Recipe # 2 - Cyprus Peach Pie

 

So when my dad's brother came to visit us in Canada, my mom made this desert for him. It was a recipe that ran in my dad's family and as my uncle was visiting for awhile she thought he would enjoy it. Every day my mom would open the fridge and the desert decreased in size. But, she couldn't figure out how, as my uncle was not really eating any of the desert during the day. Well, as it turned out, my uncle was also jet lagged and had taken to waking up in the middle of the night and gobbling up large pieces of this peach pie. I think this peach pie is similar to Pringles in the sense that once you start you can't stop. Otherwise, no similarities.

Apart from the milk custard, this is a very easy recipe to make and one that I think is great for summertime dinners or lunches. In any case, making milk custard isn't all that bad if you follow some simple making-milk-custard-for-dummies steps below.

So here are the ingredients:

2 packs of ladies fingers - you might not need them all

2 cans of half peaches (slice medium to thin) buy the ones that are packed in pear juice
7 1/2 tablespoons of corn flower
5 cups of milk
4 or 5 tablespoons cognac or brandy
1 teaspoon vanilla extra or 1/4 of a teaspoon pure vanilla powder
1 tablespoon of orange blossom water
1/3 of a cup sugar
3/4 of a cup sliver almonds roasted
2 cups of whipping cream
2 tablespoons of powder sugar

The first step is to drain the peaches and put the juice in a bowl. You need to then add the cognac or brandy to the juice in the bowl. Then you need to slice the peaches into thin slices like this:

Then, you dip as many ladies fingers as you need in the juice in the bowl in order to cover the bottom of a pyrex pan which is approximately 13 inches by 9 inches. The photos I took are of a pan much smaller, but the method is the same:

Then lay the slice peaches on top of the ladies fingers:

The sprinkle some chopped almonds on top of the peaches. There is no hard or fast rule about how many almonds you sprinkle, just as many as you'd like. Just remember you need to leave some to decorate the whipped cream on top.

Then you need to make the milk custard. (Cue evil daunting music if you haven't made this before). Take 1 cup of milk and dilute the corn flower in it stirring constantly as the corn flour will sit at the bottom if you don't do this all the time.

Then in a pot begin to warm the rest of the milk with sugar. Once it is slightly warm, add the milk with corn flower. Then you must stand and watch it like a hawk. You need to stir the milk constantly with whisk until it boils and a thick cream forms. Once it boils, turn off the heat, but keep whisking for two more minutes until the cream looks glossy. The consistency should be just a little less thick than actual custard. Afterwards, take pot off the hot plate and whisk in the vanilla and orange blossom water.

Then pour the cream over the the ladies fingers and the peaches. I debated whether to include a picture of what this looks like, but I think it's actually better that I show you so that you realise that you should continue to make the pie even though at this stage it will look ... well ... gross.

Once you have poured in the custard, then cover the pyrex with plastic wrap and refrigerate until is cold. Leave a little whole in a corner because the custard will be hot and will obviously make the plastic wrap sweat a bit.

About two hours later or once the custard is cooled, (you can leave it overnight if you want), whisk the whipping cream with powder sugar and a bit of vanilla until stiff peaks. Then spread the whipping cream over the custard and arrange the almonds nicely on top so it looks like the photo at the top. Put it back in the refrigerator to chill and then serve when ready!

Enjoy!! xx

Recipe # 1 - Kapari

Kapari

Hi all. Have you heard of kapari? It's a Cypriot side-dish consisting of pickled baby caper shoots.

Yes, in essence kapari is just pickled weed, but it is pretty tasty.

It is also in fact a very easy recipe to make ... so long as you can find the caper shoots.

The Caper Hunt

So basically, in short, I asked someone if I can go caper hunting with them. I think this is a pretty innocent request, nothing that will bring much amusement. But it does for some reason. Apparently, for starters, I don't have the right shoes. Bah, I say. Ballet flats are just fine. The moufflon doesn't need shoes. Plus, I'm Canadian. We chop down trees with our teeth. Wait, that's the beaver. Nevermind. The point is Canadians are tough. Well, they are supposed to be. Anyway:

Let's just say I ended up in a field with weeds up to my hip and being attacked by various prickly plants and fearing snake attacks.

Here is what I learned about how to pick caper shoots:

One, baby caper shoots are very hard to spot because the caper shoots like to grow on cliffs and are hidden away in other tufts of brown branches. (See second, third and fifth photo above.) Second, I discovered if you have been doing this for years, you will find certain spots that you can always go back to in order to find baby caper shoots. I, of course, have no clue what I am looking for. I have no spots to frequent. All I know is that I should avoid things that sting and hiss.

In about one hour, my fellow gather had gathered a bucket-full of baby caper shoots. I, on the other hand, had gathered five wimpy looking stems and various bug bites.

Because the caper shoots tend to grow on cliff-sides, I would recommend carrying a stick with a hook at the end of it in order to pull the plant towards you in order to pick the baby caper shoots. The stick also comes in handy - as I discovered - if you fall off the cliff-side and need someone to pull you up towards safety.

Moral of the story: ballet flats are for the ballet.

OK, so once you have gathered some baby caper shoots, this is what you need to do in four easy steps to make kapari:

(1) Go to a country where lots of caper plants grow. I can't really help too much with this one. I will just say that if you are in Cyprus, the pretty mountain villages in Paphos are a good place to start. You must pick caper shoots when they are young which means that April is kapari-making season. Because the plants are just starting to produce shoots, it can be a bit tricky to look for these things if you haven't done it before.

(2) Once you have your bunch of baby caper shoots, you need to clean away the thorns. Basically, you just pick them away with a knife the same way you would do if you were clearing thorns from a rose bush. 

(3) Place the shoots into a bucket of water. The water needs to cover the shoots. You must cover the bucket with a lid. It helps to put a rock on top of the lid if it means the shoots will be pressed into the water so that it remains covered. Then, leave it for about a week. Preferably in a room you don't often hang out in because after a week the shoots will start to stink. The two pictures in the top row on the right above show the difference between when first adding the shoots to a bucket, and having left the shoots in a bucket after a week.

(4) Once the shoots have been left for a week in water, they will look a bit dull and less greeny as can be seen in the photo. The next step is to drain the shoots and wash them to get rid of the stagnant water. Once you have done this, you need to take a handful of the shoots and place them in a strainer and throw a generous pinch of salt on top. Repeat this step until all the shoots are placed into the strainer with salt on top. Let them rest for five minutes so that the shoots absorb the salt. Then take the shoots and place them into a bottle-container and fill it with vinegar until the shoots are fully covered. And that's really it! 

Enjoy!!

RECIPE

100 baby caper shoots - or as many as you want
1 Cup of Salt
Red Wine Vinegar

Cover the baby caper shoots with water and let them rest in a bucket for one week. At the end of the one week, take the baby caper shoots from the water and rinse well. Take a handful and put into a strainer. Add a handful of salt on top of the shoots. Repeat this step until all the capers have a generous sprinkling of salt on top. Let the shoots absorb the salt for about five minutes. Then place the shoots in a glass bottle or plastic container and fill until the shoots are covered with red wine vinegar.