Keik me Tahini kai Banana--Tahini and Banana Cake with Chocolate Chip Streusel

There's something about a streusel topping that makes people feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It must be all that brown sugar and cinnamon. Add some walnuts and a handful of chocolate chips ... now you've got a little piece of heaven in every bite.

I made this cake last week and I couldn't stop eating it. Not to toot my own horn or anything ... but neither could my husband; or our children; not to mention my mom enjoyed it too; oh, and a friend who'd stopped by for a quick cup of coffee said it should be selling in a bakery. And do you know what the best part is? Although this cake tasted so rich and flavorful, there was no butter. Instead, I used some tahini and no one was the wiser. Did I mention a friend said it was worthy of selling in a bakery? Just checking!

Tahini and Banana Cake with Chocolate Chip Streusel
(Inspired by a recipe on Epicurious.com)
Makes an 8-inch square cake

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup tahini

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 large (very ripe) bananas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8x2 inch square baking pan and set aside. In a bowl, combine the chocolate chips, brown sugar, walnuts and cinnamon and stir. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and whisk until well combined.

In the bowl of an electric mixer combine the tahini and sugar and mix on medium high speed for a couple of minutes. Add the egg, then the vanilla and bananas and mix thoroughly. Slowly stir in the flour mixture and mix until combined.

Spoon half the batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle half the streusel topping over the batter. Pour remaining batter over and spread it evenly with your spatula being careful to keep it from combining with the streusel below. Finally, top with the remaining streusel and bake for about 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Pastitsio Me Damaskina apo tin Syro--Pastitsio with Prunes from Syros

Pastitsio is one of my favorite foods, so when I heard that the latest A Taste of the Mediterranean event hosted by Tony Tahhan and Peter Minakis was going to focus on Greece and more importantly, pastitsio, I was thrilled. I have to admit though, I was almost all pastitsio-ed out as I recently used a bit of creative energy to put together this version for the Royal Foodie Joust. But then again, I don't think I can ever get sick of pastitsio ...

Pastitsio is a rustic dish with plenty of comfort-food appeal and it's one I quickly associate with family and friends as it so often graced our table for Sunday family meals, holidays, parties, etc., growing up. Every Greek family--living abroad or in Greece--has a recipe for pastitsio similar to others but perhaps slightly different (say, with a varying herb or spice or even a slightly different technique).
My family's recipe which my mom gave to me seven years ago when I was first married, was an instant hit with my husband who was thoroughly impressed by my pastitsio-making ability--for him a tell-tale sign of a good wife ... too bad I never roll out my own phyllo dough, then maybe I'd be perfect?!

Getting back to the recipe: our original family recipe features a cinnamon-flavored meat sauce between layers of long Greek noodles topped with a rich and creamy bechamel scented with nutmeg and sprinkled with cinnamon before baking. For the ATOM event, however, I wanted to post about something a little different. So I adapted a recipe I read in Aglaia Kremezi's Foods of the Greek Islands (I know, I know; I have to stop discussing recipes from this one book) in which she features a pastitsio from the island of Syros. What's interesting is Kremezi notes she found the original recipe in a book published in 1828 in Ermoupolis, the capital of the Greek island of Syros, and written by an unknown author.

I made a few changes to Kremezi's original recipe, which itself sounds quite good and will definitely be one of my next party foods. The original recipe calls for a meat sauce of ground veal or beef flavored with bacon (she had me at bacon!), onion, bone marrow, sweet wine, cinnamon and prunes. I omitted the bone marrow and--although not included in the original--I added a couple tablespoons of tomato paste to the sauce. Kremezi then combines the meat sauce with cooked ziti, grated cheese, milk and nutmeg and packs the mixture in a casserole dish lined with puff pastry. I layered the meat sauce with long noodles and topped it with a lighter version of my family's bechamel since the meat sauce includes that ever-so yummy, but quite fatty, bacon.

Kali Orexi!

