How to Make Baklava

"Baklava is a dessert of Turkish origin, dating from the fifteenth century, today popular also in Greece and throughout the Middle East.  Layered with nuts and drenched in sugar syrup or honey, it is the best known of all the phyllo pastries.
In Greece it was originally an Easter specialty, made with 40 layers of pastry representing the 40 days of Lent."              from The Joy of Cooking, pg. 918

Good enough reason for us to make it; that and it's supremely nummiful.  It's also a bit fiddly, as you will see.

Before beginning any recipe, it is important to assemble all your ingredients.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Butter the bottom and sides of a 13 x 9 - inch baking pan.  (Oooops - forgot to butter the pans.  Oh well.  We don't have a 13 x 9 pan, so we used two 8 x 8 pans, unbuttered...)


Finely chop or coarsely grind:
3 cups coarsly chopped nuts (walnuts, pistachios, almonds, and/or pecans), toasted.

We used red millet, canary seed, white proso millet, oat greats, safflower seeds, nyjer seed, buckwheat, 1/2 cup sesame seeds, 1 1/4 cup walnuts, 1 1/4 cup pistachios.


Stir together in a small bowl:
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (ooops - no lemon.  Skip that ingredient)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon


Melt:
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter (it wasn't enough)


Stack flat on a work surface:
1 pound phyllo dough


(Or you may choose to make your own.  If you choose this arduous route, please give yourself an extra 4 hours and a glass of wine.)

Trim the phyllo into 13 x 9 - inch sheets (8x8, roughly) saving the scraps for another use (trash).  Cover the stack with plastic wrap and a damp towel.

Place 2 phyllo sheets in the baking pan and brush the top sheet evenly with the melted butter (or with nasal mucous, whatever you like).

Add 2 more sheets and brush with the butter, then repeat once more for a total of 6 sheets.  Sprinkle with half of the birdseed nuts and then half of the sugar mixture (since we were making two pans, we had to quarter these measurements as best we could).

Cover the filling with 2 phyllo sheets, butter the top sheet, and repeat until there are 6 sheets on top of the filling.  Cover with the remaining nuts and sugar mixture.
Grate:

1/3 cup gruyere cheese


(This step is optional and may help to relieve the anxiety and/or frustration you will experience in handling the phyllo dough.)




Cover with all of the remaining phyllo sheets, adding them 2 at a time and buttering only the second sheet each time.  Brush the top with the remaining butter (there was none).

Using a sharp serrated knife so that the patry will not be crushed, cut through all of the layers  to make 2-inch diamonds or squares.

This is important because you will not be able to cut the baklava once it is baked without crushing the pastry; it also allows the syrup to soak in and around each piece (thereby ensuring maximum cavity production).  Bake for 30 minutes.  Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees.  Continue to bake until the baklava is golden brown, 46 to 60 minutes.  During the last 30 minutes of baking, combine in a saucepan:
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 1/3 cups water
1/3 cup honey
Zest of 1 orange, removed in large strips (a potato peeler did the trick.)

Bring the mixture to a gentle boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.  Strain the hot syrup (let the fear of God enter you at this moment) and pour evenly over the baked baklava.  Let cool completely, at least 4 hours (HAH! Very funny!  Good luck on that one) at room temperature before serving.




Happy Easter and enjoy the Baklava with your favorite feathered friends.  You may now eat the gruyere.

Apples!

Last weekend, we went with some friends of ours from Singapore, the Bridgemans, to go apple picking. This was an outing I looked forward to every fall when I still lived in California, and missed terribly while I lived in Singapore. And, being the kinda tech-saavy girl that I am, I brought my camera with no batteries. So, I don't have pictures of the tiny little orchard we went to, or of how beautiful the blue, cloudless sky was, or of how wonderful the weather was. I can't take pictures of the temperature, anyway. But it was a lovely day and I was so happy.

We were warned that the orchard had suffered a hail storm (on May 15th!) so the apples were pocked, but still tasted good. We found that to be very true.

So with a huge quantity of apples (and a gigantic pumpkin, to boot), I started hunting for recipes. Apple butter is a bit too complicated, I think. So my first apple endeavor was applesauce.



I pulled all the winesap apples from the basket for this recipe; they are tart and perfect for cooking.

The flesh is almost hard, and very white. And the peels can be so dark, I almost thought they were plums when I went to pick them.


The recipe called for 3 or 4 pounds, and by hitting a conversion site online, I found that that was about 2 quarts, peeled and cored and quartered.




Here they are with the rest of the ingredients: a 3" piece of cinnamon stick, 4 peels of lemon rind, the juice of a lemon, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup white sugar, and a cup of water. The recipe allowed that not all of the white sugar need be added, but I had tasted these apples and knew they were tart and so I added the full amount. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 30 minutes, and voila!


