Greek Christmas Cookies - Melomakarona

As promised I am back today so I can share with you my favorite Greek Christmas cookies recipe.

This past Sunday I baked quite a few of these traditional honey dipped cookies that we call Melomakarona. The name translates to honey macaroons - loose translation! I just can’t have Christmas without them. Yes, we have many different types of cookies that we bake during the holidays but these ones are my absolute favorite. As far as recipes there are a few variations so there is no right or wrong recipe.

I am sharing mine which I got from my sister many years ago. The uniqueness of this recipe is that it calls for a lot of ground walnuts, an ingredient I love.

Ingredients:

2 cups canola oil

1 cup sugar

6 cups unbleached white flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ cup cognac or brandy

¾ cup orange juice

¼ cup orange rind

2 cups ground walnuts

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground cloves

For the Syrup

3 cups sugar

2 ½ cups water

4 tablespoons honey

For the Top

1 cup coarsely ground walnuts

Grind the walnuts and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the sugar and oil together. If possible use a small mixer for 2-3 minutes; the sugar needs to be completely dissolved.

Dissolve the baking powder and baking soda into the brandy and add into the sugar mixture. Add the orange juice and rind. Add all the spices and ground walnuts. Gradually start adding the flour. Once the mixture starts getting too thick use your hands to mix well. The batter should not stick to your hands. It might be a bit oily because of the ground walnuts but that's perfectly fine.

Form into oval shaped cookies of about 2 1/2 inches long.

Place on baking sheets and bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until they get a golden color. There is no need to grease the baking sheets.

Let the cookies cool off completely before dipping them into the hot syrup.

Preparing the syrup is quite easy. In a saucepan combine the sugar, water and honey. On high heat let it come to a boil then reduce the heat to medium-low. Let it simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.
Dip the cookies in syrup for about a minute. Place on a serving platter and sprinkle some ground walnuts on top.

I would like to share some tips with you regarding the storage of these cookies and/or preparing them ahead of time. We can all find recipes but I believe finding tips and tricks of cooking certain things is much harder. I hope you find these tips helpful.

You can simply bake these cookies weeks ahead of time.

Bake them and let them cool off completely. Don't dip them into syrup so you can   store them in airtight containers separating each layer of cookies with parchment paper. Store them in the freezer until you are ready to serve them. Once you are ready to use them, take them out to defrost for a couple of hours, dip them in hot syrup, sprinkle ground walnuts on top and serve.

If you want to bake them during the holidays you can easily bake them a week ahead of time and even dip them in syrup. Simply put them on a platter and put some plastic over them and that’s all they need as far as storing.

They will be tasty during the whole holiday season if they last that long :-).

Since these cookies have no butter or eggs they do not need any refrigeration.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

They are also wonderful for sharing with friends and family. I usually make extra so I can give to friends!

Litsa

Great Sacramento Restaurants

It’s a well known fact that Sacramento which is the capital of California, is a much smaller city than San Francisco and Los Angeles. Despite it’s small size though, it is a city with lots of natural beauty with a beautiful river crossing it something that makes it quite beautiful in my opinion.

I also find Sacramento a city with lots to do. Dancing, boating and dining out are just a few of the many activities you can do here. Eating out is a fun activity for me especially at all these nice restaurants that the area has to offer. During the five years I have been in the area I have been impressed with many nice restaurants I have tried.

I write about them whenever I get a chance because I believe they should get on the U.S. culinary map.

Last week I ate at Paragarys Bar and Oven. It was not the first time, but once again I enjoyed the food and was impressed with the perfect service! The atmosphere as always was elegant but casual enough to make everyone comfortable. I had the grilled boneless half Petaluma chicken with butternut squash risotto, Bloomsdale spinach, Chanterelle mushroom jus which was delicious! The chicken was juicy and tender and it was paired very well with the sweet creamy risotto. I highly recommend this restaurant for great food at very reasonable prices.

During this weekend I tried Ruth’s Chris restaurant which is well known for its steaks. The top 2% of corn-fed Midwestern beef is served here.

Even though steak is not among my favorite foods, I have to admit that this was one of the best steaks I ever had and I have to admit that I almost finished the entire filet! It was very juicy and tender. I had a medium well filet which was perfect for me. As far as the side dishes that came with the steak, asparagus and mashed potatoes, there was nothing special about them something I would expect for this caliber of restaurant. The atmosphere goes without saying that was very nice and sophisticated and the service was very good. Will I go back? Yes only for a special occasion since the prices are quite high.

I will write again soon, sharing some of my Greek Christmas cookie recipes. I will be doing lots of baking this weekend.

Stay tuned!

Litsa

Fun with Phyllo

Fun with Phyllo was the name of the class I gave this last Saturday at the Sacramento Food Co-op's cooking school. I have given this class a few times and it has always been successful. I define a cooking class successful when people are eager to learn how to cook, in this case with phyllo, ask many questions, and are fully engaged while having fun! It's a hands-on class where people split into groups and they make different dishes using the commercial phyllo dough - the phyllo we use is very very thin layers of dough. I know that some Greek chefs refer to any thin layers of pastry as phyllo but I don't. I am referring to the phyllo you buy in the stores which the dough sheets are very thin - just like sheets of paper hence it's name. Phyllo in Greek means leaf - very thin and fragile.

