Kataifi Greek Shredded Wheat Pastry Food

KADAIFI ME KREMA (GREEK SHREDDED WHEAT PASTRY WITH CUSTARD)

Steps:

• For custard: combine milk and semolina in a heavy pan; blend in beaten eggs and add salt and sugar; place over medium heat and stir constantly until thickened and bubbling; remove from heat, stir in butter and vanilla extract and cover top of custard with plastic wrap (directly on surface of custard) to prevent a skin from forming.
• For pastry: place kadaifi in a large bowl and gently separate strands with fingers.
• Grease 13 x 9 inch glass oven dish with some of the.
• butter; put half the kadaifi in the base, pressing it down somewhat to make it compact; drizzle 1/4 cup butter evenly over it; pour custard filling over kadtaifi, spreading it evenly; top with remaining kadaifi; spread evenly and pat down gently; pour remaining melted butter evenly over top.
• Bake in a preheated 375°F oven for 45 minutes until golden-brown; remove from oven and cool completely.
• For syrup: dissolve sugar in water over medium heat, add lemon rind and cinnamon stick and bring to the boil; add lemon juice and boil over medium heat for 15 minutes, skimming when necessary; do not stir once syrup is boiling; strain hot syrup over cooled pastry; leave until cold and cut into diamond shapes to serve.

TORTA KATAIFI

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• Line the bottom of the springform pan with a layer of the kataifi. Bake until golden brown, 10 minutes. Then cool completely.
• Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F.
• Place the pistachios, cinnamon and cloves in a food processor and process until the nuts are chunky and uniform in size. Do not over process. Reserve half of the nuts for a later use.
• Sprinkle the first half of the nuts over the baked pastry; spread most of the nuts towards the edges of the pan and fade to a light coating in the center of the pan. This will create a nice crust on the back of each piece when the dessert is cut and served.
• In a large mixing bowl mix together the ricotta, cream, sugar and vanilla with a large spoon. In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment or by hand with a whisk, whip the egg whites to stiff peaks. Fold the egg whites into the ricotta mixture with a spatula or rubber scraper. Pour the mixture into the pan over the nuts. Sprinkle the remaining nuts on top of the ricotta mixture similar to the first time, with most of the nuts on the outer edge and fade to lightly coat the center. Spread the remaining sheet of kataifi on top of the cake, covering the entire surface.
• Bake until golden brown and the cake is set, 1 hour 30 minutes.
• Cool the cake completely.
• Pour the hot Citrus Syrup over the cooled cake, then cut and serve.
• Place the sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest and orange zest in a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil then lower the heat to medium-low and simmer until the mixture achieves a syrup consistency, 20 minutes.

MOCK BAKLAVA -- KATAIFI

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Combine first 5 ingredients in a saucepan.
• Gently boil for 15 minutes or until syrupy.
• Place shredded wheat halves in a single layer in a shallow baking pan; drizzle with butter or margarine.
• Bake in oven 10 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring once.
• Sprinkle half of the nuts over the bottom halves of the biscuits & drizzle with half of the warm syrup.
• Replace top halves & drizzle with the remaining syrup.
• Spoon excess syrup over biscuits until absorbed.
• Top with remaining nuts.
• Serve warm topped with whipped cream.

EKMEK KADAIFI (PASTRY TOPPED WITH CUSTARD AND WHIPPED CREAM)

Steps:

• Crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees; pull apart the 'threads' of the kadaifi into a 13x9-inch glass baking dish, packing down lightly with fingertips; drizzle with butter and bake 40 minutes or until golden brown; remove from oven and cool.
• In small pot, combine remaining crust ingredients; bring to a boil and simmer 5 minutes; remove citrus rinds (if you don't want citrus, boil syrup with a cinnamon stick and remove); spoon syrup over kadaifi and cool.
• Custard: Combine flour, cornstarch, and sugar in small bowl; add cold milk and whisk to remove any lumps; whisk in egg yolks; strain mixture through sieve into hot milk.
• Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until it thickens; add vanilla and place plastic wrap directly on surface to prevent skin from forming; cool for 1 1/2 hours.
• Spread custard evenly over kadaifi crust; refrigerate 1 1/2 to 2 hours minimum; then top with layer of whipped cream and decorate with slivered, toasted almonds or pistachios.
• Chill well before serving.

KATAIFI (GREEK SHREDDED WHEAT PASTRY)

Steps:

• Oven at 350ºF.
• Butter a 9x13" baking pan lined with foil to make removing the pastry easier.
• Combine sugar, water & lemon juice in a
• pot. (NOTE - you could also throw a cinnamon stick into the syrup mixture).
• Bring to a boil & simmer, uncovered for 15 minutes, then cool to room temperature.
• Spread half of pastry (or shredded wheat pastry) in bottom of pan.
• Drizzle with half the melted butter.
• Combine the walnuts with the cinnamon &
• nutmeg and sprinkle over the pastry.
• Layer the remaining pastry over the nut
• mixture.
• Drizzle with remaining butter.
• Give it a light 'press' at this stage to meld all the layers.
• Bake for 45 minutes.
• Remove from oven & pour syrup over hot pastry.
• When cool, cut in squares, then in half
• diagonally for triangles. (Allow to sit overnight - you should definitely allow it to sit several hours, unrefrigerated)
• remains crispy.