My Yaya has injuried her sholder and therefore I had to do the 2 pans of musnik (tiropita) all by myself. It didn’t look perfect but it was damn good. I’m usually very lazy and after a few minutes of kneeding the dough hand it over to her, obviously that wasn’t an option but I was also really enjoying it. And what a dough it was, elastic and soft, and incredibly easy to strench. This was partly to do with the warm weather, it’s about all it’s good for.

My Yaya keeps telling me and everyone she’s knows that I’m a champion at making filo. Pretty awesome really. But I’ve still got a lot to learn. The stretching is the easy part, the most important thing is getting the dough right, hand kneading 10+ cups of flour is not easy. And like making bread (though nowhere near as hard to get right) there is no exact recipe, there is a lot of variation in each batch of flour and the weather makes a huge difference on how much water the flour will absorb etc… A warm environment is ideal. I remember the bakery in the height of summer, what a nightmare. You really just need to get a feel for it. There is no comparision with store bought filo, it’s so bloody dry.

Anyway here is my first attempt at doing a lot of the process by myself, under strict supervision of course. Here is me and my Yaya making Pumpkin Musnik (Tiropita). And here she is making Cheese Musnik. She was also going to show me how to make Spinach Spanakopita which is much easier in terms of dough stretching, I feel asleep though. It was gooood.

I got the recipe from souvlakiforthesoul

vanilla shake and rhubarb danish.

745 Nicholson St, Carlton North

(03) 9380 1950

Love muznik, hate muzza’s

I went on a picnic in the carlton gardens a couple of weeks ago and made some baguettes and these fritters. They’re really delicious and easy.

Zucchini Fritters with Yoghurt Sauce

Makes 18

500g zucchini, grated

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

8 spring onions, chopped

125g feta, crumbled

1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped

1/4 cup mint, chopped

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup plain flour

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup olive oil

Place the zucchini in a colander, sprinkle with the sea salt, toss lightly and set aside for 30 minutes.

Squeeze out the excess liquid from the zucchini and pat dry with paper towels.

Put the zucchini, spring onion, feta, parsley, mint and eggs in a bowl and stir lightly to combine.

Stir in the flour, salt and pepper.

Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium to high heat.

Drop tablespoons of batter into the hot oil, flattening gently with the back of a spoon.

Cook for 2 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.

Drain on paper towels and serve with yoghurt sauce and fresh lime.

Yoghurt Sauce

1 garlic clove, finely minced

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup plain natural yoghurt

2 tablespoons lemon juice

salt and pepper

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine.

Sufjan Stevens – Holland (zSHARE)

My Yaya is a great cook and my mum (her daughter in law) learnt a lot about cooking and food from her. This was a very small lunch as there were only 4 of us. It appeared that my Yaya had calmed down a bit with trying to feed us copious amounts of food in her old age until she brought out two massive containers of musnik for us to take home as we were leaving. All the food is very simple but good. The baked rice used to have more vegetables in it but I think the grandchildren liked it better plain and it never changed back. I really like it, people rarely bake rice but its a great way to make it because you just put it in the oven and leave it and it works every time. I really like that it goes a little crispy on top. The general rule is 2 cups of rice to 5 cups of stock.

Bloc Party – Uniform (zSHARE)