Apple mush! Now remove the cinnamon stick and the lemon peels which are hard to find but also hard where everything else is mushy.
Last year, when I went to clean out my mother's house, I inherited a food mill. I use it to make mashed potatoes now and then, and it is great! Now I used it to make applesauce, and it worked like a charm.




Have you ever had hot applesauce? I never had, but I have found a new love.


Home made applesauce is very similar to store bought, except perhaps it's a bit denser. I think Motts says they use gravenstein apples, but the winesaps make such a great flavor contrast: tart/sweet.
This was such an easy recipe, I hope you will try to make your own applesauce. I have so much, I may try to make an applesauce spice cake with some of it. We'll see. It was delicious with cottage cheese and walnuts for breakfast this morning, too.

No Camera!

And so no posts!

But I did want to share a recipe I invented/stole/adapted that was so yummy, you will want to try it out immediately. Like now.

Hot Craisin Chicken Salad

1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, shredded

2 celery stalks, bias cut into slices

1/2 cup craisins

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

1 teaspoon dill weed

1 half-pint lite whipping cream

1 dollop fat free cream cheese

8 oz. bow tie pasta

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

salt, pepper, and olive oil

Saute celery slices in a little olive oil until hot and softened. Add whipping cream, craisins, chicken, poppy seeds, dill, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to slow boil, add cream cheese, simmer.

Meanwhile, cook pasta according to common sense.

Toss cooked pasta with chicken mixture and sprinkle with sunflower seeds, if desired. Or, place sunflower seeds on table and allow everyone to make up their own minds about them. I liked them.

My sister and I have definite plans to see each other "soon" so I will have my camera again. Until then, I will try to think of posts that require no camera.

And the unpacking continues....

Some Welcome News

This morning my DH received two emails from the University of Potsdam.

They were both in German and had to be translated. Funnily enough, the first one informed us (in German, no less) that he would be permitted to submit his dissertation in English. However, he will have to submit a 10-page conclusion in German. Given the availability of translation software, this should not be a problem.

But this is not the acceptance letter we are waiting for, which he needs in order to request scholarships.

The second letter was from the International Scholar's office, to alert us that some forms are still missing for matriculation, but we knew that and we can do that after we arrive in Germany.

All of this is strangely anti-climactic seeing as we've been waiting for so long to find out where we're going from here. There are still hurdles to be jumped before we are certainly going to Berlin, but we are one step closer. I am having a hard time feeling anything about it, but I guess maybe I will later.

Limbo is not a nice place to visit, even for vacation.

The Floating Bead Necklace Tutorial

Well, this was the necklace I really wanted to make almost two weeks ago, but didn't have the correct beads.

Please do not assume I'm any kind of expert here, altho I gladly share a tutorial with you. I'm sort of a happy idiot when it comes to jewelry making: I'll just try whatever. I'm sure there's a more proper way to do this, but I didn't know it, so this is how I did it:

I started with Swarovski beads in three sizes and 7 colors:

4 each of 4mm bicone beads in red, orange, yellow, green, aqua, blue and purple.
3 each of 6mm bicone beads in red, orange, yellow, green, aqua, blue and purple.
1 each of 8mm bicone beads in red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. They didn't have the aqua in an 8mm bicone.


Next I cut five strands of monofilament:
1 at 23"
1 at 22.5"
1 at 22"
1 at 21.5" and
1 at 21".



After I cut these strands, they wanted to curl up and get mixed up and generally drive me bats. So I decided to stick a piece of cello tape on the end of each strand, with a number to indicate the correct order. I then taped these ends down to my work surface and beaded onto the open end.

The idea for the necklace is that I wanted it to look like the beads were sprinkled all over my neck and were just floating there. So, I drew five lines on a piece of paper and sprinkled the beads all over the paper to get a random effect for placement.



Of course, they didn't just fall right on the lines like good little beads. I used a chopstick (of all things!) to sort of organize them, making them fairly equally distributed.

Now I have to tell you about my magic beads. They're called crimping beads, and I had bought one hundred .925 silver 1X1.1mm crimping beads. That's really smalls, shiny little thingies.

Sorry this is a little fuzzy.

Incidentally, I work on a towel because the surface makes it ideal to keep beads from rolling all over. If, however, you dump these little crimping beads onto a terry towel, you are going to lose them. They are so small.

And because they are so small, and because the 8mm beads have a largish hole in them, I decided the best way to do this would be to sandwich the large beads between two of the 4mm beads, whose holes are not too small, in order to keep them in place.

Like this:



But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The basic technique for this necklace, once you've decided on beads and placement, and you've cut all your monofilament in the right lengths, is to bead a crimper bead on your first string, crimp it (by gently squeezing it with a flatnose pliers) where you want your first bead or beads to go, then put your bead or beads on, and finally to string another crimper and crimp it behind the bead or beads. You don't want to make it tight against the bead, just let gravity tell you where to put this second crimper.

