Hi everybody! I Jeremy, am a mix of Italian, German-Austrian, English, Egyptian, and a hint of Greek. When people think of Greece, they think of scenic islands, surf and turf dinner and “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” 1 and 2. (We liked the sequal better, but that’s not the point.)
We went to Greek Fest in Troy NY: (Attach video 1, Video 2, Video 3) and found a cookbook, “The foods of the Greek Islands” by Aglaia Kremezi next to the miniature structures of the Parthanon. There were a couple recipes that we wanted to try. Good thing we both love cheeses.
We started out with the Ticanopita Me Feta, an egg and cheese pancake made in the oven with a very loose batter full of black pepper and oregano. You can use other herbs and even honey according to my investigation. Just don’t forget to GREECE the pan before it goes in. Get it? Please excuse that, he thinks he’s funny…I am! Not.
Eggs are a must. This one took __. That’s about % of a dozen. It’s something to keep in mind when grocery shopping. Suddenly those 4-packs look REALLY skimpy. We go through eggs very quickly in my family. 2 per person is 8 gone. Then Jeremy darling c came into my life 3 years ago. 2 more eggs come into account at breakfast. 12-8 becomes 12-10, thus only 1 dozen is simply not enough.
This may be classified as a “pancake”, but clearly this is more like a 4-6 person breakfast cake since we had to bake it in the oven and slice it with a knife. The most important thing about using oven recipes is to grease your pans heavily. We once tried to bake popovers, and we didn’t use enough grease, so it stuck to the bottom and we had to scrape i.e. scratch a perfectly good baking tin. Not exactly our brightest moment. Good thing it was off-camera.
Our favorite part was by far the ample amounts of feta cheese. It can be very chalky if it’s made cheaply, skimping out on good quality. We find the Athenos brand to be very solid, cheesy, and has next to no salt added. I’d describe it as being like mozzarella, but without the stretch and more of a crumble. It breaks apart super easily.
If you don’t have feta laying around, goat cheese will suffice. It’s creamier than most cheeses, isn’t chalky at all and usually has great body to it. A farmer’s market vendor sold us a few ounces of goat, sheep and cow cheese blend for our Arabian night a month ago.
Once we finished baking and started eating, we were treated to real Greek comfort food. I swear it was like a square of baked macaroni and cheese! Yes, it took us a while to cook, about 40 minutes, but for some things like this, it’s worth the wait.