Paskies (pies with lamb or goat meat)
«Πασκιές» Πηγή: Μαρία Συμεωνίδου
They are prepared and consumed during the Easter period, mainly in villages of the Paphos district.
Name - Recipe
These are traditional Easter pies with a filling of lamb or goat meat.
For the dough:
Use the same ingredients as for the flaouna:
2 kg of flour (plain and village flour)
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
mahleb, mastic, aniseed (well ground)
2 cups oil
sourdough (size 2-4 eggs)
warm milk for kneading
For the filling:
2 kg of lamb meat (cut into pieces as for aphelia)
1 kg of onions
oil
Cinnamon, pepper, salt
1 portion of foukos - flaouna stuffing (optional)
For spreading:
beaten eggs
Sesame seeds
Version A:
Fry the meat and onions separately and lightly. Combine them and add the cinnamon, pepper and salt. Remove them from the oil. Roll out round sheets of dough the size of a small plate and add some filling. Add another dough sheet on top (thinner than the bottom) and combine the edges of two sheets all the way around, as you do for kolokotés. Brush with egg and sesame seeds. Bake in the oven, as with the flaounes (Ministry of Agriculture 2010, 72).
Version B:
"Sauté the meat and add the onions, cinnamon, cloves, pepper. On the following day, mix the meat with foukos (the stuffing for flaounes). Roll out the dough into round sheets. Put some of the mixture into each of them and use smaller sheets to cover thek. After brushing them with egg, place in a preheated wood-fired oven. " (Polemitou 2010).
Frying.
Sautéing,
Baking in the oven
In several villages of Paphos, this filling is mixed with foukos (the filling of flouna) and the process of preparing the paskies continues, as described above (Ministry of Agriculture 2010, Cypriot traditional preparations, 46-47; Ministry of Agriculture 2009, 'For the farmer: Easter pastries and dishes', 72).
Functional and symbolic role
Throughout the week after Easter Sunday, the Paphians considered it offensive to the sanctity of the days to cook. They fed themselves with paskies, flaounes and koulloures ( Pharmakidis 2000, 404-405).
According to Xenophon P. Pharmakidis, paskia contains semifried meat of tender lambs or piglets (Pharmakidis 2000, 404-405).
They are prepared and consumed during the Easter period in villages of the Paphos district.
Additional information and bibliography
According to older people, paskies were first prepared hundreds of years ago in Polemi and the surrounding villages, but over the years they are prepared all over Paphos (Polemitou 2010).
Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment, Department of Agriculture (2010), Cypriot traditional preparations, Press and Information Office, Nicosia.
Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment (2009), 'For the farmer: Easter pastries and dishes', Agrotis (April-May-June).
Farmakidis X. (2000), Everything, Epiphaniou Publications, Nicosia.
Web sources: Polemitou M. (2010), "The traditional custom of paskia", Sigmalive - http://www.sigmalive.com/archive/simerini/analiseis/ 253794. http://www.howaboutsomegreektonight.com/paskies.php.
Varvara Yangou
Παρασκευή πασκιών και παξιμαδιών, Γιόλου 5/5/13.φωτ: Γεωργία Θεμιστοκλέους
Η γέμιση των πασκιών. Πηγή: Μαρία Συμεωνίδου.
Γέμισμα των πασκιών σε μικρά, στρογγυλά φύλλα. Πηγή: Γ. Γρούτας, https://www.flickr.com/photos/jorge-11/17106296051/in/photostream/
Παρασκευή πασκιών. Πηγή: Ιστοσελίδα Facebook.
Πασκιές και φλαούνα στο φούρνο. Πηγή: Γ. Γρούτας, https://www.flickr.com/photos/jorge-11/16919490640/in/photostream/
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