"Kataifi is a string-like pastry that's technically not filo, but let's not mince words - just pastry." SBS Food
Even a bit like fairy floss don't you think? And you get all this in one packet, though it won't look like that when you buy it because it's sort of scrunched up into a ball.
Anyway, if you remember, for my reunion dinner with my sister and co. I made Ottolenghi's sort of Eton Mess which included kataifi. Now kataifi is not that easy to find - the big three don't stock it. However, by searching the maker's website I found that actually I can buy it in Eltham - for now anyway, because I'm not sure how long that particular business will survive as it's really just a small not very specialist supermarket, in close proximity to the big three.
So I made my dessert, but it only used a quite small proportion of the packet - maybe a third. What to do with the leftovers? Well I had a memory of another Ottolenghi savoury dish that used kataifi but couldn't quite remember what it was, so I checked and found it - Ottolenghi and Noor Murad's Parmigiana pie with tomato sauce. Not quite what I wanted as it happened, as David doesn't really like aubergine, plus I had both chicken and lamb leftovers waiting to be used. A few days earlier I had also found that the Antoniou website (the makers of fillo and kataifi), had a very tempting looking recipe for a Ham and cheese kataifi slice which I had printed out for an experiment one day - I still have ham leftovers too.
Yesterday however, the prime ingredient had to be the lamb or the chicken, and the chicken was older - and moreover, simply supermarket roasted chicken which was used for a Caesar salad on one of last week's hot days.
So I decided to have a go at making something similar to the two recipes above - a kataifi base, with a chicken and leek filling, and a kataifi top. And I did. By checking out the above recipes I knew that I had to soak the kataifi in butter first and mix it well in making sure that, as Ottolenghi says: "[you] take a liberal approach to the amount of melted butter or oil you use." Indeed - I didn't melt quite enough butter so sloshed in some olive oil to make sure that all the strands were covered.
Of course I didn't take any photographs - well when it came out of the oven you couldn't see the filling of course, and then I forgot because I was hungry and just dived in. But today as I decided to research Antoniou - I found on their amazing Recipe Library this photograph of Leftover chicken and leek kataifi pie which looks amazingly like my finished dish. There is indeed nothing new under the sun. And if I'm being honest I was mildly deflated for a moment that my grand idea was nowhere near original - there are heaps of other versions on the net.
I had no greens in mine although I had thought of adding spinach, but I had some dill that needed using, so it would have been a bit wasted I thought if I had added spinach. Though maybe not. Mine was just, chicken, leeks, half an onion, a stalk of celery, some lemon zest and juice and cream. Anyway the end result was seriously delicious. We were indeed blown away - but more because of the texture of the kataifi than my simple chicken filling. Honestly you could have filled it with anything and it would have been superb. Crunchy yet soft at the same time if you can believe that. David gave it 4.9 stars - so why he didn't give it 5 I don't know. I was ridiculously pleased at the end of a trying day - a downpour that almost, though not quite flooded the house, and washed away half our drive - and my sister leaving to go back to her daughter's house.
David said I should write about it, so I have, but in the process I decided to check out the Antoniou story, as well as more about kataifi itself, and found one of those totally inspiring immigrant stories. If you have the time and the interest you can watch a short video about it on their Antoniou Fillo Pastry website.
The story begins with these two young Greek Cypriots who both came to Australia in 1952, although separately - Chris and Marina. In 1957 they married and moved into a terrace house with another family in Glebe, Sydney. Chris had worked in a few jobs including a spell in a cake shop where he learnt to make fillo. However, his background was in tailoring and Marina was a seamstress and so they started and ran a successful tailor's business in Glebe Point Road. In 1960 they decided to make a little extra money, by buying the shop next door and making fillo pastry in there - by hand. Can you imagine the hours and hours of work that this must have involved? They supplied a couple of Greek cake shops in the area, and became so well known that in 1969 they took a big leap and set up a small factory in St. Peter's where the whole family helped out making the pastry. Shortly afterwards they imported one of the first fillo pastry making machines, which ended the hours and hours of hand making.
Today they have a factory in Moorebank where they have custom made filo machines and one kataifi machine and are Australia's prime fillo producing company. I don't know of any others in fact, but I guess there may be some smaller more artisan firms.
In spite of the machines, the rest of the work - inspecting, cutting, packing is still done by hand by a dedicated band of workers, many of whom have been there for decades. Chris is now deceased, but his wife Marina lives on and occasionally visits the factory which is now run by her son, sons-in-law and grandchildren. Such an inspiring story really.
So what are these two products? Fillo, which probably every one of you knows and uses occasionally is simply a very thinly rolled dough of flour and water. That's it.
"Kataifi pastry, also known as “string” pastry, is made by dripping a crepe-like batter onto a rotating heated metal plate through fine spouts, where it is briefly dried and cooked. The finished product resembles fine, crisp pieces of string." Jessica Brook
I wonder about the 'dried and cooked' bit however, especially the 'cooked' after looking at the video. I suspect it might be dried slightly - well it would do that naturally through the packing process, but I would not think it was cooked. 'My' kataifi did not seem cooked to me. But then again, maybe it needs to be cooked slightly or else it would just be too brittle. And indeed now that I think about it, the plate that thebatter drips on to is probably heated, and does the drying and 'cooking'.
Blown away - by my chicken and leek pie, and by the Antoniou story, but in addition I have since become blown away by their Recipe Library that exists, which I will now illustrate with two groups of recipes.
Since I made a chicken dish, the first of these groups is Our favourite chicken recipes, which includes my pies but also a whole range of different options, two of which particularly caught my eye: Kataifi chicken pies and Kataifi chicken satay skewers.
In the About story on the Home page, the writer - I think the granddaughter - mentions her grandmother's Galaktoboureko, which is that Greek pastry that looks a bit like a vanilla slice, but isn't of course, because the filling is a semolina custard and the whole is drenched in syrup. Now I suspect that the recipes on the website are from a variety of sources, but anyway, here are just three versions from the website and also one from George Calombaris - just for comparison: Galaktoboureko pies with orzo syrup; Kataifi galaktoboureko; Kathy Tsaples' galaktoboureko and finally George Calombaris' Classic galaktoboureko, liquorice ice-cream, krokos syrup
I am now enamoured of kataifi - and I even have yet more left over. This batch however has already been drenched in butter, so I'm hoping it will still be usable after a warm up out of the fridge, where it now is. So many recipes to choose from. I suspect the leftover lamb will do two different meals, so after a favourite Shepherd's pie, maybe I should try something more Middle-Eastern and kataifi based with the rest.
YEARS GONE BY
January 13
2024 - Nothing
2023 - Nothing
2020 - Ducks, diaries and the moon
Fascinating! George Kalambaris has a restaurant up the road. Here I come
Never heard of Kataifi or String Pastry, but this left over chicken dish was fantastic. I said as we ate the food that I rated it as 4.9 stars, but that's 5 really. I would recommend the left over chicken dish that Rosemary decribes. Best meal so far in 2025 and may take until 2026 to surpass! Wonderful trexture, a completely different taste experience!