The simplest, most delicious there is: Granny Esther's Greek Pie - Walla! Food

2021-07-10T18:00:59.103Z

Hilik Gurfinkel did not travel to Greece this year, so he made himself a little Greece at home. With a nostalgic eggplant pie and a glass of local arak

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The simplest, most delicious there is: Granny Esther's Greek pie

Hilik Gurfinkel did not travel to Greece this year, so he made himself a little Greece at home, with a nostalgic eggplant pie and a glass of local arak, and along the way also gained some memories from Grandma Esther and Grandpa Nono's house

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Not jealous at all.

Thessaloniki (Photo: ShutterStock, Shutterstock)

This pie, which was one of the most delicious things ever to come out of my oven, sent me straight to Grandma Esther's Shabbat table

My grandparents, Esther and Nono (I know, Nono is just a grandfather in Ladino and other languages. His name was Yaakov, Yaakov Benvenisti. But for us he was Nono and for a very long time we did not even know, the grandchildren, that he has another name and Nono is not there) Well, Grandpa Nono and Grandma Esther were born there. In Thessaloniki.

So I may not be jealous, because I am also half Polish, not just Greek, and Polish officers are not jealous. At least not in public. They sit alone in the dark and say it will be okay. But still, I have a little pinch in my heart. In short, I'm probably jealous. In my own way, so I decided to make myself a little Greece at home.

I made an eggplant pie for Turkish Jews from Claudia Roden's book. A Turkish Jew and a Greek Jew are almost the same thing when it comes to the table. And really, this pie, which was one of the most delicious things that ever came out of my oven, sent me straight to Grandma Esther's Shabbat table, sometime forty years ago plus.

I no longer remembered at all that she would make such a pie.

Only the taste, as in the Ratatouille film, awakened this old and wonderful memory.

It's the easiest in the world, assuming you have a few free hours.

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Memories from Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Eggplant pie (Photo: Hilik Gurfinkel)

The only function of this huge aluminum pan is to lighten eggplants.

Don't you have one?

So buy it.

This is the best thing we've been silent about in life

Roasting for the purpose:

Roast four medium-sized eggplants on a huge aluminum pan whose whole function in life is this, that is, to lighten eggplants. Don't you have one? So buy it. This is the best thing we've been silent about in life. Line it with aluminum foil before grilling, so that it does not turn black. That way it always stays clean and does not even need to be cleaned.

Peeling the

eggplant

When the eggplants are well roasted, about half an hour on each side over a high heat, quickly transfer them one by one to a cutting board, chop their heads, ie the sting that was green before roasting, and remove the very charred peel with a bread knife inserted with determination and sensitivity. That is, as if sawing it). It sounds complicated but it's the simplest in the world.

Transfer the eggplant flesh to a colander and let it drip for half an hour or more. Transfer to a bowl, chop well with a wooden spoon, so that it does not turn black, and again strain the chopped eggplant in a colander for another half hour.

Back to bowl:

Return to a bowl and mix with a quarter pound of crumbled feta cheese, a cup of coarsely grated ketchup, two eggs and two slices of wet, well-squeezed white bread, and also four tablespoons of sunflower or canola oil.

Olive oil is also possible.

Mix well and transfer all the luggage to a pan greased with the same oil, scrape over another ketchup generously, sprinkle a tablespoon of olive oil over and bake for about an hour at 180 degrees until the cheese is well golden.

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There is no arak that is not cool, just people who are a little less.

Arak Yoda (Photo: Hilik Gurfinkel)

This crazy pie can be served with a tablespoon of oily yogurt on top or near, and must with a glass of arak, with ice and cold water next to it.

I went for Arak Yoda, a local arak as arak should be.

Say you might have been asked for ouzo or raki here, but hey, with all due respect to Greece, I stayed here, in the Middle East, and did not fly to the Balkans.

I would say more about the arak here, but what's nice about this drink is the fact that it does not need to be talked about in the jargon of wine or whiskey, but can simply convey all the necessary information in two words: a great arak.

The truth is that there is no arak that is not cool.

Only people who are a little less: for example those who travel to Thessaloniki and take their eyes off the pictures.

Hadar and Liron nonsense, I love you the most in the world - and I'm not really jealous, certainly not after half a bottle of arak and an eggplant pie.