Phyllo Fun
Today we would head back to the house and jump right into making phyllo dough for the crunch cheese pie we'd be making. The dough would be used for making what is called The Lazy Woman's Pie since the idea is that you can just throw a mixture of ingredients you'd most likely already have in your refrigerator together to make a quick and easy meal. When it came out, it looked unlike any pie I'd ever seen; it was huge and not the traditional dainty, perfectly round, symmetrical shape with a pinched crust as you'd imagine for a quiche or apple pie. Despite the atypical structure of the dish, it tasted really good. You could taste each ingredient, although there were but a few, I enjoyed it because each element of the pie stood out and blended together perfectly. The layering of the pie was very simple and included crumbled feta cheese, drizzled olive oil on each sheet, and a generous sprinkle of oregano all brushed with egg wash.
Making the dough was the most hands on and fun part of making the dish. We used a very skinny rolling pin to roll out the dough paper thin- the thinner, the better. The only obstacle was making sure that the dough didn't have any wrinkles or holes in it. Being the novice chefs we were, I'm pretty sure everyone stumbled upon that challenge. While some were defeated and others embodied more of a natural touch for preparing the dough, we had a ton of fun in the process.
Next, we would get to work on the next pie, spanakopita, a zucchini or green's pie. There would be spinach, zucchini, arugula, chard, beet greens, dill (finely chopped), scallions, parsley, mint, and crumbled feta cheese that would fill the inside of the pie. This too was a really nice dish and one that I equally liked in comparison to the Lazy Woman's Pie. The main difference was the complexity in the ingredients that were used. For this dish, we used more techniques and tools for the creation. For example, a colander was used to hold the the combined greens which would then be sprinkled with salt and knead to wilt. After that, the drained greens would need to be be mixed with cheese, eggs, and the other ingredients whereas in the Lazy Woman's Pie, you were only working with 3 simple ingredients, repeating the same process for each layer.
A cornmeal breaded bogue fish would be brought out for our third entrée. It was different than what I had imagined when they said we'd be eating today's catch. The fish was served grilled but the kick was that it still had its eyes and bones in him. Once I'd figured out how to actually eat the thing I enjoyed the meat I could get out of it, although there wasn't much after deboning and cutting off the head and tail of the fish. It was perfectly flakey and tender and I would've eaten another one but the struggle of butchering the fish just wasn't worth it to me especially knowing there'd be plenty more food to come.
In fact, a sample of cheeses was immediately brought out after the fish was served. We'd seen this arrangement before of a variety of aged cheeses and a mixture of different types of milks. One was made with cow's milk, another with a mixture of goat and sheep milk, one with peppercorns, and the last one was similar to a bleu cheese made from goat milk.
Afterwards, a sample of locally harvested honey was delivered to the table, none of which were sweet tasting. They all left very unique flavors on the pallet. I think they were just too strong for my liking, too bitter and musty tasting.
Finally, for dessert, we would make amygdalotas, flourless almond cookies. I wasn't a fan of these, but they were alright for what they were worth. Mixed with the egg whites was sugar, lemon liqueur, orange blossom water (you can use almond extract too), and blanched almonds. I'd had flourless cookies before and wasn't really a fan. They just tasted like they were missing something and weren't as sweet as I like my desserts. I did end up taking a few of them just to eat the almonds off the top though; I found that I like almonds without the skin on them better so that was a plus!
For dinner, we'd eat a this restaurant called Vourkaríon. Paige and I got there earlier than anyone else and met Antonio, who would be our server. He was so nice and as we went to sit down, he gave us a disapproving look. As we backed away he made the suggestion that we sit on the other side of the table on the end so we'd have the best view of the sunset. We took his advice and man was he right! We had a perfect view of the port and it made for a great ambiance to set the tone for the night.
We started with the typical appetizers like bread with tzatziki, fried zucchini, and a Greek salad. However, at this restaurant we were also brought out beet dip. It looked really intimidating because of its bright purple color and tzatziki consistency. Although, to our surprise, the beet dip was better than the tzatziki sauce. There was something really refreshing about the dip and it was had a sweetness to it that the tzatziki didn't have.
Next, we were served something called moussaka which is essentially a shepherd's pie. It was a layered dish with sheep meat cooked in a tomato based sauce. There were potatoes layered into the pie which was then topped with a sheet of cheese. The potatoes were incredibly fluffy, creamy, and smooth tasting; they were addicting. I avoided the sheep meat having gotten use to eliminating the excess amount of meat in my diet after Italy. It didn't look like anything special; it looked like ground beef.
For dessert, we had baklava and it was so great! The flakey pastry, made from phyllo dough, with nuts and honey was the best way to end the night. Just as we thought we were finished, watermelon was brought out and that was just the cherry on top.
