Kalitsounia
Region: Greece, Crete
Category: Antipasto, Meze, Tapas, and Hors d'Oeuvres
Season: Any
Difficulty: Medium Difficulty
These little triangular or half moon-shaped pies called kalitsounia are found in Crete in many varieties, including a sweet one. This particular recipe is made with the Greek version of ricotta cheese called myzithra, but I also love the one I had once at the Konaki restaurant in Chania that used anthrotyri cheese. Anthrotyri can refer to different cheeses in different parts of Greece, but in Chania it is a soft, fresh whey cheese, usually made with sheep’s milk and usually a by-product of making graviera. 
On one trip to Crete many years ago, in a mountain village near Chania, I ate kalitsounia made with malaka, a local soft cheese similar to mozzarella but made from sheep’s milk. Some Greek cooks use orange juice to make the dough, and you should try that, it’s quite nice. Others use olive oil instead of butter to make the short dough, while some cooks deep fry the crescents instead of baking them. The kind of dough used can range from phyllo dough to a very thin pâté brisée (short dough). The sweet versions usually use cinnamon too.
[photo: Clifford A. Wright]
Yield: Makes 30 crescents to serve 10 as a meze
Preparation Time: 2 hours
2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) very cold unsalted butter
2 teaspoons salt
2/3 cup water
1/2 pound fresh ricotta cheese (known as fresh myzithra in Crete), preferably homemade
1 large egg, beaten
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1. In a medium-size bowl, mix together the flour, butter, and 1 teaspoon of the salt and cut the butter into the flour with a pastry cutter until it looks like oatmeal. Add the water to form a ball. Once the ball of dough is smooth, cover it with plastic wrap and leave in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
3. In a medium-size bowl, mash the ricotta with the remaining 1 teaspoon salt.
4. Roll the dough out 1/8 inch thick on a lightly floured work surface. Cut out as many 4-inch rounds as you can, re-rolling the dough scraps when necessary. Put a heaping tablespoon of cheese in the center of each round, fold over to form a crescent, and crimp closed with the tines of a fork or pastry crimper. Arrange the pastries on a greased baking sheet. Brush all the pastries with the egg wash, sprinkle the sesame seeds over them, and bake until golden, about 30 minutes. Serve hot or warm.
Variation:
Note:
Posted: 03/21/2009
Referenced Recipes:
