Nº 9: A Sweet Spiraled Pie

with butter, cinnamon, and date syrup

Hiya.

To close out Greek-themed April, a few Cycladic memories:

To the dirt road that winds towards Kastro, just before you start the ascent to the hilltop village, the breeze delivers the warm scent of wild herbs that cascade to the sea below. It smells vaguely of maple syrup, and the rocky source is too steep for me to investigate, but I wonder after reading Nose Dive if there isn’t some fenugreek--emitting sotolon, the aroma molecule it shares with maple syrup--among the wild sage, thyme, and oregano.

Among the shaded seating of the beach taverna at Chrisopigi, there is one person apart from Ben and me: a svelte lady with a short grey bob, a German accent, and a plate of grilled fish before her. Grinning, she fixes the tines of her fork in the flesh of a lemon slice with one tanned hand and squeezes with the other, circling over the fish as juice dribbles down. This is how I’ll squeeze my lemon wedges from now on.

It's September and the Meltemi winds are living up to their mythological-sounding name. They rattle the windows and whistle through the bolted doors into the cozy slate-floored living room of Gerhard’s house that we’re renting.

Now, the recipe I’ve included below is not actually Greek. It’s inspired by a recipe from Cyprus introduced to me by the Greek cookbook author Aglaia Kremezi. The Greek Cypriot chef Marilena Joannides told me how it’s made, and I’ve since made some adjustments, most notably making the sweet soaking liquid with date syrup (for added flavor and striking color) rather than cane sugar. This pie is an exemplary use for the home-made phyllo dough sheets from Formal Assignment Nº 8.

Entirely unrelated, I heard this song (“Ålen” by Amason) at the closing credits of the Swedish show Love & Anarchy last night, and now I want everyone to hear it.

Talk to you soon.

Brian

SPIRALED BUTTER PIE WITH CINNAMON & DATE SYRUP