Risking The Seajet

We've booked all our ferry tickets for our trip to Greece. We decided to take the Seajet 2 (of which we'd read mixed reviews) from Paros to Tinos, mainly because there's only two boats a day (at least in the advertised schedules) and that one is the first boat. The theory is that if the boat you're going for is cancelled, it's better that it's an early boat than the last boat of the day. Reduces your chance of getting stuck.
Anyway, wife had ordered Greek Island Hopping "The Island Hopper's Bible" from Amazon. It came today. I looked up Seajet 2. Their advice: "Do not book tickets in advance for this boat, it's quite prone to cancellation". I think even with this warning in mind I'd still do what we did, I think my own advice of "always book the earlier boat" takes precedence over theirs.

P.S. We've now been and the crossing was great; on time, comfortable and fast, no complaints really. Seajet 2 is now in a nice pink livery!

Seajet 2 at Tinos

Galadoboureko(Sometimes known as Galaktoboureko)

We made a lovely dessert last weekend, a trial run for having some friends round this weekend.

On our travels around the Cyclades the other year we visited the island of Tinos. In the beautifully picturesque marble village of Pyrgos there were several tavernas that served what was seen as a local specialty - Galadoboureko. I think in actual fact this dish is common to a lot of areas of Greece, but perhaps Pyrgos & Tinos make the best examples.

It's basically a custard slice - a good layer of solidly thick custard layered between crispy filo pastry and - in typical Greek fashion - smothered in a sticky syrup. It's best eaten on the day it's made, but not immediately after making it. It needs to sit for several hours for the syrup to incorporate its way into the rest of the pie. Eat it too soon and the syrup is still separate and way too sickly and cloying.

The recipe is as follows, and we're indebted to this site for their version of it.

(Use the same glass for measurement throughout - i used a half pint which goes well with 2 eggs)

Syrup:

4 glasses of sugar
2 glasses water
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 stick of cinnamon

Filling:

6 glasses of milk
1 glass cornflour
1 glass sugar
2 eggs
1/2 glass of rosewater (or orange-blossom water)
1lb (450g) filo pastry
6oz (180g) unsalted butter or 1/2 glass of ground nut oil


Method:

1. First make your syrup, put the sugar, water, lemon juice and stick of cinnamon into a pan and bring to the boil for 10 minutes. Allow to cool 
2. To make the cream filling, beat the eggs and mix with the cornflour to make a paste using a bit of the milk. 
3. Heat the rest of the milk to boil. 
4. Pour a little of the hot milk into the paste, stir well, and repeat until the mixture is quite runny and smooth then pour it all back into the pan. Stir continuously until the cream is smooth, taking care not to let it burn the bottom as this will taint the flavour. 
5. Add the sugar and rosewater. 
6. Take off the heat 
7. Take 6 sheets of pastry, butter or oil in between each one and place at the bottom of a deep baking dish 
8. Then pour in the milk mixture 
9. Cover with 5 or 6 sheets of pastry again, buttering in between each one. 
10. Place into a moderate 150C oven for 1 hour, turning up heat a little at the end if it needs browning. 
11. Take out of the oven and while still hot, pour over cold syrup. 
12. To serve cut into wedges, can be eaten hot or chilled.

A Taste Sensation

While we were in Santorini we tried something that we'd seen before on other Greek islands but had been unable to buy - Strawberry Risotto. The reason we'd been unable to try it previously was that, for all it was on the menu, it was never "strawberry season". Unlike us, who are prepared to import strawberries all year long, the Greek Islands don't seem to. I guess it's just not economical.

The risotto is served as a starter here, though it was big enough to be a main course - lucky we were sharing. It was, as you expect, sweet and creamy, almost like an "Ambrosia rice pudding" with strawberry puree and fresh whole strawberries added. It was very tasty, but hard to eat a lot of, and odd to have as a starter. I imagine it could go down quite well as dessert.

The other tasty looking dish in the picture is wife
the ubiquitous fava, as mentioned previously.

How's Your Fava

There's a dish special to Santorini known as "fava". It's yet another of those dip type of dishes that Greeks concoct as part of a mezze and this one consists basically of boiled and pureed yellow split peas, seasoned and flavoured appropriately. In essence it's Pease Pudding.
We loved it, and had it in three different tavernas, each having its own interpretation of the dish. Needless to say you can buy the Fava in its raw form in many of the touristy shops in Fira, and it's quite a price that you pay. 7 Euro for a smallish bag of yellow split peas! Go into a supermarket and you can get the same bags for about 60c. I wonder how many Americans returned to their cruise ships clutching their bags of Santorinian delicacies, and how many shopkeepers were rubbing their hands together in glee.