galactoboureko with fortified wine and spice poached crab apples

bougatsa, galatopita and galactoboureko are some of my favourite greek sweets..whenever i go back to greece i make a beeline for a little hole in the wall shop in pagrati athens for bougatsa (they also sell spinach, meat and cheese pie)..i always worry that the shop might have disappeared but it's always right there where it's always been and with the same pies that i've loved since i was living there in the 70's..

they're great pies to eat for a quick breakfast on the run..when you go there the generous sized pieces of pie are already cut from larger pies that are cooked off site on huge trays..and when you order a piece the man working there..it's always a man..wraps the pie ordered in greaseproof paper and pops it into a paper bag..the exchange of paper bag and money is so quick and easy..i don't remember the exact cost but they're not expensive and they're really good quality..

while i love the quick and easy on the go bougatsa my favourite way of eating it is sitting down at a table either in a zacharoplasteion..cake shop..or in a bougatsaria..where they only sell bougatsa and coffee..with a glass of cold water and a greek coffee with 'ligi' zakeri..a little sugar......bougatsaria aren't everywhere in greece though..in my travels i once came across a small seemingly anachronistic bougatsaria in soufli in the north east of greece early one morning while i was waiting for a bus..it was the only place open at the time and it was, again, run by a man..it had the best bougatsa ever..and i also know of a couple of iconic bougatsaria in ioannina where my former husband comes from..i'm sure there are many others that i don't know of..yet..the reason i like to eat bougatsa at zacharoplasteia or bougatsaria is because of the way it's served on a plate, cut up into small bite sized pieces and dusted with cinnamon and icing sugar, and eaten with a desert fork..it's so relaxing eating it this way..

as i said earlier bougatsa is often consumed on the run and often for breakfast whereas galatopita and galactoboureko are eaten sitting down in a cafe (or it's bought to take home or as a gift) and it's eaten later in the day..greek people don't tend to eat a sweet course after a meal but they do love to linger in a cafe with a sweet little something and a coffee in the afternoon or at night..another difference is that bougatsa is thin..about one to two centimetres thick..but galatopita and galactoboureko are thicker and can range from between four to six or more centremetres thick..and instead of being dusted with icing sugar and cinnamon as bougatsa is both galatopita and galactoboureko are doused generously in a citrus or floral sugar syrup...and incidentally the only difference i can ascertain between galatopita and galactoboureko is that galatopita has filo on the bottom only and galactoboureko has filo on both top and bottom..anyway..whichever way they come they are all delicious..to me..and most greeks!

galactoboureko

tea with hazel
makes 12 generous sized serving pieces

ingredients

30 gms butter

200 gms fine semolina

2 litres milk (i used unhomogenised organic milk)

1 1/4 cups sugar* (or more or less according to taste)

3 eggs lightly beaten

2 teaspoons vanilla (i used my own)

10-12 filo pastry sheets

melted butter

method

~ in a large saucepan melt butter and once bubbling add semolina and stir for a few minutes to lightly toast and then take off heat

~ slowly add milk while whisking to prevent lumps forming

~ return the saucepan to the heat and cook until thickened and just coming to the boil

~ remove from the heat and add sugar, vanilla and, while stirring well to prevent the mixture curdling, slowly add the eggs

~ pour mixture through a sieve to remove any lumps

~ set aside to cool

~ butter a 32 cm x 22 cm x 4cm tin and layer with 6 buttered filo sheets allowing the excess to hang over the sides of the tin

~ pour the semolina custard in the tin and layer with a further 4-5 buttered filo sheets folded in half

~ bring the over hanging filo sheets over the top filo layers and brush the top with butter
~ spray the top with water to help prevent the filo lifting during baking

~ bake at 180 deg c for 40-50 minutes or until the top is browned and the custard set

note

* a greek cook would typically use a lot more sugar in this type of recipe than i did

fortified wine and spice poached crab apples

fortified wine and spice poached crab apples 

tea with hazel

ingredients

1 kg organic crab apples* stalks intact

500 mls fortified wine (i used pfeiffer topaque**)

1-2 tablespoons sugar or more according to taste

1/2 to 1 cinnamon quill

3-4 cloves

2 cumquats*** (or use orange peel with white pith removed)

method

~ place wine, sugar, spices and cumquats in a large, shallow saucepan and heat gently to dissolve the sugar

~ once the sugar has dissolved bring to the boil, reduce the heat to barely a simmer, add just enough crab apples to form a single layer, cover with a cartouche (to avoid too much evaporation), and cook gently, lifting the paper and turning the fruit every so often so that the crab apples cook evenly

~ remove any crab apple as soon as starting to soften

~ cook the remaining crab apples in batches in the same manner

~ refrigerate and use within about two weeks

notes

*     i used malus gorgeous crab apples picked from my own tree

**   i used this wine because i rarely drink and i had half of a bottle languishing..i didn't have enough so i opened another bottle! the wine was gifted to me by my daughter kat who had been gifted the wine by the wine maker who is a friend of hers

*** yeah i've got thousands of them so i use them in everything possible

serving suggestions

~ serve as the greeks typically do with a flavoured sugar syrup or do as i did and serve the galactoboureko with just a dusting of icing sugar and cinnamon, or, both that and some poached crab apples and the delicious fortified wine and spice syrup..the crab apples have a slight tartness which compliments the sweetness of the custard and syrup..either way is good..to me..not sure if most greeks would approve of me mucking around with an already great recipe..

dedicated to my boy nicholas who left for greece this week

and to his girl ruby who joins him in a month
they worked so hard to make their trip happen
so proud
so much love

crab apple paste

this year my crab apple tree (malus gorgeous) produced its largest yet crop of crabs and, because they looked so pretty on the tree, i was tempted to leave them on the tree well into the winter months..i did that last year though and many dropped to the ground and rotted so by the time i noticed there were only a few left..

in the past i've always used the fruit to make crab apple jelly but this year i didn't really want to make any more jelly..that's because i'd made a few, albeit small, quantities of different jellies in late summer with various mixes of blackberries, elderberries, apples and plums..having made quince paste a few days earlier the idea of using the crabs to make crab apple paste was just a natural progression..

crab apple paste

tea with hazel

ingredients

crab apples (mine weighed 1500 gms)

sugar

lemons

method

~ remove the crab apple stalks and wash well

~ place in a shallow baking tray with a couple of tablespoons of water, cover with foil, and bake at 160 deg c for an hour or until soft

~ puree the fruit in a mouli

~ measure the pulp and place in a large saucepan

~ for every cup of pulp add 3/4 cup of sugar and the juice of 1/2 a small lemon

~ place the saucepan over a diffuser and heat slowly until the sugar has dissolved then increase heat and cook stirring regularly until thick and the spoon leaves a trail on the bottom of the saucepan 

~ spoon the paste into a baking paper lined tin and leave to set for 24 hours

~ cut into squares and store in an airtight container or wrap pieces in baking paper strips and place in cellophane bags

comments:

~ i like quite a tangy paste but for a sweeter palate increase sugar to 1 cup per cup of pulp

~ the quantity of fruit i had made 16 generous pieces of crab apple paste which cost, excluding the cost of gas and electricity, about $0.03/piece

verdict:

i wasn't sure how the crab apple paste would turn out but it has a lovely colour and, even though i've only tasted a small piece, a delightfully tangy crab apple flavour..i plan on doing a cheese board with bread as part of dinner for my children tomorrow night so it'll be interesting to see how it's received by them..