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Jerusalem Kodafa

Author: GalleyPirate

Ingredients

  • 1½ cups Couscous
  • 2¼ cups Water
  • 1 cup Butter, cut into small pieces, plus a little more to butter the pan
  • 1 Egg, lightly beaten
  • Two pinches of salt
  • 1¾ cups Ricotta cheese
  • ¾ cup Grated mozzarella

Saffron Honey Syrup

  • 1½ cups Honey, total
  • 2-3 Pinches of saffron threads
  • ½ cup Water
  • 1 tsp Orange flower water, (lemon juice may be substituted)

Instructions

  • Place the dry couscous in a pan with a lid. Boil 2 1/4 cups of water and put over the couscous. Cover and set aside for 15-20 minutes.
  • While that rests, butter a 10-inch springform pan. Dice the 1 cup of butter into small cubes. Beat an egg in a separate dish. Light your oven and pre-heat to 400º.
  • In a separate bowl, combine the shredded mozzarella, the ricotta and 2 tablespoons of honey.
  • Remove lid from couscous, and fluff with a fork. Stir in butter pieces until melted. When couscous is cooled sufficiently stir in 1 beaten egg.
  • Now begin the layering into the pan. Spread half the couscous mixture evenly in the bottom of the cake pan. Layer in the cheese mixture and top with the second half of the couscous mixture. Gently press down.
  • Note: Before I placed the pan in the oven, I wrapped it with foil. For two reasons: 1) to prevent it from burning since my galley element is hot in the back only and, 2) I didn't trust my springform pan to not leak melted butter all over my oven. And I was very glad I did that!
  • Place in your pre-heated oven for 20-30 minutes. Bake until it starts to brown along the edges. The butter will be sizzling and popping while this cooks.
  • While that bakes, prepare the honey sauce. Heat the remaining honey, saffron and water in a pan.
  • Let simmer and lightly boil for about 10 minutes until it thickens to form a light syrup. Set aside to cool a bit. Add the orange flower water.
  • Now light your broiler and let the top brown for another 3-5 minutes. Again, the butter will be sizzling! Let brown until a nice crust forms on top.
  • Let cool for a moment and sprinkle with chopped pistachios. After it's cooled for about 15 minutes, release springform onto a plate.
  • Slice into wedges, serve warm, drizzled with syrup,

Notes