"Like heaven in your mouth" says 10 year-old Elizabeth and I am inclined to agree. My goal after all, was to develop the best baklava I had ever tasted.
It is nice to have succeeded. Our Greek baklava is indeed the most delicious I have tasted. There is only good honey, no sugar syrup, butter, no oil, and the nuts are freshly chopped. Some of the honey is caramelized and when the syrup hits, they blend and take on a creamy and chewy character. They are very much the truffles of baklava.
Our hand-rolled dolmathes are filled with a vegetarian rice pilaf and served with an egg lemon sauce. We saute crisp onions, then add the rice, thoroughly coating the grains in oil before adding dried currants, pine nuts, and dill. These are sauted together until fragrant, then par-cooked with vegetarian broth.
This pilaf is spooned onto grape leaves, then carefully placed into a cooking pot, making sure that the dolmas are tightly packed. This is cooked, then cooled and packaged with a container of avgolemono for dipping.
In 1904, my grandfather, Chris Hurmuses arrived in BC, closely followed by three of his brothers. From a family of merchants in Langada, Constantinople, each of them founded food businesses upon arrival. The three brothers started cafes, while Grampa variously had grocery stores, a confectionary, and almost launched BC's first post-prohibtion distillery. Grampa's son, my father John also went into the food business, first with his own small cafe on Granville Street in Vancouver, following this as a fish buyer, retiring at 84 from his own successful fish processing plant, where my siblings and I worked throughout summer vacations from childhood. It was inevitable that I too would eventually start a food business of my own.
Gayle's Greek Food is off the charts. Beyond anything else I've had on Vancouver Island. It's hard to pull yourself away from the table, and I am grateful for it.
Gayle's Greek Gourmet baklava is to die for.
It's very authentic, and very, very good.
I've loved Gayle's Greek foods from the beginning when she introduced her baklava. The foods that followed were very formally and well-made Greek foods. I look forward to anything she has to offer in the future.