Now, with the previous necklace with the faux black leather cord and the Czech glass beads, I was real careful about centering and so forth. With this one, I just dove in and put this first grouping of beads wherever. I figured I could fill in the blank spaces on successive strands as I went along. It worked out pretty well this way.



So, I finished the first strand and continued onto the second, filling in the gaps from the first strand. The designing of this became very fluid as I went along. At one point, I nudged my paper map and the beads went all over and I had to separate them all over again. I almost could have just put the beads in a bowl and picked them randomly that way. And when I got to the last strand, I decided I had too many beads, so I added a few to the first strand.



Here they are, before the closure. You can see there is a randomness, but also order to the way the are laid out. Some strands have spaces, other strands have beads in that space. I wasn't going to be too particular about randomizing the color placement, tho. I just let a red bead be next to a red bead if that's the way it went. But I was careful to make sure the 8mm beads were pretty evenly spaced. I guess I was just using an equal part of careless and careful. How's that for scientific?

So, next I gathered the left side of the strands, and then I strung another magic type of bead.



For the life of me, I can't remember what these beads are called. I'm sure it has something to do with their function.

I took the strands again, made sure they were even, and tied a knot around two inches from the end.





And this is where I stopped being able to take good pictures. But here is the knot, anyway. Just an overhand knot tying them all together.
Then I cut about a half inch away, took a cigarette lighter and melted the ends together. Do this a little at a time as they melt and burn fast. But when the melted part was right on top of the knot, I stopped.



In another stunning feat of photography, you can almost see that I slid that last unnamed magic bead up over the knot, and crimped it close. That bead has a little loop at the end of it, to attach a jump ring to.

I did this operation on both ends of the necklace, and of course the strands twisted like crazy. I just let them. It was then I decided it was a little short for my chunk of a neck, so I added several jump rings to one end of the necklace. I put a closure on the other end, and it was done!






Of course, one could practically staple Swarovski beads to one's neck and it would still look beautiful. Hard to make a mistake with such lovely materials.

If you attempt to make this necklace, please send me your questions and a photo of the end product. Thanks!

Frittata Whatta?

Frittata with Arugula, Lemon, Dill and Feta

I had the week of potlucks this past week, and for the last one I played around and invented a frittata. This was always going to be iffy as I had a recipe for a frittata with different ingredients, and because I was going to serve it to Chinese Singaporeans, and who knows what they'll think of something like this?

So I started with chopped onion, which I sauteed slowly in some olive oil in a non-stick pan. I cooked them until they were browning nicely, about 10 minutes, because I thought I might need a little sweetness in this dish.

Then I put in the arugula, which was a little scary as I've eaten it raw, but have never cooked it. And it smelled a little funny while it was cooking - not good. But I guess I used around 2 cups. Then I had about a tablespoon of fresh dill, chopped, and about half a lemon zest, grated. I put these ingredients in after the arugula wilted nicely. The smell began to improve at this point.

Next I added 5 eggs and I tilted the pan to make sure they were evenly distributed. I had sliced some red peppers - not bell peppers, but another kind that has a little heat. I made a decorative arrangement with these. Then I crumbled some feta all over the top. As I was cleaning up my materials while the frittata was setting up, I noticed I had a tomato in the refrigerator, so I sliced some of that and made more decorative arrangements with them.

After about 10 minutes, I needed to transfer the whole shebang to the oven to get the top to brown and set up. But the non-stick pan I was using has a plastic handle. So I fiddled around under the frittata with a spatula until it was mobile enough, and then I slid it into the pyrex pie dish. Phew! That could have been a disaster, but it wasn't.

Well, it all went well and I brought it the meeting and waited. We ate buffet style, and I was one of the first one through. So, I took a wedge and moved on. Later I went back and the frittata was almost gone! I was so surprised! But it was really delicious. You taste the lemon first, then the dill and the arugula, and then the heat of the peppers, followed up by the creaminess of the feta. Are you drooling yet? I was quite pleased. I hope you try to make this recipe. Let me know what you think. No one at our meeting said a peep to me, so I need some feedback. Thanks!

Craft Therapy

This afternoon, we had family craft time. My husband had been saving empty toilet paper rolls for weeks, insisting that he was going to make something out of them. The original plan was an angel choir, but I didn't really think I would want to live with something like that in my house. Never mind the fact that we have very little horizontal surface that isn't decorated already.

So, I got out the paint and glitter and covered the table. I summoned both husband and daughter, and we started painting



We painted both the inside and the outside.



After the paint was dry, the cuts were made. First, I followed the line of one of the seams.



Then, I cut again every half inch or so.




The cuts were made to about 1/4" from the top.



