Orange Flower Nightingales

 

With Tas in mind, I have posted this ancient phyllo orange flower pastry.

 

 

Historic Antalya Port, Turkey has been known for its oranges and almonds since time memorial. Whenever, they are grown in abundance, the blossoms, are distilled into orange flower water. This fragrant liquid flavors syrups that are drizzled onto or into spiral Phyllo shaped pastries. They are served with fresh fruit. 

 

 

 

Here is a recipe from Antalya ...

 

ORANGE FLOWER NIGHTINGALES

 

THE SYRUP ...

 

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 Cup chilled water

2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice

2 tsps. of orange blossom waater

 

THE FILLING ...

 

1/2 cup almonds blanched and finely chopped about 2 1/2 ounces

1/2 cup finely chopped pistachios de-shelled

2 tblsps. sugar

 

PHYLLO PASTRIES ...

 

12 sheets of fresh phyllo or frozen thawed thoroughly

1 1/2 sticks of butter melted

1/2 cup chopped pistachios ( 2 1/2 ounces )

 

FOR THE SYRUP ...

 

1) COMBINE THE SUGAR WITH THE WATER IN A MEDIUM SIZED SAUCE PAN AND STIR OVER LOW HEAT UNTIL SUGAR DISSOLVES

2) ADD THE LEMON JUICE GRADUALLY AND SIMMER 5 TO 6 MINS. UNTIL YOU HAVE OBTAINED  A SYRUPY CONSISTENCY

3) REMOVE FROM THE STOVE AND STIR IN 2 TSPS. OF ORANGE FLOWER WATER. STIR AND LET COOL AT ROOM TEMPERATURE ...

 

FOR THE FILLING ...

 

1) PREHEAT OVEN TO 350 FARENHEIT

2) COMBINE ALL INGREDIENTS IN MEDIUM BOWL

 

FOR THE PHYLLO ...

 

1) LIGHTLY GREASE A LARGE BAKING SHEET, AND PLACE ONE PHYLLO SHEET LENGTHWISE TO THE EDGE OF WORK SURFACE

2) BRUSH WITH MELTED BUTTER

3) AND BRUSH PHYLLO SHEETS UNDER TOWELS  VIA  BRUSHING HALF OF PHYLLO LENGTHWISE  WITH BUTTER AND FOLDING IN HALF LENGTHWISE

4) SPRINKLE 4 TEASPOONS OF NUT MIXTURE IN A NARROW 1/2 INCH STRIP FROM FOLDED EDGE OF PASTRY AND LEAVING 1/2 INCH BORDER

5) THEN ROLL UP AS IF JELLY ROLL

6) FOLD SHORT ENDS OVER FILLING

7) STARTING from 1 short end, roll the phyllo pastry loosely & tuck the 2 inch pastry edge under

8) place bottom side down on prepared baking sheet and repeat the filling process

9) bake until golden and crisp about 15 mins.

10) with a spatula of metal, loosen the pastries from sheets

11) drizzle pastries, each with 1 tblsp. orange blossom syrup

12) serve with espresso or cordial of choice or a Port or Moscatel white semi sweet wine

 

ENJOY.

Margaux.

 

 

Phyllo is the most popular dough variety in Greece and Turkey ... and it is mingled, spiraled, criss crossed, triangluar, round, spherical, rectangular and conical in all its forms; most employing either Rose petal water, orange blossom water, honey, pistachios or almond pesto ... for example, Baklava ...

 

Nightingales are spiral ... however, u can prepare any shape to ur fancy !

 

How did ur alfredo turn out ???

 

 

Thanks for note,

Margaux

 

thanks Mark.

 

Phyllo greek savoury pie --- mini phyllo pizzas ... wow ... ambitious ... look forward to ur pictorials ...

 

Kindest.

Margaux.

Thing is, I sort of feel sorry for Giada. She is a beautiful woman, and she knows how to cook, and really has quite a depth of knowledge.

Alas, I've seen too many comments along the lines of; Nice boobs, Yeah, she's Dino DiLaurentis' daughter and living off his name....

It's annoying just because I've seen some of her shows. Of course they are meant to entertain an audience, but if one really watches, one can see that Giada knows her stuff and puts forth some good information.

 

And yet she can't pronounce "pasta" twice the same way.

 

Fact is, Margi, I am neither jelous nor envious. I just don't consider her very good at what she does. Many of her dishes are mock-Italian at best. And if I want boobs in my soup, well, that's what the playboy channel is for.

 

Do you honestly think if she was very talented, but flat chested and ugly, that she'd have ever gotten her show in the first place? Gimme a break!

 

There is a whole slew of very talented female chefs in the U.S. and Canada. If the whole idea is to have cooking shows, then let's see more of those women, and less of a semi-talented girl who's biggest claim to fame is that she's willing to sling her teats around.

 

As you may have guessed, I am not a big fan.

 

as for giada ~

 

 

This is exactly the same way I feel about the direction that the Food Network has taken; granted, I will watch the competition shows, but I do miss the older programming, where you actually learned to cook, and I think the reality/competition shows have been given a sense of importance that is completely out of proportion to their value.

 

To an extent, this even applies to the newer "regular" shows - using Giada as an example, I really enjoyed watching her "Everyday Italian" show, but I havevery little interest in her "Giada at Home" program, because the themes and recipes are unfocused and have been taken uptown, away from their roots. I used to be able to watch a program, go get the stuff at the local grocery and make it; now, if I want to make soemthing, I have to travel 25 or 130 miles to get the ingredients, or order them. It's just gotten to be too much, and I find myself watching the "spin-off" cooking channel, which sticks more to the types of programming that I prefer.

 

It's too bad, and hopefully the pendulum will swing back to more substantial programming one of these days.