PP, yes I understand that it is all on one post currently and I think that that may be a good thing.
I was replying to Mel’s post upthread where she mentioned possibly going back to multiple threads is all.
Olunia
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SPANAKOPITA STRIFTI (p. 229)
I’m super excited by the possibilities opened up by this one! It’s another super simple combo—sauté scallions (I used a leek), spinach, and dill, drain and cool, add feta and egg. I had one bunch of spinach (calls for one pound), so I just eyeballed everything and used less than one egg. No liquid drained from my cooked spinach, even when I pressed on it, and the egg made it look considerably wet, but the texture of the filling was fine.
The challenge of course was the phyllo. After the first one cracked, I was a bit more rough with the rest, and ended up with successful spirals. I placed the phyllo on a towel, and used that to start the roll. You roll it tight and then make the spiral. I also used more than two tablespoons of filling per pie, more like four. I ended up with four pies instead of six, but that is because I used less spinach. The rolls are brushed with olive oil (I added sesame seeds like in the pics—it is not in the recipe) and baked about 30 minutes. These were delicious, except my quibble with the phyllo.
I have dabbled with phyllo over the years, but I usually just curse it. This method was much easier, but I need some tips from phyllo experts. I was using a silicone brush for applying the oil to the layers (three), and next time I’ll use a natural brush for more coverage. My phyllo ended up too thick and dry, so I’m wondering, did I use too little olive oil? Also, since it was thick, should I try doing two layers? I need a phyllo primer.
This is deceptively easy other than getting the phyllo texture just right. It will be great with all kinds of greens and herbs (sorrel is one I’ll use next time).
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Thanks for your input @Olunia. I think there are pros and cons either way. I think you get a greater sense of cooking as a group with fewer threads or just one thread. And sometimes over on CH we would break a book into too many threads and you would have threads with very few posts. On the other hand, the concern with just doing a single thread per book is that if participation is high, the thread could get unwieldy. I’m hoping by the time I need to set up next month’s reporting thread or threads, the answer will be more clear. But I definitely do want to hear the opinion of all our posters.
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I haven’t looked at the recipe, and I don’t have the book. I make a lot of things with phyllo. That looks like the thicker village style phyllo, and I’m guessing 3 layers of the thinner phyllo would be plenty in a spiral. I would think 2 sheets of village-style, and possibly 1 sheet is enough, because it will be rolled like a snake before you twist it into a snail/spiral shape.
The thicker phyllo is more popular in northern style savoury pies in my experience. My family always uses the thinner phyllo. The thinner phyllo is also easier to find. I’d have to go to a Greek or a Turkish market to get the thicker type.
I keep a damp tea towel or damp paper towel over my phyllo except for the phyllo I’m rolling at the moment. Any phyllo I won’t be using is rolled up in wax paper and then into a plastic bag, and refrigerated or frozen for another use.
I use melted butter and a pastry brush, either silicone or a traditional bristle brush , and am fairly generous when I brush it on. Olive oil works, but if you don’t have issues with butter, butter is better.
If you use a brush to apply oil or butter between layers, dotting the oil/butter sparingly works best. The oil /butter that is the top coat should be a little more generous, and even so the pastry browns evenly.
I took a screenshot of 2 phyllo pies I made , brushed with butter. Tourtière filling in the triangles, leek pie in the square dish.
If you have purchased ready-to- bake phyllo pies or burek, brushing them with butter before baking improves them.
Imported from Cyprus,
frozen commercial leek burek from Farm Boy in Ontario , brushed with butter before baking.
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Thanks!
I am using the brand https://fillofactory.com/product/organic-fillo-dough/, which seems very thin, but the website calls it a “medium weight.” I’m going to try this again with two sheets and more oil/butter and hope that solves it. This was so close to being amazing, just too much phyllo in my finished product.
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@pistachiopeas , Serano on Pape , Cosmos’ Agora in Scarborough, Mak Deli, they all sell Greek Nescafé which froths better because it’s freeze-sprayed (or something like that). It will froth with a whisk. There’s also a little battery-operated frother some ppl use.
They have decaf, as well. I save the packets of instant (all brands, in case anyone is boycotting Nescafé) from Japanese, European and British hotels because they’re better than North American instant for frappé. ( I haven’t travelled internationally in 2 years , so I’ve used up all my collected instant coffee packets and tea bags) I am not sure if the Davidoff instant sold at Italian shops froths well.
I drink frappé from March to October.
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Good to know, thank you! I think I’ve seen it at Highland Farms in Scarborough too. I can see more of these in my life in summer months.
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There are 4 main ways to order them, if you wanted to order one at Athen’s Pastries, Café Serano, or a Greek restaurant (Megas has them, I’m sure Flippers and other Greek restaurants and coffee shops in Scarborough would, too- I’m out of the loop re: Greek coffee shops in Scarborough). The coffee shops use evaporated milk, which makes the Frappé creamier than regular milk.
Sweet with milk / glyko me gala
Medium sweet with milk /metrio me gala
No sugar with milk / sketo me gala
Black / sketo
I get medium with milk or no sugar with milk.
They cost around $6 these days and often the cafés use imported Greek bottled water, giving you the remainder of the bottle to take with you . It’s customary to serve the Frappé with a glass of water.
I’ll stop hijacking this thread 
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The best tzatziki I’ve ever made (or eaten) is from SK (I think originally Ina Garten). That little shot of vinegar brightens it up so much. Here’s a link (the whole recipe is great): https://smittenkitchen.com/2016/05/chicken-gyro-salad/
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Totally agree about the vinegar. My favourite tsatziki is from former COTM The Olive and the Caper and also calls for a dash of red wine vinegar.