Pastitsio me Damaskina apo tin Syro/Pastitsio with Prunes & Bacon from Syros
(Adapted from a recipe in Aglaia Kremezi's Foods of the Greek Islands)
Makes a 13x9 inch pan

1/4 pound bacon, chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 pounds combination of ground veal, pork and beef
1/2 cup Mavrodaphne, Marsala or Sherry
3/4 cup water
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cinnamon sticks
15 pitted prunes, chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 pound of Pastitsio No. 2 Macaroni

4 1/2 cups milk
4 tablespoons butter
8 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup grated Kefalotyri or Pecorino Romano
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
3 eggs
Ground cinnamon, for sprinkling


In a large skillet, brown the bacon until crisp. Remove to a plate and set aside. Add the onions to the skillet and saute until soft. Stir in the ground meat and saute, stirring, until no longer pink. Add the wine to the skillet and boil for a minute or so. Reduce the heat, add the water, tomato paste, cinnamon sticks, salt and pepper to taste, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, discard the cinnamon sticks and stir in the prunes. Set aside.

Heat the milk and butter in a large saucepan. Once the butter has melted, begin whisking the flour in a little at a time, stirring constantly. Once the bechamel has thickened, stir in the grated cheese, the nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat and whisk in the eggs one at a time, incorporating well after each addition.

Meanwhile, boil the macaroni until al dente. Drain the pasta and begin layering the pan first with macaroni, then the meat sauce, then macaroni and finally the bechamel. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake in a 375 degree oven until golden.

Note: Pastitsio is not a dish you serve immediately upon baking. In fact, bake your pastitsio as early in the day as possible, let cool completely (uncovered) and then re-heat before serving. This will ensure your pieces stay intact. (I let the pieces shown here cool for an hour before cutting, yet I think they could have used a bit more cooling as they were still very hot when sliced and the bottom layer didn't hold up as well as I would've liked.)

Kotopoulo Youvetsi--Chicken Baked with Orzo

In the last couple of weeks, I have come to realize what food blogging is really supposed to be about: Sharing good food with new-found, generous and truly sincere friends.

Personally, I find myself regularly looking forward to my peers' posts, not to criticize their cooking methods and the food that graces their tables, but to share in their insights and thoughts; to have a sneak peek at their lives in Athens, Crete, Sydney, Alaska, Canada, Malaysia, India, Italy, Spain, England, France and so many other places around the world.

I have found blogging refreshing and fulfilling--a way to combine my writing career with my passion for cooking, without the pressure of deadlines, editors’ notes, etc., etc. Even better, since I first began blogging last September, I've found myself making many a new friend whom I await to hear an encouraging comment from and whom I try hard to leave an encouraging word for as well. Incidentally, however, I have also found myself wondering why some bloggers would feel the need to criticize others' ways of approaching a dish and repeatedly assert that their way of cooking is the only way ... indeed, it is not.

Cooking is a truly personal experience. There are traditional dishes that are passed down from generation to generation and these traditional dishes, although alike in their basic ingredients and general concept, may differ slightly due to geography, due to family economics or even due to a cook's/family's personal likings. There are recipes throughout Greece for various dishes--from kokkinisto, to stifado, to fassolada, to fakes, to kakavia, to phylla (or dolmades as known to everyone other than those from Kalymnos!), to bougatsa, to ravani, to youvarlakia, or even pastitsio--that inherently vary slightly. The recipe used for four and five generations within my own family for phylla, ravani or, yes, even pastitsio will very likely vary from fellow Greek bloggers' family recipes and yet, each and every one of these recipes, may wholly and entirely be a traditional Greek recipe passed down within their family from generation to generation. It is not my place, nor anyone else’s for that matter, to claim that such a recipe is not a “traditional” recipe, or that it is a lesser dish, because it includes this herb or that spice while my family’s recipe does not. Period.

And now onto a lighter and definitely yummier subject … below you will find my family's recipe for youvetsi, a very traditional Greek dish most often made with lamb baked in a tomato sauce flavored with bay leaves and cinnamon (and some other herbs depending on where in Greece it is being made; in Kalymnos, for instance, cooks often use what is known there as "thrimbi"--or dried savory--to compliment the cinnamon and bay leaves). The meat is accompanied by kritharaki (orzo) that is baked in the same sauce.

To make this a quicker weeknight meal, and a lighter one at that, I used whole chicken legs in place of lamb. The resulting dish was really quite good--all the flavors of youvetsi in a lighter form--with meaty tender chicken complemented by the flavors of cinnamon and bay and a sauce that effortlessly steals the show.

Kotopoulo Youvetsi -- Chicken Baked with Orzo

Serves 4 to 6

1/3 cup olive oil
4 whole chicken legs
1 large onion, chopped
2 cinnamon sticks
2 bay leaves
1 cup chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cups water
2 cups chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 pound orzo
Grated kefalotyri, myzithra, pecorino or parmesan (for sprinkling before serving)


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Season chicken with salt and freshly ground pepper.

