Semolina Halvah with Mastic

Ingredients:

1 litre milk
12 T sugar
12 T semolina
100 gr butter or margarine
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
1 t crushed mastic
2 T sesame

In a medium pan, mix milk, sugar and semolina and cook on medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until thick, remove from heat. While still hot, add butter and stir well.

In a small bowl beat the eggs well and add to the semolina mixture. Add vanilla and crushed mastic, and stir again. The mixture should have the consistency of a medium batter. Pour this mixture into a buttered baking pan, sprinkle with sesame and bake in a hot oven for 30-35 minutes. Cut into slices and serve.

Kalamarakia Yemista (Stuffed Squid)
(Serves 6)

Ingredients:

11/2 kg medium squid
¾ c rice
¾ c olive oil
2 T bread crumbs (crushed rusk)
2 c water
2 T pine nuts
¼ c white wine
3 medium grated peeled tomatoes (grate with skins on, the skin will be left behind in your hand)
½ kg scallions or chopped onion
Dill
Parsley
Salt
Pepper

Clean and wash the squid well, drain. Cut off the tentacles, chop finely. Chop the onions finely, boil in water, then sauté in ¼ c olive oil till transparent. While the onions are sautéing, add the chopped tentacles and sauté together. Add the white wine, then the rice, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, chopped parsley and dill and pine nuts, and mix well. Fill the squid with this mixture. As the rice will swell during cooking, take care not to overstuff.

Heat the remaining olive oil in a pot, and add the squid to the hot oil, taking care that the filling does not come out. After they have browned, add the grated tomatoes, and the two cups of water, reduce heat and cook for 1.5 hours. If the squid are large, they may be cut into rings and served that way.

Stuffed squid is one of the incomparable flavors of Istanbul cuisine that has been nearly forgotten, and a traditional part of Greek cuisine. Today we find it in a few fish restaurants, rarely, as a cold meze, though in an adulterated fashion. The Greeks, who are unexcelled in their skill in creating delicious seafood dishes, continue making stuffed squid as one of the crowning dishes for Christmas and Lent and other festivals.

Sfilato
(Serves 6)

Ingredients:

2 kg pearl onions
2-3 heads garlic
1 t whole black pepper
9-10 whole allspice berries
2-3 bay leaves
1-2 cloves
½ c dry red wine or ¼ c wine vinegar
2-3 medium potatoes (optional)
3 medium grated tomatoes (optional)
½ c olive oil
Salt, pepper

First, let onions sit 2-3 minutes in boiling water so that their skins will slip off easily. Skin onions and garlic cloves, and sauté in olive oil. Add potatoes and tomatoes if desired, then bay leaves, cloves and allspice; and lastly the wine or vinegar. Cook together until the onions are soft. Take care that the onions do not cook too soft, but that the liquid is gone and only the oil remains.

Sfilato is one of the dishes common during religious fasts, full of the flavor of spices and wine. Onions have an important place in Greek cooking, and especially in the “olive oil” mezes; in this dish, onions play the leading role. A sort of meatless yahni, it is an ideal dish for the fast days, when meat is abstained from.