Konafa with Cheese

This is a Middle Eastern dessert made with a dough called konafa which looks like soft whitish uncooked shredded wheat or vermicelli. It can be bought in Middle Eastern or international food stores. I bought mine frozen.

I followed a recipe from the book Tamarind & Saffron: Favorite Recipes from the Middle East (Claudia Roden) but used only ricotta cheese instead of 1/2 ricotta, 1/2 mozzarella. Ricotta has less fat and it makes a lighter dessert that I prefer. 

What you'll need:

1. for the konafa

- 250 g (1/2 lb) of konafa pastry

- 125 g (4 oz) unsalted butter

- 50 g pistachio nuts, chopped

2. for the syrup

- 250 g (1/2 lb) sugar

- 150 ml (1/4 pint) water

- juice from 1/2 lemon

- 1 tbsp orange-blossom water

- 1 tbsp rose water

3. for the filling

- 500 g unsalted ricotta cheese

How to do it:

To prepare the sugar, bring the water, lemon juice and sugar to a boil and let simmer for 10 min. Add the orange blossom and rose waters and cook for 30 more seconds. Cool down and put in the refrigerator.

Melt the butter. Put the konafa pastry in a large bowl, add the melted butter and work the mixture thoroughly with your fingers to make sure that the strands are coated in butter and don't stick together (at least most of them!). 

Spread half the pastry at the bottom of a tray. Spread the ricotta cheese over it evenly and cover with the rest of the pastry, flattening it with your hand. Bake in oven preheated to 180 C (350 F) for 45 mins or until the top is a light golden brown.

Remove from the oven and pour the cold syrup over it. Sprinkle with the crushed pistachios and serve hot or warm.