I love teaching people how to handle phyllo and create with it different dishes. Last week we made small pastries with different fillings that can be served as appetizers but we also made family style dishes like chicken pie and a sweet cheese pie for dessert. When you work with phyllo you need to work fast and have the phyllo sheets covered with a moist towel so they don't get dry. I show people that even when the phyllo sheets brake you can still use it and the end result is equally beautiful.

Here is my recipe for the chicken pie. I know that many cookbooks have chicken pie recipes using phyllo. This is my modified version of a number of those recipes.

Chicken Pie

1 pound phyllo

1 cup unsalted butter

For the Filling

2 boneless chicken breasts approximately 2 pounds

1 cup chopped yellow onion

1 cup chopped mushrooms

1 cup chopped celery

¼ cup olive oil

1 teaspoon dry oregano

2 tablespoons fresh rosemary

3/4 cup chicken broth

Salt

Pepper

For the Bechamel Sauce

2 cups milk

4 ½ tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons butter

1 egg

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup grated parmesan cheese 

First of all, prepare the filling.

Cut the chicken into small bite size cubes.

In a frying pan add the olive oil. On high heat sauté the chopped onions for a few minutes until they are soft. Add the chicken. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and celery. Turn the heat to low.

Add the chicken broth and the herbs. Lastly, add salt and pepper to taste.

Set aside the chicken filling.

In a baking dish of approximate size  15x9 inches, place the first  two phyllo sheets at the bottom of the dish. Brush with the melted butter. Add another two phyllo sheets and repeat the same process. Add 12 sheets of phyllo at the bottom of the dish.

Add the chicken filling.

In a deep saucepan prepare the béchamel sauce.

On high heat, melt  the butter. Add the flour. Turn the heat to medium low. With a wooden spoon stir continuously the flour and butter until the mixture is smooth and soft.

The milk should be warm before adding into the mixture.

Use a whisk to stir the flour mixture with the milk. It will help dissolve any lumps.

Continue stirring until the mixture thickens a bit and it can still easily drop from a spoon. Add the nutmeg.

Remove from the heat. Whisk the egg and add it into the béchamel sauce. Stir quickly so the egg doesn’t curdle. Lastly add the grated cheese.

Pour the béchamel sauce over the chicken filling.

Add 12 sheets of phyllo over the filling, two at a time. Repeat the process you did for the bottom layers.

Using a sharp knife score the top layers into large squares.

Brush the top with butter and then sprinkle with a little bit of warm water. The water will make the top phyllo sheets crunchy once fully baked.

Bake for about 40 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees.

It is fully baked once it has a dark golden color on top.

Serves 6-8

I hope you enjoy it!

Litsa

Dining in Santa Barbara

Last week I visited one of my favorite towns - Santa Barbara. It’s the second time I experienced the beauty of this city and I know I am going to visit it a lot more. I am simply in love with the town. The combination of the sea and the mountains remind me of home and specifically a town in Cyprus – Kyrenia. I know that Santa Barbara doesn’t have the beautiful medieval castle we have in Kyrenia that it’s right on it’s picturesque harbor but both towns have the combination of mountain ~ sea scenery which is so alluring to me.

On Thanksgiving I had lunch at the famous Holdren’s steakhouse in town – the sandwiches that my friend and myself ordered were delicious and so were the homemade fries!

For dinner we went to the quintessential restaurant of Santa Barbaras, Louies, which is located in the beautiful historic Upham hotel. It’s worth eating there at least once. We had the traditional Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, stuffing, lots of mashed potatoes, nice green salad and for dessert pumpkin cheesecake. Overall the food was very good and the portions were very generous. I thought that the dessert was really delicious!

After dinner we made a stop at Chase bistro for a drink. It’s a small bistro right on State street. It’s the second year in a row that I visit the place with no regrets.

This time I also had the opportunity to explore beautiful Montecito which is right next to Santa Barbara. The coastline and the beaches are so beautiful! I could walk or sit by the beach for hours! We had lunch at a small Mexican restaurant in downtown Montecito, called Cava. I highly recommend this small quaint restaurant! The food was fresh, not greasy, very tasty and the service was equally good. I especially liked the décor of this place which is so nicely done that makes the place very inviting.

I live an hour away from Napa Valley which I consider the most beautiful wine country in the United States but I was pleasantly surprised to find the Santa Ynez mountains quite beautiful. There are many wineries in the area which are widespread, each one holding it’s unique identity. After doing some wine tasting and visiting the town of Solvang we had dinner in down town Santa Barbara. We chose a restaurant on State street that I highly recommend. We had mouthwatering pasta dishes and great red wine at Pascucci’s. The delicious food, the casual atmosphere, the friendly people and the excellent service make me give it a 10 out of 10! During dinner we also enjoyed the wonderful live music that was playing by the band called Luna Gitana – a trio of musicians playing Latin music. I simply want to go back there for dinner or lunch. I had their pasta dish called Milano – Tomato-basil linguini with shrimp and roasted garlic-cream sauce – simply delicious!

If you have any information on wine and dining in Santa Barbara area please share with me.

Litsa