One of the most difficult things in cooking is to make sweetst as you need to be precise and exact on the ingredients that you put.
Couple of years ago I was leaving in a different house with a Greek girl in Acton Town, on west London. I was really lucky because whenever I begged my flatmate –her name was Sofia- she always made me one of her specialties, Galaktoboureko.
Galaktoboureko is a Greek desert that is quite famous in my country. In Greece and Cyprus they used to say that you are not a worthy housewife if you dont know how to make galaktompoureko and baklava. So i guess i am now a worthy housewife… hmmmm…. (something is wrong over here…) anyway…
My mother used to do it a lot and personally I like it a lot when it’s cold. I wanted to make it for a looong long time but never had the courage or time to even try it. Nevertheless, after a lot of waiting the time had come for one proper Galaktoboureko. I asked from Sofia this time, her recipe and… here we go
INGREDIENTS GALAKTOBOUREKO
- 400gr Sugar
- 140gr semolina
- 2 eggs
- 1 vanillia
- 1 packet thin phyllo dough
- 1 litre of milk
- 2 teaspoons of Butter
For the syrup:
- 250ml water
- 50gr glucose
- 500gr sugar
- Peel from one lemon
Initiate Operation Galaktompoureko
METHOD
Take a bowl and add the sugar, the 2 teaspoons of butter, vanilla and the semolina. At all times continue to stir continuously. When it starts to bowl remove from the heat and add the eggs while you continue to stir. You need to continue to stir until you realize that it’s boiled and it has become cream. When this happens then cover the bowl and let it cool down.
Take a deep pan and grease it with butter everywhere. Place half of the phylo pastry sheets in the pan. Grease each one of them with butter, one by one. You need to make sure that you will cover all sides properly.
When half of them are placed then you should pour the mixture and then turn the edges of the phyllo on the cream.
When its done place the remaining phyllo on top covering all sides appropriately so the whole cream is covered. Make sure that grease with butter each phyllo.
Cut the phyllo diagonally in squares with a sharp knife but only to the level of the cream. Really gently and not deep so the cream comes out…just a little bit so the heat passes inside.
Preheat oven at 180οC and bake for about an hour until you see a golden colour on the top.
As it is cooking you need to prepare the syrup.
Put in a pan the sugar, water, lemon peel and the glucose and let it boil. Again, continue to stir. Let it boil for 5-10 minutes and the remove it from the heat.
When the Galaktoboureko is ready you need to pour the syrup all over it and let it cool down before serving.
Some prefer to eat it hot, personally I prefer to put it in the fridge after its cooled down and leave it there for 1 hour. Up to you..
