orange juice tagged posts

Lost and Found: A Pie

I am sure you have lost at some point something. Your keychain, your wallet, your pen, your lighter, your dignity… And many of these items you wish you can get back: Your keychain, your wallet, your pen, your lighter, your dignity… Especially your dignity. The last one however is pretty much unrecoverable. But for the rest you can hope. And actually Greeks have gone to great lengths to strengthen their hope. They have a saint for that and it is very popular. His Name St. Fanourios loosely translates to appear, so it is considered the St. that makes lost things appear again. To his honor there is a pie that is made to commemorate his abilities and acknoedge him. And here is when things get culinary interesting. When tradition, religion and superstition meet, the mix is quite interesting. First of all there is a restriction that requires that you either use 7 or 9 ingredients. That is ok as long as there are other specific guidelines for the types or kinds of the ingredients. If not, the someone can easily cheats by adding nuts, or raisins, or fruits artificially raising the number of ingredients to the target value. So I will follow that rule just because tradition dictates but only to a certain point. I will not count for example almonds and walnuts as two ingredients, they are just nuts. The strangest of all, however, is that Greek orthodox tradition requires that deserts are made according to the lent rules: No Eggs, No Dairy and No Meat.

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Cooking With Sophie

As promised long time ago when I had the post about the slice of heaven, I will visit Sophie and brink you the recipe. Sophie is such a lovely person, that is no wonder why she so much loved in the office by everyone. She gave me this awesome pie a few weeks ago, as a thank you to my small contribution to her cause. Please read the details here. I asked her to let me know when she is making it, so I can visit and take pictures of recipe. She did two weeks ago, but I know find time to post the recipe...The most important part of the recipe is the dough that is the Hamentaschen Dough. A hamantash (also spelled hamentasch, homentash, homentasch, (h)umentash, pluralized with -en or -n) is a pastry in Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine recognizable for its three-cornered shape. It is eaten during the Jewish holiday of Purim. They are made with many different flavors, including prunes, nut, poppy, date, apricot, fruit preserves, chocolate, or even caramel or cheese. Hamantashen are traditionally made by rolling the dough thin, cutting it into circles (of various sizes), placing filling in the center, and folding in three sides. The dough may be a cookie dough with orange juice added, citrus zest added, or a yeast dough.

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