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I use a little white balsamic and some fresh lemon, and often only a half clove of garlic, and I add fresh dill.
I haven’t tried SK’s Tzatziki yet. Over the pandemic, I have been cooking a lot, and my 2 go-to resources for Greek recipes have become Akis Petrezikis and MyGreekDish.
These are 2 pretty amazing comprehensive threads on the topic of Greek food here on HO:
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I’ve been making this tzatziki for almost two decades A friend gave me the recipe and I’ve never made anything better -
Tzatziki
• 1 pint (16 oz) 2% Greek yogurt (or drain regular plain yogurt thru a cheesecloth)
• ½ cucumber, unpeeled, seeded, and finely diced
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 T minced fresh dill
• ½ T red-wine vinegar or more to taste
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped and mashed into a paste with 1/8 tsp salt
• pepper to taste
- Place cucumber and ½ tsp salt in a colander and over a bowl and let drain for at least 1 hour at room temperature (or up to 1 day covered in fridge). Squeeze batches of cucumber wrapped in kitchen towels to remove as much liquid as possible.
- Stir together the yogurt and cucumber, the olive oil, the dill, vinegar, and garlic. Season to taste. Let stand for 1 hour before serving.
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SALTY ROASTED WHOLE CHICKEN WITH OREGANO, p. 91
I’m leading with a picture of the Greek oregano I purchased, as the chicken photo isn’t great. What was great, was this recipe, which is simple and delicious. Preheat the oven to 450. Make sure your chicken is very well dried, place it on a baking sheet, and rub all over with kosher salt, pepper, and oregano. Roast for 1 hour. At this point, my chicken, which I roasted breast side up, was the right temperature. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes (I did 10), carve, serve with lemon wedges, and eat. I served it with some simple roasted baby potatoes, and the fennel salad from this book. Everyone loved this meal.
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SHAVED FENNEL WITH BLISTERED GOLDEN RAISINS AND PISTACHIO DRESSING, p. 52
The process is described by others, so I’ll just say, wow, what a wonderful salad. I could eat this weekly. I also included some fennel fronds. I think mint would also work here, in place of the parsley. My raisins were golden but I let them go a little long and they look quite dark here.
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BLACK BEAN STEW TOPPED WITH FETA, CILANTRO, AND JALAPEÑOS, p. 119
I started by soaking my beans for about 8 hours, though MS gives the option of both soaking or not soaking, but not doing so would have made this take much longer to cook. I cooked mine for about 3 hours, but if we hadn’t needed to eat dinner early with the kids, I would have kept going. You combine the beans, with finely chopped onion, bay leaves, and a large amount of ground cumin (1/4 cup). Cover with water by 3 inches, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook. MS says for 1.5-2.5 hours but as I said, mine were not “very soft” by then. Add water as needed to keep the beans covered by 1 inch. Remove from heat, add 2 large lunches of salt and some freshly ground pepper, along with 1/4 cup olive oil, and the juice of 2 limes. Top each serving with feta, cilantro, and thinly sliced jalapeño rounds. Loved this! I think it will taste even better as leftovers. I plan to make some breakfast or lunch tacos with it.
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ROASTED FALL VEGETABLES WITH ITALIAN SAUSAGE, p. 95
This is a pretty standard roasted sausage and vegetable recipe with a couple of differences from how I usually do it. The ingredients are Italian sausage, acorn squash, baby potatoes, red onion (I used yellow), and kale. The potatoes are halved, the squash is cut into “smiles,” the onions are quartered, and the sausages are pierced with a sharp knife. The vegetables are tossed with olive oil. The sausages are meant to be drizzled with oil but I didn’t see the need for that. Dress everything with the juice of one lemon, a generous amount of oregano, salt, and pepper. Place everything on a parchment lined sheet pan, and bake for “30-40 minutes” in a 400 oven. I would usually do this in stages, as I only cook my sausages for 20 minutes, but I decided to just try the ease of this method. At 40 minutes, you are meant to place 3 cups of torn kale on top of everything else. I tossed my kale with a bit of olive oil first. Also, I used lacinato, which was fine, but I think curly kale is better roasted.
The differences for me are the long roasting time, the lemon, and adding the kale. Normally, I would serve a salad with this (and MS suggests doing so) instead of roasting the greens, but with the kale present in the recipe, I didn’t bother. This was a hearty and delicious meal. I liked how the lemon came through in the potatoes and squash. I’ll definitely use her technique and make this recipe again.
Is it just me or is that not acorn squash in the book’s photo? I’ve never seen it that orange before.
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I meant to add that you roast your kale for 10 minutes.
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I’m always curious about these types of recipes. Like you, I usually cook sausages for only 20 minutes, and also I would not have though 10 minutes sufficient for kale, especially with stuff under it. Were both cooked to your liking? Or was it more that everything melded to a pleasing whole even if individual components weren’t optmized?
The sausage was great, and it was nice not to have to check the internal temperature. The kale could have used a couple more minutes, but it depends if you want it crispy or not. This was crispy edges with softer centers. I worried the potatoes and squash would just steam, but they were roasted the way I like them, crispy and soft. However, the recipe calls for 6 sausages, and I only used 4. The pan would have been very crowded with 6. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to spread this across two baking sheets.
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Interesting, thank you!
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