Skiouficta ala crème
Homemade Cretan Pasta
Execute recipe:
For the sauce:
A little olive oil
250 g mushrooms
200 gr apaki*
500 gr anthotyro as soft as you can find or a cream cheese from sheep and goat milk 200 g with 250 g heavy cream
65 gr gruyere cheese as ripe as you can find
1 egg
A little salt, a little pepper
***
About Skiouficta
In Cretan cuisine there are handmade pasta and these are skioufichta
500 gr Skiouficto spaghetti
3 pinch coarse salt
A little olive oil or butter
We put water in a saucepan, add the salt
When it boils, add the Skiouficta for 12-15 minutes
We try them by biting one, if we are satisfied remove it from the heat, strain them and add the oil or butter after we have melted it first
For the sauce
Cut the mushrooms and apaki into cubes into medium thickness slices
Add the mushrooms to the pan with the olive oil, after releasing most of their liquids, add the apaki
Bake for a while more and add the anthotyro, stirring constantly until it melts
Remove from heat and having beaten the egg well, add it, stirring constantly so that the egg is not cooked but incorporated into the sauce, then add the salt and pepper and finally the graviéra cheese
*Cretan apaki is made from tenderloin, which has no fat and is very tender. The meat is salted and peppered, sprinkled with aromatic herbs, sage, oregano, savory and thyme and marinated for 2-3 days in vinegar from good wine. The choice of herbs depends on the place of preparation and the personal choices of the manufacturer. Then, it is hung in a special area where it is slowly smoked with branches of olive, cedar, cypress, etc. and of course from aromatic plants, which give it a great taste. We find it in various packages on the shelves of grocery stores and shops with Cretan products as well as in large supermarkets.