Greek Baklava Is My February Recipe

The recipe in my International Dessert Calendar for February is Baklava. I first tasted Baklava in Greektown in Detroit in 1968 at New Hellas Restaurant, one of my favorite restaurants. I went there with my dear, sweet friend, Georgia Fontrolakalas, a Canadian born Greek woman who married Steve Fontrolakalas, an American born Greek and then moved to the U.S.

She advised me to have the mousaka, which was awesome. My husband, Bill has recently perfected a mousaka in our crockpot which I defy anyone to beat. Anyway, back to Detroit. Georgia took a few of us from the office where we worked on Washington Boulevard to Greektown. We took a taxi, and it was such a wonderful experience. It was my first foray into Greektown, but far, far from the last. Bill and I have eaten there so many times since. Georgia advised us to have Saganaki – the famous flaming cheese all Greek restaurants in Detroit are famous for, followed by Greek salad with Greek bread, Mousaka, and then the wonderful baklava. We didn’t have any wine because we were on our lunch hour, but Georgia advised me to have Mavrodaphne – Mother’s Milk next time, which I did, and it is a fabulous wine – a sweet,red much like marsala. So we ate all that great food, and then we waddled back to work. A perfect meal!

Baklava is a rich, sweet pastry made of layers of phyllo dough filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with syrup or honey. It is characteristic of the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire and much of central and southwest Asia. It is a Greek favorite that makes everyone think you are a master chef and is so easy to make. We are so fortunate in our day and age because the phyllo dough for this recipe is found in the freezer section of most grocery stores. The original makers of the dish had to spend hours making the parchment thin pastry, but we just need to buy it and use it. The origins of Baklava are like the origins of most recipes that came from Old Countries to enrich our dinner tables in the United States. It is hard to trace it’s exact origin because every ethnic group whose ancestry goes back to the Middle East has a claim of their own on this scrumptious dessert.

At around the 8th century BC widely believed, that the Assyrians were the first people who put together a few layers of thin bread dough, with chopped nuts in between those layers, added some honey and baked it in their primitive wood burning ovens. This earliest known version of baklava was baked only on special occasions. Baklava was considered a food for the rich until mid-19th century. Even to this day in Turkey, one can hear a common expression often used by the poor, or even by the middle class, saying: "I am not rich enough to eat baklava every day".

Before the recipe reached Greece, Greek seamen and merchants traveling east to Mesopotamia discovered the delights of Baklava. They were so impressed, they brought the recipe to Athens. The Greeks' developed this pastry further by creating a dough technique that made it possible to roll it very thin, compared to the rough, bread-like texture of the Assyrian dough. In fact, the name "Phyllo" was coined by Greeks, which means "leaf" in the Greek language. The father in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” must be laughing at that fact.
In a relatively short time, in every kitchen of wealthy households in the region, trays of baklava were being baked for all kinds of special occasions from the 3rd Century B.C. onwards. The Armenians, as their Kingdom was located on ancient Spice and Silk Routes, integrated for the first time the cinnamon and cloves into the texture of baklava. The Arabs introduced rose-water and cardamom. The taste changed in subtle nuances as the recipe started crossing borders.
I know you will love it, and it is also very healthy, with no refined sugar in it at all. Be sure to order my International Dessert Birthday Calendar. It has 12 great recipes, and it useable year after year. Not only can you try some great desserts, but you can also keep track of important dates for your family and friends.
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