After cutting, I made a slight crease at the top of each spiral, parallel to the top of the tube, to make them curl back in towards the center.



It was at this point that the glitter and sequins were added to most of the ornaments - this one was glittered before cutting. Two holes were pushed through the top of the tubes, a thread was drawn through, and they were ready to hang.



Well, at least it kept us off the street for a couple of hours.

Beating One's Head Against the Wall

Yesterday was a day of failed attempts. A day of not quites. One of those days where one must spend the creative energy that is building under the surface, yet every creative enterprise leaves one wanting.

So, I started the day making a batch of cookie press cookie dough. Standard Christmas cookie recipe, and it needs to be refrigerated so I thought I'd just make the dough and my daughter and I would cook them later. So far, so good.

Then I decided to make a cookie from Gourmet's site. They have the most popular cookie for every year since 1940, and there were some that looked interesting, so I wanted to try. The cookie of choice was the Cranberry Pistachio Icebox Cookies. Here's their picture.


I think you can see why I wanted to make them.

Here's what mine looked like:



Ahem. Not quite.
Well, the recipe has to be chilled for 2 hours, so I spent lots of time goofing around with them, and then I wasn't happy with the result.
Why wasn't I happy? Well, the dough is so crumbly, and you have to chill it and then slice it, but those are whole pistachios and cranberries in the dough. Not very easy to slice with crunchy, chewing stuff in there. So it was a total mess. Those two cookies up there are probably the only ones that looked like that. The rest are not very pretty at all.
I realized, too late, that the problem was that I substituted shortening for the butter. I also substitued equal for the sugar, but I don't think that made the dough much different.

Moving on...

While the cookies were baking, I attempted a paper craft.
I have this picture on my desktop currently:


And I've been looking at these star lanterns thinking I could probably figure out how to make one. I had a failed attempt two days ago that left me better educated and more determined. Then I found a pattern online, and after running out and buying more red paper, I made a template and tried again.


Sure, it looks pretty good here. But it's not.


It's in the gluing of this last spoke that things are coming apart at the seams. Literally, I have a tear somewhere in there.


And then there's this little bubble.

Sheesh! Can't I have one thing I attempt work out?

So, by now it's nearing 3:00. I haven't showered yet, let alone brushed my teeth. So I took a break from the creative stuff and when I came back, I decided dinner was going to be the thing that worked out.



Ratatouille's Ratatouille worked out just wonderfully, even though I cheated on the recipe. Instead of all the rigamarole with the tomato sauce, I just used some traditional Prego with some red wine and balsamic vinegar added.



And it was delish.

Phew!

Pot Holder Tutorial

Due to overwhelming response (one request), I will post the instructions for the pot holders. I love to teach!


Begin by cutting strips 2 inches wide by at least 18 inches long.

I have multiples of each color here because I'm making multiple pot holders.



Sew your strips together with a quarter-inch seam and press the seams all in one direction. Trim the top and bottom edges even after sewing.


Trim your strips so that you have one piece that measures 9 1/2 inches by 10 inches, and one piece that measures 9 1/2 inches by 7 inches.


To the 9 1/2 by 7 inch piece, attach a 2 inch strip at the top and bottom. Press the seams toward the 2 inch strip.


You should now have two blocks measuring 9 1/2 inches by 10 inches. In the picture above, the back, and the front.



Now cut three layers of batting at the same measurement as your blocks. I use Hobbes Heirloom, and I have so many scraps that this project is an ideal way to use them up.
If you're smart, you will also include two layers of heat-resistant fabric which is pretty easy to find in the States, but I didn't even try to locate any in Singapore.


Pin and baste stitch all three layers of the batting to one of your blocks.


Your basting should be at a scant 1/8th inch so that it wont show through when the final 1/4 inch seam is sewn.


For the next step, you will need 5 inches of double-fold bias binding tape in a coordinating color. Make a loop and sew diagonally across the edge of the tape at a corner of your basted block, sewing back and forth several times to make a strong connection.


Pin the other pieced block right sides together to the basted block and stitch at 1/4 inch, leaving an opening for turning at the bottom of the block. Need I say it? You should always lock your stitches at the beginning and ending of every seam, and that is particularly important when you have a project that you have to turn to right side.
And one more thing:

Sew diagonally across the corners for 3 or 4 stitches to make the corners really nice when you turn them.

Now clip the corners and turn the pot holder right side out. Press.


Carefully fold under the open seam at the bottom and pin.


Stitch across the opening at a scant 1/8th inch. Press. Quilt as desired. I stitched in the ditch on the front.


Finished pot holder:front


Finished pot holder: back


I hope these instructions are clear and I didn't leave out any vital information, like how much flour to add to the cookie dough recipe. Please let me know if you make any pot holders from this pattern and how the instructions worked for you! Good luck!