Sweet Traditions

Sunday is the day that people traditionally have a rest, enjoy their family and worship God! As the new weekend on its way I can't stop thinking of the wonderful weekend we had last week. I have to admit it was very Greek orientated and very religious.

This posting will be "Part 1 - Saturday", of last weekend's eating and cooking.

On Saturday we had a Holy Blessing for the house. It is an old Greek Orthodox custom that when you move to a new house you invite some friends and a priest (in our case we had 2 priests) and the priest performs a ceremony where he reads some blessings for the house and then sprinkles Holy Water all over the corners of the house. I know that might sound a bit odd to some people, but I guess that's the simplest way to explain what a Holy Blessing is and for me it was a need I had, since we moved to London.

Since it is Lent, the 40 day period before Easter, I had to make a dessert that would be tasty, filling and most of all strictly vegetarian! I have to admit that I am not following the vegetarian diet that you have to obey during Lent, but one of our friends did and so did the priests that came to conduct the Holy Blessing.

And I made Halva with Semolina. A delightful, simple and quick dessert that goes well with coffee or tea.

As I previously said I am not good with sweets and desserts ... so please know that this recipe is highly adjustable and I mean on measures. I never count grams on this recipe, its all done on estimate based on how it looks to me... But here is a more "solid" version.

Semolina Halva with nuts and fruits

Ingredients

300 gr Semolina flour (all supermarkets have it by the flour or rice section)

a hand full of nuts - mixed hazelnuts, almonds and pine nuts

a hand full of dried fruit - orange peel and sultanas or raisins

a heaped tablespoon of cinnamon

some olive oil

Syrup

1 cup of sugar (brown sugar would give more of a caramelised taste)

2 tablespoons of honey

3 whole cloves (no.. not the garlic type!! the spice type!)

1 cinnamon stick

about a Litre of water

You need a big and deep pot for that!!! And a wooden spoon to stir. Turn on the heat to medium, if it is too hot it will burn the semolina too quickly and the Halva is destroyed.

Pour the olive oil just enough to cover the base of the pot. 

Put the Semolina and the cinnamon first and start stirring constantly but gently. You do not have to beat the semolina, only swirl it around to get covered with the oil. The mixture should still look dry and not soggy. 

In the meantime start your syrup. Add everything in a pot. You do not have to boil or reduce it, you only need to combine all the ingredients and infuse the spices in it.

After about 5 minutes and whilst you continue stirring gently, the Semolina should still look golden yellow and with no burnt patches. Now add the nuts and the dried fruit. The recipe can be done without the nuts or the fruit depending on taste, but I would highly recommend them both as they add texture and flavour.

After 2 more minutes you should smell the aromas of the dried fruit and nuts.

Now comes the tricky and dangerous part. As you would have imagined the Semolina and the rest of the dry ingredients would have developed a certain degree of heat ... So turn the heat OFF!!!

We need to add the syrup to the dry pot! Do it slowly and gently and do not get scared by the reaction.

The mixture will bubble and steam like a volcanic explosion!!!! Pour steadily the syrup whilst you mix with the wooden spoon and make sure that you scrape everything from the bottom of the pot. The Semolina will absorb every last drop of the syrup! If you feel that the mixture is too dry and stiff you can add some water and stir in the mixture. It should have the consistency of porridge.

Pour the mixture in a tray, cake tin or individual ramekins, depending on the shape you want to give

I find a round cake ring with a hole in the middle always looks good.  Leave to cool and then turn the cake tin on a plate and you can cut perfect slices to serve. Sprinkle with some ground cinnamon and enjoy warm or cold!!