Sneak Preview of Culinary Flavors/SaucyCooks Gastronomical Greek Adventure
Fasten your seat belts please as you are about to be whisked off to Greece to join my friend Katerina Delidimou, a blogger from Athens, Greece and author of the beautiful and sinfully delicious blog Culinary Flavors.
Katerina is a working mother and wife living in Athens Greece who says this about herself: “I cook since my teenage years. My mother and my grandmother were my inspiration. I love to cook beautiful things for my family and my friends. A wide smile is all I need to keep doing this with even greater enthusiasm and zeal. Join me to my culinary travel to the kitchens of the world starting from my homeland Greece!”
When Jill asked me to do a guest post for her, I immediately decided on the theme of the post. I was going to make a Greek cream scented with mastic. Mastic comes from a tree located on a Greek Island called Chios. It is the only place where one can find mastic. That’s why it is very expensive and precious. Apart from its unique and therapeutic qualities, mastic has a very special and unique taste. I am not sure if you can find it where you are located, but if you can, I strongly recommend that you try it! Perhaps you will find a new love. (If you want to know more about Mastic click here.)
For those of you who are not lucky enough to be able to locate mastic where you live, you can join Jill and I on the unique and special culinary adventure we are putting together for this September. What can you expect on this trip? Well, for starters you will be discovering unique Greek products which you won’t find anywhere else.
You will be spending three days in the test kitchen of a famous Greek chef, learning to make dishes that you just won’t find anywhere but Greece.
We are not talking about Moussaka or Baklava! Of course, there will be plenty of sight seeing, wine tasting and photo shooting and the food from the restaurants we’ll be dining in, will stay etched in your memory for years to come. To learn more leave a comment here, or email twogirls@saucycooks.com and Jill will answer any questions or fill in more details for you. We do hope you can join us and participate in this unforgettable epicurean adventure.
But let’s get back to our sweet! This cream is so easy you can make it in a snap, but it needs a few hours to chill. The recipe comes from Argiro Barbarigou, a new generation Greek Chef known for transforming simple, quality ingredients into culinary masterpieces. It is incredibly aromatic and indescribably delicious.
Now, let me share the recipe and instructions as to how we make this very characteristic Greek sweet!
| Mastic Scented Greek Cream |
|
- 1 litre/34 ounces heavy cream
- 1/2 litre/17 ounces milk
- 100 grams/3.5 ounces sugar
- 4 gelatin leaves (20 grams/0.7 ounces)
- 1 tsp mastic powder
- 1/3 cup pistachios, roughly chopped
- In a bowl, pour some cold water and put the gelatin leaves in to soften for 10 minutes.
- While they are soaking, pour the cream, milk and mastic into a saucepan and bring them to the start of a boil over medium heat.
- Just before they reach a full boiling point, add the gelatin leaves after you have squeezed them to get rid of any excess water.
- Mix well until the gelatin has dissolved and when the mixture begins to boil remove from heat.
- Add the majority of the pistachios to the pot, leaving aside a few for garnishing.
- Allow to cool a bit before pouring into individual serving glasses or bowls.
- Refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours.
- Remove from refrigerator 15 minutes before serving.
- Garnish with remaining pistachios and serve.
- Kali Orexi! (Literally translated, “kali orexi” means “good appetite,” or, as the French say, Bon Appétit!)
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Hi girls! It was such fun doing the guest post for you! Mastic is a very characteristic flavor of Greece and this cream is so refreshing and unique! I hope whoever tries it, to enjoy it!
I can’t wait to try it! Thanks for doing this for us and onward to Athens! ~Jill
I came here from Katerina’s site – this sounds like a perfect refreshing dessert in summer and it’s so beautiful! I love that abundant pistachios on top!
Her food, like Katerina, is always lovely!! Thanks for visiting Nami; we hope you come back soon!
I am so curious about the mastic powder–not a familiar ingredient to me. This looks deliciously creamy and not too sweet.
Me too!!! Come to Greece with us and bring some mastic home with you!
Thank you for sharing Katerina’s delicious Greek dessert. Beautiful photo of the dish.
Thanks for visiting Ray! If anyone who is reading this has not visited your amazing blog-HURRY ON OVER THERE!!!
Love mastic, I have some at home but I have only used it to flavor ice cream. Got to try this recipe. Such an awesome trip for September!
Thanks for visiting and I’m very intrigued by your ice cream Evelyne. I do hope you can join us in Athens in September.
This Greek Cream sure looks yummy! I’ll definitely try this one as soon as I get home. Because of xDestination, I was redirected to this site as i was searching for a good place to stay in Greece. Cool site.
I am part Lebanese and my grandmother used to make a pudding that looked just like this one! She also used mastic. I happen to have some mastic in my kitchen right now…I see this in my future! Nice post!
I do hope you will post whatever it is that you make with mastic. I am now thoroughly intrigued by it. ~Jill
That looks like a very delicious dessert! I have been fortunate to taste this mastic because Katerina sent me some! I used it to make delicious challah and other types of bread.
Yum, love homemade challah and now I want to make it with mastic!!! Thanks for visiting Jeannie; come back soon!!