Aperitif (or cocktail hour) flower!

Living in France, I became keen with the idea of an "aperitif" that is a cocktail hour in between meals that might include a simple drink or a small buffet with some finger food.
Have a glimpse of the latest trend that I did in a hurry with whatever I had in my fridge and that was still delicious despite all odds :)
I had only 1 pastry dough so I made half the flower but it's enough to get the idea still...

Ingredients
2 round ready-made puff pastry (pate feuillete in french)
2 eggs
1 cup of grated cheese (Gruyere is great)
some decoration seeds e.g, sesame 

Procedure

Pre-heat the oven at 200 degrees of Celsius and fan.
Beat in a small recipient the 2 eggs with a fork.
Open one pastry and with a kitchen brush you cover all the surface with half of the eggs.
You add on top the cheese trying to cover evenly all the surface. You cover with the other layer of pastry dough and you "close" the edges by pressing with a small fork.

You cover the middle part with a round mug or bowl and you cut evenly all around in 1 cm parts from the edge to the mug. Once done, you twist each part 2-3 times and finally you cover the top by brushing it with the rest of the egg. Add some decoration seed in the center to make it look as a flower. Bake for about 10min or until it has a nice golden color.
The result is really delicious that I managed to eat only one tiny part that was left from my family's excitement :))) And my, it was divine! and beautiful too btw...

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Recipe reminder/Whole grain bread-Lasagne

I had a crave today for home-made bread. What a great occasion to review my old recipe of whole grain bread! 

How about trying it once?

And what did I cook today? Lasagne.
Needless to tell you that my family got excited ;)
Have a look at both recipes to see what I mean...

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Recipe reminder (muffins)

I am currently reading an interesting book about consuming sugar. So, I was resisting in making a sweet treat, but I admit that I am addicted and I cannot avoid it :)
Have a look in my chocolate-banana muffins to see why I could not resist...
Try NOT to do them! :P

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Recipe reminder (curry)

What am I cooking today? Not Greek for once :)
I would like to remind you a curry recipe that I like and my kids too btw.
As kids make hard criticism in general (ok, they are a bit softer with mum still, but not always), I think that it worths to consider it for one of your next meals.
Are you ready for my chicken curry recipe, then?
Go for it!

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Recipe reminder (Gemista)

Time to remember a nice vegetarian Greek recipe "Stuffed tomatoes, the greek way" or "Gemista" as we call it in Greek.
It deserves all your attention... Light, healthy, tasty, good-looking, what more to ask from a recipe?
Simply, enjoy!

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Recipe reminder (Tyropitakia)

I would like to remind you a salty greek recipe that I just cannot resist :
"Tyropitakia", the feta cheese pies!
If you haven't tried it yet, just do... if you have, just give me some feedback of what do you think of it or tell me your own recipe, if you like sharing :)
You can even offer them in a nice gift box to someone, to give you some ideas. I always do that, when I want to thank someone ...
Specifically made today as a surprise for one of my kids that I missed soooo much ;) Enjoy!

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Coconut "Ravani"

Ok, a difficult day for me (2 of may) has passed and life gets it's rhythm again. So, what's best than trying my favorite Greek cake? Coconut "Ravani" or Coconut semolina moist cake :)
Do you remember the recipe for ravani? If not, time to revise it ...
Find today a slightly different version that is one of my favorite Greek cakes with flaked coconut.


Ingredients1 cup of sugar
1 cup of self-raising flour + 1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 cup of semolina
1 cup of flaked coconut
6 eggs
1/3 cup of milk
For the syrup:
3 cups of water
2 cups of sugar
lemon zest
1 cup of butter

Procedure for the cake

Preheat the oven in air and 170 degrees of Celsius.
Whisk the sugar with the eggs until they get whiten and thick, adding little by little the milk. Mix in another bowl the rest of the ingredients  and add them slowly to the mixture.
Empty in an oven dish that you have buttered well before.
Bake for about 30-35min.
Cut it in medium diamond shaped parts. Leave it to cool and start preparing the syrup.

Procedure for the syrup
Boil all the ingredients in a small casserole apart from the butter for about 5-6min. At the end, add the butter and mix until it is melted completely and integrated in it.
Pour slowly on the cake all over until all the syrup is absorbed in the cake.

Add the extra flaked coconut on top to decorate the cake. Leave it to rest for a few hours, ideally serve it the next day.
Store it covered in the fridge. Every day that passes it gets even better, yummy :)

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