Galaktoboureko
Well, it's been a long while since I've posted a recipe on here. So let me fix that.
Yesterday, my cousin and I went to find out, from a Greek friend, how to make a custard dessert that she'd brought to a recent party and tasted amazing. The name sounded like "gala-kaburiko," but a bit of Google magic got me the actual name, being "Galaktoboureko" (also spelled Galaktobouriko). So we went over and spent a couple hour of yesterday AM in making it, and here I present to you (and transcribe for my own reference) the recipe! It's quite simple, actually, and apart from the phyllo dough the ingredients are all quickly and easily available.
The Needs:
7 cups whole milk
2 sticks, plus 1 tbsp, butter
6 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup semolina
pinch salt
pinch vanillin*
18-inch-wide box of phyllo dough**
(for syrup)
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
crosswise slice of lemon
bit of brandy (about a shotglass full)
* Vanillin is pure vanilla. It comes in a little bottle and can be bought at Greek stores, and possibly other places. The lady who taught us this recipe paid $2.40 for a bottle the size of my thumb, so don't go overpaying for it! You can probably use vanilla extract instead, in which case I'd recommend about a half teaspoon - enough to make the custardy inside vanilla-scented.
** Phyllo dough is very thin dough that comes in sheets. It can also be bought at Greek stores. It can also be made, but that is just plain ridiculously hard to do; it is very thin - as thin as a sheet of tissue paper, or stiff silk cloth, and is effort-consuming and frustrating. Buying is simpler.
The Doings:
Get your phyllo dought out from the fridge or freezer; set it aside to warm up to room temperature. Pour your 7 cups of milk into a big pot and start warming it on the stove, burner on low heat. If your oven takes a while in warming, preheat it to 350F.
Get a smaller pot and make the syrup: 2 cups sugar, 1 cup water, slice the lemon widthwise so it's a circle. All in a small pot and put it to boil; once it's boiling, let it boil for five minutes, then turn the heat off and let it sit. Pour in the brandy, mix up, let sit.
Get two bowls. Into #1, measure out a cup of semolina. Top it off with a couple tablespoons. Add a cup and a half of sugar, and a pinch salt. Set aside. Bowl #2: break the 6 eggs into it, add half a cup of sugar, set aside.
When the milk is warm, add Bowl #1 (semolina-sugar-salt) and stir with a big whisk. Stir lots. Stir constantly. Don't exhaust yourself, but come back every now and then and stir some more so that the semolina doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot. This is about 15 minutes of stir-wait-stir-wait-stir-wait. The mixture will thicken to the consistancy of, oh, a smoothie. (A thin smoothie, not one of those thick, solid ones.) Plop in the tablespoon of butter. Drop in the pinch of vanillin (or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract).
Pour in bowl #2. Whisk-stir that, with intermittant waits. This won't be 15 minutes, more like 5, and then you take the pot off the heat, put a towel over it, and let it set.
Then wait about 15-20 more minutes! Chill. Relax. Eat a sandwich.
Get out a baking pan with high sides (should be about 2 or 3 inches tall, and about 15 inches by 10). Take your 2 sticks of butter and melt them until they're liquid. Brush some all along the inside of the baking pan (note: this will not use all the butter-juice, only a little bit). Get out your phyllo and lay one sheet over the pan's bottom. Brush it over with butter. Lay down more phyllo. brush with more butter. Lay sheets of phyllo (with butter in-between) so they hang over the pan's sides, so that there is no pan showing through. This should take about 7 or 8 sheets of phyllo dough.
Get your big pot, take the towel off, and pour the custardy mix into the phyllo-covered baking pan. Custardy mix will have small lumps, and that is okay. It will also be delicious. Don't get salmonella.
Now, cut the remaining phyllo dough to fit the pan exactly. Put one sheet down (and butter it) on top of the custard. Fold the hanging-over-the-sides-of-the-pan phyllo over onto top of this sheet; butter, and put down more phyllo sheets, buttering in between each. You will use, in all, about 20 sheets of phyllo - a little less than half under the custard, a little more than half on the top.
Take a knife and cut the whole thing into squares. May also only cut into strips, and properly cut into squares later.
(If your wish you may now let it sit. The cooking takes an hour, so it you want to eat it hot/warm, I suggest only baking it an hour and a half before you intend to eat it.)
Put the whole hot mess into the oven. Let it bake on 350F for an hour. The top, when done, will be golden-brown. Take out of oven. Ladel the syrup over it. (This is why you cut it earlier: so that syrup will get into all the cracks and permeate the whole and make it tasty.) Pour syrup all over that delicious thing.
Let it sit for howeverlong you want, but at least 15 minutes, to give the syrup time to squish into things.