In a dutch oven (or other ovenproof pot with lid), heat the oil over medium-high heat and brown the chicken well on both sides. Remove to a plate and set aside. Stir in the onion and saute until soft. Stir in the cinnamon sticks and bay leaves and add the chopped tomatoes.

Dilute the tomato paste with one cup of the water. Add the diluted paste and 1 cup of the chicken stock to the dutch oven and bring to a boil. Place the chicken back into the pot (the sauce should come up at least 1/2 way to 2/3 of the way up the chicken, so add a bit more water or stock as necessary). Cover the dutch oven with its lid, place it in the oven and cook the chicken for 45 minutes or so.

Uncover the pot, remove chicken to a plate and keep warm. Add the orzo to the dutch oven with the remaining liquid (and more if necessary) and bake for 10 to 15 minutes. Place chicken atop the orzo and bake 15 minutes more until the orzo is tender and the chicken nicely browned.

Serve sprinkled with grated cheese.


***I'm sending this dish over to Ruth of Once Upon a Feast as she is celebrating the 100th edition of Presto Pasta Nights this week. Congrats Ruth and here's to many more yummy pasta round ups!

Pork with Quince -- Hoirino Kydonato

A couple of weeks ago, while at my local fruit and vegetable market, I spotted some quince (kydonia in Greek) and having recently seen recipes featuring quince on a number of yummy blogs I follow, (namely Kopiaste, Food Junkie not junk food, Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska and Kalofagas), I decided to give this versatile fruit a go.

Quince, related to apples and pears, are somewhat pear-shaped and yellow in color. According to sources, the quince likely preceded the apple and is more likely to have been the oft referred to "golden apple" in Greek mythology. In fact, sources say, in Ancient Greece the quince was considered "the fruit of love, marriage and fertility."

It's botanical name, cydonia oblonga--and, of course, its Greek name kydoni--come from the ancient town of Kydonia in Crete, now known as Chania, where the fruit was once famed for growing (please read more on Chania on the ever-so-entertaining and informative blog of Mediterranean Kiwi).

Now onto the dish--I adapted a recipe from Aglaia Kremezi's The Foods of the Greek Islands in which she uses veal to make a stew with quince over the course of two days. I would love to try her original recipe when I have the leisure to allow the meat to marinate (partially cooked) in some of its cooking liquid overnight before then stewing it with the flavorful quince. But for now, this version I made using a juicy center-cut, bone-in pork loin--and just a couple hours of precious cooking time--turned out amazingly well.

Pork with Quince -- Hoirino Kydonato
Adapted from a recipe in Aglaia Kremezi's The Foods of the Greek Islands

3 lb. center-cut, bone-in pork loin
1/4 cup olive oil
2 quince, peeled and sliced
Juice of half a lemon
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup sweet Marsala wine
12 pitted prunes
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Season the pork loin with plenty of salt and pepper and set aside.

Fill a bowl with water and add the lemon juice. Peel and slice the quince thick, dropping pieces you've already sliced int he bowl of lemon water as you work.

In a large dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Pat the quince dry and saute in the oil until nicely browned. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

Evenly brown the pork in the same dutch oven. Once browned on all sides, remove to a plate. Add the onions to the pot and cook, stirring to scrape up all the juicy brown bits, until softened. Stir in the wine and boil for a few seconds. Add the cinnamon stick, bay leaf and allspice and give it all a good stir.

Return the pork back to the dutch oven; add 1/3 of the quince, all the prunes, the chicken stock, salt and pepper to taste and give the dutch oven a good shake to combine it all. Bring the liquid to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for about 50 minutes, basting the roast occasionally with some of the sauce. (Add some more chicken stock if you feel there is not enough liquid during cooking.)

Uncover the pot and place the remaining quince pieces around the pork loin. Cover and simmer until the newly added quince pieces are soft, about 20 minutes or so. Remove the lesser cooked quince to a plate and keep warm. Remove the pork loin and let rest. Season the sauce in the pot with the balsamic vinegar and additional salt and pepper if necessary and keep warm.

Slice the pork loin and serve, topped with the sauce, alongside a couple of quince pieces and--if you like--some rice.

Persimmon Walnut Cake in Orange Syrup

A couple weeks ago I brought home a large shopping bag full of persimmons that my uncle had picked straight off a tree in his garden, right there in the heart of good old Astoria. Every fall I am amazed at just how much fruit this tree produces (the photo you see above of what I was given is probably just a fifth of what my uncle had picked that day, not to mention how many persimmons various birds had feasted on prior to his picking them).

