hard-boiled eggs, drizzle with dressing, sprinkle with the pine nuts, taste and add a little salt if necessary, toss and serve.

                                                

                                             CUSTARD CREAM PIE

              

An Easter Specialty          

This traditional dessert can be found all over Greece.  The custard could, alternatively, be flavoured either with orange or tangerine peel or a vanilla pod.

10 sheets phyllo pastry

250 ml (1 cup) hot, melted butter

Syrup:

400 g (2 cups) sugar

500 ml (2 cups) water

Custard:

1 litre (4 cups) milk

A piece of lemon peel

5 eggs

200 g (1 cup) sugar
A little salt
100 g (2/3 cup) finely ground semolina

2 tbsp of butter

First, prepare the syrup.  Boil the sugar and water together for 10 minutes and set aside to cool.

In a large saucepan, heat the milk with the lemon peel, and keep warm.  Beat the eggs, sugar and salt in a mixer, until almost doubled in bulk.  Lower the speed, add the semolina and 2 ladlefuls of warm milk, and beat for 2 minutes more.  Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan with the warm milk and simmer gently, until the custard thickens, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.  Remove the custard from the heat, discard the lemon peel, stir in 2 tbsp butter until combined, and set aside to cool completely.

Butter a 32 cm x 20 cm (12 in. x 8 in.) baking tin and line it with 5 sheets of phyllo pastry, brushing each sheet liberally with melted butter.  Pour the cool custard over, even the surface and fold the overhanging pastry over the filling.  Cover with the remaining phyllo sheets, again brushing each sheet generously with hot butter, and tuck them neatly into the sides of the baking tin.

 

With a sharp knife make parallel slits on top of the pastry, to allow the pie to breathe. Heat the remaining butter to the sizzling point, pour evenly over the pie and bake in an oven preheated to 190 C (375 F), for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.  Remove from the oven and pour the cool syrup over.  Cut into portions, while still warm, and serve immediately.

                                                BANOFFEE PIE   

A Perfect Dessert 

Our Elpida's mother and my dear friend Lina prepares this luscious dessert, on special occasions.   Lina is a wonderful wife, mother and grandmother, a very nice person and a fabulous cook.  

Base:

129 g (4 oz) butter
300 g (10 oz) digestive biscuits, blended into crumbs

Caramel:
120 g (4 oz) butter
120 g (4 oz) brown sugar
417 g (one 397 g tin +  3 heaped tsp)  sweet condensed milk

Top:
4 small bananas, peeled and sliced

300 ml (10 lq oz) cream whipped to soft peaks with
2 tbsp icing sugar

Garnish: chocolate curls


Place the biscuit crumbs and the melted butter in a bowl and mix well together,   Spoon and press the mixture into the base and sides of a greased springform cake tin, with ridged sides. and place in the fridge for 15 minutes at least.

Meanwhile, prepare the caramel,  In a non-stick saucepan, melt butter and sugar, over low heat, stirring until the sugar melts.  Then increase the heat and add the condensed milk and bring to a rapid boil, stirring constantly, until a golden caramel is formed.  Cool, spread evenly over the biscuit base and refrigerate for 1 1/2 hours, at least.

Release the springform tin and place the tart, with the metal base, on a serving dish. Arrange the bananas, slightly overlapping, over the caramel.   Cover the pie, attractively, with whipped cream and garnish the centre with chocolate curls.