Cut into squares; eat.
DELICIOUS
Yesterday, my cousin and I went to find out, from a Greek friend, how to make a custard dessert that she'd brought to a recent party and tasted amazing. The name sounded like "gala-kaburiko," but a bit of Google magic got me the actual name, being "Galaktoboureko" (also spelled Galaktobouriko). So we went over and spent a couple hour of yesterday AM in making it, and here I present to you (and transcribe for my own reference) the recipe! It's quite simple, actually, and apart from the phyllo dough the ingredients are all quickly and easily available.
The Needs:
7 cups whole milk
2 sticks, plus 1 tbsp, butter
6 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup semolina
pinch salt
pinch vanillin*
18-inch-wide box of phyllo dough**
(for syrup)
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
crosswise slice of lemon
bit of brandy (about a shotglass full)
* Vanillin is pure vanilla. It comes in a little bottle and can be bought at Greek stores, and possibly other places. The lady who taught us this recipe paid $2.40 for a bottle the size of my thumb, so don't go overpaying for it! You can probably use vanilla extract instead, in which case I'd recommend about a half teaspoon - enough to make the custardy inside vanilla-scented.
** Phyllo dough is very thin dough that comes in sheets. It can also be bought at Greek stores. It can also be made, but that is just plain ridiculously hard to do; it is very thin - as thin as a sheet of tissue paper, or stiff silk cloth, and is effort-consuming and frustrating. Buying is simpler.
The Doings:
Get your phyllo dought out from the fridge or freezer; set it aside to warm up to room temperature. Pour your 7 cups of milk into a big pot and start warming it on the stove, burner on low heat. If your oven takes a while in warming, preheat it to 350F.
Get a smaller pot and make the syrup: 2 cups sugar, 1 cup water, slice the lemon widthwise so it's a circle. All in a small pot and put it to boil; once it's boiling, let it boil for five minutes, then turn the heat off and let it sit. Pour in the brandy, mix up, let sit.
Get two bowls. Into #1, measure out a cup of semolina. Top it off with a couple tablespoons. Add a cup and a half of sugar, and a pinch salt. Set aside. Bowl #2: break the 6 eggs into it, add half a cup of sugar, set aside.
When the milk is warm, add Bowl #1 (semolina-sugar-salt) and stir with a big whisk. Stir lots. Stir constantly. Don't exhaust yourself, but come back every now and then and stir some more so that the semolina doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot. This is about 15 minutes of stir-wait-stir-wait-stir-wait. The mixture will thicken to the consistancy of, oh, a smoothie. (A thin smoothie, not one of those thick, solid ones.) Plop in the tablespoon of butter. Drop in the pinch of vanillin (or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract).
Pour in bowl #2. Whisk-stir that, with intermittant waits. This won't be 15 minutes, more like 5, and then you take the pot off the heat, put a towel over it, and let it set.
Then wait about 15-20 more minutes! Chill. Relax. Eat a sandwich.
Get out a baking pan with high sides (should be about 2 or 3 inches tall, and about 15 inches by 10). Take your 2 sticks of butter and melt them until they're liquid. Brush some all along the inside of the baking pan (note: this will not use all the butter-juice, only a little bit). Get out your phyllo and lay one sheet over the pan's bottom. Brush it over with butter. Lay down more phyllo. brush with more butter. Lay sheets of phyllo (with butter in-between) so they hang over the pan's sides, so that there is no pan showing through. This should take about 7 or 8 sheets of phyllo dough.
Get your big pot, take the towel off, and pour the custardy mix into the phyllo-covered baking pan. Custardy mix will have small lumps, and that is okay. It will also be delicious. Don't get salmonella.
Now, cut the remaining phyllo dough to fit the pan exactly. Put one sheet down (and butter it) on top of the custard. Fold the hanging-over-the-sides-of-the-pan phyllo over onto top of this sheet; butter, and put down more phyllo sheets, buttering in between each. You will use, in all, about 20 sheets of phyllo - a little less than half under the custard, a little more than half on the top.
Take a knife and cut the whole thing into squares. May also only cut into strips, and properly cut into squares later.
(If your wish you may now let it sit. The cooking takes an hour, so it you want to eat it hot/warm, I suggest only baking it an hour and a half before you intend to eat it.)
Put the whole hot mess into the oven. Let it bake on 350F for an hour. The top, when done, will be golden-brown. Take out of oven. Ladel the syrup over it. (This is why you cut it earlier: so that syrup will get into all the cracks and permeate the whole and make it tasty.) Pour syrup all over that delicious thing.
Let it sit for howeverlong you want, but at least 15 minutes, to give the syrup time to squish into things.
Cut into squares; eat.
DELICIOUS