Rolled Baklava

Here I am arm-chair travelling once again and dreaming of my 5 week sojourn in Greece last Spring. Two of those weeks were spent with 5 other ladies wandering through small Zagorian villages in Thessaly and Epiris with Thordis Simonsen of Astra Tours.

In the Zagoria region you can wander through winding cobbled streets, past stone buildings with walls and roofs made of grey slate from the surrounding mountains, hike old mule trails and forests of beech, chestnut and pine. We stayed in several of the small Zagorian villages where we soaked up the local colour and partook in some excellent food as well.

We stopped at the village of Monodendri which is the start of the Vikos Gorge trek. It has stunning views from an abandoned 15-th century monastery. We had tiganopita at a local restaurant and chocolate filled pastries from the bakery seen here. When I think of Greece the typical Greek pastry that comes to mind is baklava. This rolled baklava is simple to make and a wonderful ending to your Greek-inspired meal.



**Rolled Baklava**



2 T olive oil
2 T vegetable oil
2 lemon wedges

3/4 cup whole almonds, toasted
1-1/2 T sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
12 sheets filo dough, thawed
8 oz frozen shredded filo dough (kataifi), thawed
cooking spray

Syrup:

1-1/3 cups sugar
1-1/3 cups water
1-1/3 cups honey
4 lemon wedges
1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick

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Preheat oven to 350F.

To prepare rolls, combine first 3 ingredients in a small saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat 5 minutes. Cool; discard lemon. Place almonds, 1-1/2 T sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and nutmeg in a food processor; process almond mixture until coarsely chopped.

Place 2 filo sheets on a large cutting board or work surface (cover remaining dough to keep from drying); lightly brush with 1-1/2 tsp oil mixture. Sprinkle about 2-1/2 T almond mixture evenly over filo stack, leaving a 1-1/2-inch birder on 1 short edge. Crumble one-third shredded filo over almond mixture; top with 2-1/2 T almond mixture.

Starting at short edge without border, tightly roll up filo stack jelly-roll fashion. Lightly brush border and outside of roll with 1-1/2 tsp oil mixture. Cut roll evenly into 10 pieces. Repeat procedure twice with remaining filo sheets, oil mixture, almond mixture and shredded filo. Place all 30 rolls on a jelly roll pan or baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes.

To prepare syrup, combine sugar and remaining ingredients in a large saucepan. Cook over medium heat 5 minutes or until the sugar dissolves; discard lemon and cinnamon stick.

Carefully place baked baklava rolls, cur sides up, in a 13 x 9-inch baking pan coated with cooking spray (rolls will fit snugly). Pour syrup over rolls; let stand at room temperature 3 hours. Carefully turn rolls; cover and let stand 8 hours.



Serves 15