I love to eat them as is, but there were so many and as my husband and kids aren't thrilled with this fruit in particular, I really wanted to use a few in my cooking. So I started to look up recipes and found quite a few savory dishes, but what I was really craving was something sweet. So I got to thinking of a play on karydopita (Greek walnut cake) ... maybe a dense cake of persimmons, walnuts, cinnamon and other spices soaked in a sweet orange scented syrup.

This recipe features a good amount of ground walnuts but I use flour here as opposed to the ground rusks in a traditional karydopita, so I'm not labeling it as such. The pureed persimmons lend a subtle fruit flavor to this rich cake.

I'd like to send this dessert over to Ivy of Kopiaste, Val of More than Burnt Toast and Giz of Equal Opportunity Kitchen for their Time to be Thankful event. I am thankful every day for the amazingly beautiful, large and loving family I have. We are lucky enough to enjoy warm meals every day of the week and I only wish I could say as much for everyone in the world. Perhaps some day things will be different.

Persimmon Walnut Cake in Orange Scented Syrup
Makes one 10-inch round cake


3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 to 5 ripe persimmons, pureed or mashed with a fork if very ripe
1 3/4 cups ground walnuts


Syrup:
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons thyme honey
3-inch strip of orange rind
1 cinnamon stick
3 cloves



Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10-inch round cake pan.

In a bowl combine the flour, cinnamon, salt, ginger, allspice and baking soda and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light. Add the eggs, one at a time, incorporating well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla extract.

Slowly stir in the flour mixture. Add the persimmons and ground walnuts and stir until just combined.

Empty batter into prepared cake pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 35 minutes or so.

While the cake is baking, combine the water, sugar and honey for the syrup in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Spoon off any white froth that may accumulate and add the orange rind, cinnamon stick and cloves. Simmer, covered, over medium low heat until the cake is done.

Pour hot syrup over hot cake once it's removed from the oven. Cool completely and, if possible, let sit for a couple of hours--or even overnight--before cutting and serving.

Lovely Lentils

Lentils in my household are usually used in a common lentil soup made by Greeks that varies slightly from family to family. I usually combine the lentils with plenty of finely chopped onion, garlic, celery, carrot, bay leaf, olive oil, tomato paste, water or vegetable broth and a splash of vinegar once done to make a hearty soup my children thankfully gulp down. During the cooler months of fall, winter and early spring this soup is a weekly staple which I turn into a meal alongside plenty of bread, some Feta, lots of olives and maybe a little melitzanosalata (eggplant spread) or other dip.

The other night I was in a no meat kind of mood and was just about to begin preparing my fakes (that's Greek for lentils, pronounced fah-KES) when I decided I wasn't in a "soupy" kind of mood either. I remembered some friends of mine who come from Cyprus usually make their fakes along the same lines I do (only without the celery and carrot) with the addition of rice. So I started to look up some Cypriot recipes using lentils and rice and through my browsing learnt that this dish is known as Moukentra in Cyprus (Ivy of Kopiaste will obviously know more about this, so correct me if I am wrong Ivy!) but I couldn't find a solid recipe to use as a starting point. I believe it is probably made differently across the island, with coriander used in most cases to primarily flavor the dish.

I did find that a staple of Lebanese cuisine is Mujaddara, lentils and rice topped with caramelized onions. I was extremely intrigued by all the spices the varying Lebanese recipes called for and went on to adapt one to my liking. The cinnamon, cumin and allspice in this dish were so amazingly fragrant while cooking -- they really set the stage for what I found to be a very satisfying meal.

Lebanese Inspired Lentils and Rice with Caramelized Onions
Serves 4 to 6

1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups water
1 cup lentils, rinsed and picked over
1 cup rice
3 large onions, thinly sliced

Heat olive oil in a saucepan; add the one large onion chopped and the minced garlic and cook until soft. Add the cumin, cinnamon and allspice and sauté a minute more. Add lentils and saute another minute. Stir in the broth and bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer about 10 to 15 minutes. Add the rice along with the water and return to boil. Simmer, again covered, until the rice and lentils are done, about 20 minutes or so.

Saute the 3 onions that have been sliced in a couple of tablespoons olive oil until a deep golden color, 18 to 20 minutes. Top individual servings of lentils and rice with caramelized onions and serve.