Phyllo - - Page 2

by BS

B’Stelllllaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!

After a good few years of anticipation, I finally made it to D.C. institution Marrakesh this weekend, courtesy of Travis’ bachelor party. This Morrocan place is an event restaurant – speakeasy-style entrance to a cavernous space, sexy belly dancers, endless shots for the bachelor – but I was obv. most excited for the seven course meal.

While Marrakesh puts on a party and a half, I have to say I wasn’t blown away by most of the food. Some fairly standard couscous, hummus and baklava, with slightly more impressive lemon roast chicken and almond-honey lamb. The standout course was the B’Stella, pictured above in before and after mode. It’s the kind of loopy dish that would make you think someone had a few screws loose if they served it to you in their home, but a fancy restaurant can pull it off. Phyllo dough stuffed with chicken, egg, onion, nuts and topped with kilos of powdered sugar. No utensils, just dig in and go. A gooey, glorious mess. More pics from Marrakesh after the jump.

My Big Fat Greek Weekend

It’ s that time of year again – Greekfest!!….what, you didn’t know? I had a pretty freakin amazing time at Greekfest 2006 DC so this year I trekked down to the surprisingly large Greek cultural epicenter in Norfolk, VA. ~~on a press junket for food bloggers~~ to visit my bro, his wife and the new baby…Pretty impressive show those ConfedeGreeks put on – I completely stuffed myself with moussakka, souvlaki and rice pilaf. But come Monday, we just weren’ t ready for Greekfest to end so the sister-in-law and I decided to try our hand at baklava. Now, phyllo dough is one of my fav ingredients, but I haven’t done many desserts, so we checked a variety of recipies online, before realizing there was one on the phyllo dough box. We went with that, because, really, the phyllo dough box probably knows what it’s talking about when it comes to baklava.

Not too complex – basically the same thing as anything else with phyllo…layer the sheets and make sure each one has enough butter to drown a horse. Alternate layers of filling (chopped walnuts, sugar, cinnamon and cloves). Bake it for 45, then top with Syrup, which we made by simmering boiling water, honey, sugar and lemon zest.

in Desserts 3 comments