When in Mexico...eat galaktoboureko, a delicious Greek dessert!

I really like Mexican food.  I enjoy eating the food I cook, in my apartment.  But sometimes change is great!!!


Tonight, I went to a Greek restaurant, Taberna El Greco, with Barbara and Tom.  As a group, we had hummus, tatziki, lemon chicken, pita bread, grilled eggplant, and Greek salad.  It was all delicious!!!  But the best part, from a "trying something new that's interesting and delicious" angle was a dessert we shared.  Galaktoboureko (Greek: γαλακτομπούρεκο)
 
Wikipedia says galaktoboureko is a semolina custard topped with filo pastry and a clear sweet syrup. What's a semolina custard you ask?  

Semolina comes from durum wheat.  Durum, which means hard in latin, is the hardest of all wheats. It's the type used to make pasta and couscous.  The CBC says Canada is the world's premier exporter of durum wheat for making pasta, including making pasta in Italy!  

There are 3 parts to every wheat grain/seed. The outer layer/skin is called bran, as in bran muffins or cereal.  It's especially rich in fibre. The part that will sprout and make a new plant is called the germ,  short for germination.  It's the most vitamin and mineral-rich part of the grain. The rest of the grain is called endosperm.  It's starchy and provides food for the germ to grow. 


To make semolina, the durum grain is ground and the endosperm is separated from the rest.  When the endosperm from Durum wheat is coarsely ground, it's called semolina.  When it's finely ground, it called Durum flour.  Both are yellow in colour.  Which gives pasta it's distinctive creamy colour. 

Durum wheat has gluten, but it's difficult to activate the gluten.  Activated gluten is what makes bread dough elastic, and baked bread fluffy.  So durum wheat doesn't make good bread.  But that lack of elasticity is great for making pasta.  

Semolina custard, is made by boiling or baking a mixture of egg yolks, sugar, meringue, milk, cream, semolina, and vanilla. The texture is creamy, a bit like rice pudding.  Delicious!!!

Pictures
1- Outside of the Taberna El Greco
2- Our Galaktoboureko.  The plate got messed up before I could take the picture.  But it was really neat.  There was an outline of a fork in cinnamon sprinkled on the bottom of the plate. 
3 - A diagram of a grain of wheat.  Just like the one we use at the farm!!!
4 - A close-up of semolina.  Turns out "grits" are corn semolina.
5 - A pretty sculpture in the Taberna El Greco