Greekish Feast

This was a wonderful Greekish feast with J's parents who visited us.

Starters were two kinds of humus with J's special seasoning and pita chips. Somehow I missed taking a picture of it.

One of the main dishes was J's mother's artistic Greek salad. So beautiful! The other dish was Gyros & Tzatziki in homemade pita bread that I practiced a few weeks ago. They were absolutely delicious. I doubled the size of pitas this time so that we could easily fill the "pockets" with generous portion of Gyros, Tzatziki, Feta, tomato and lettuce.

As a side dish, I made Spanakopita (spinach pie) with pine nuts. The filling was simple but tasty: spinach, scallion, dill, Feta, lemon juice, black pepper, and pine nuts. Thin two layers of buttered filo sheets was right to make light flaky triangles.

Desserts were Portokalopita (orange pie) and fresh fig ice cream with honey and mint - I tried to stick to the Greek theme. While I was looking through various Geek dessert pictures and recipes, Portokalopita from Crete caught my eye. It was called a "pie," but seemed more like a Greek yoghurt custard pudding, using filo dough flakes as part of filling to make somewhat layered texture, which sounded interesting. The pie would be chilled and covered with orange syrup and candied orange slices - it would be perfect on another hot summer day.

I checked multiple recipes for this attractive orange pie, including a couple of Youtube videos in Greek (I guessed it was) which I didn't understand but could see the procedure, and created my version. It was delightful!

Fresh fig ice cream was creamy and refreshing, but I would reduced cream ratio next time to enhance fig flavor. By the way, I always wonder why figs in the US are so small...

Portokalopita
MAKES one 8" x 8" baking pan

1 orange sliced
1 cup sugar
2 cup water
1 stick cinnamon
1 tbs honey
1/2 cup orange juice
4 eggs
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup olive oil
1 cup Greek yoghurt
2 tsp vanilla extra
orange zest from 2 oranges 
1-2 tbs Grand Marnier
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup raisins
8 oz filo dough, thawed, torn into small pieces

1. For candied orange and orange syrup, cook orange slices in boiling water for 1 min, drain, repeat, drain.
2. Heat sugar and water until sugar dissolves, add twice-cooked orange slices and cinnamon stick, cook 30 min, string frequently.
3. Remove candied orange slices, cool, set aside. Stir in honey and orange juice in syrup, cool, set aside.
4. For pie, whisk eggs, sugar, olive oil, yoghurt, vanilla extra, orange zest, Grand Marnier, baking powder, raisins in a bowl.
5. Stir in filo pieces gently, pour into lightly oiled baking pan, bake 350 F, 35 min.
6. Pork small holes all over the pie with a tooth pick, pour cooled syrup over the pie while the pie is hot.
7. Chill in refrigerator, serve with candied orange.