The theme this time around was "Greek" and in honor of Grandma's Marathon (First marathons, Greece, get it?) It seems we've learned how to cook less dishes so we don't have such an outrageous amount of leftovers! This dinner, as they all do, turned out fabulous.

• Gyros
• Vegetable Au Gratin Bake
  
• Baked Feta Squares
  
• Vegetable Feta Pasta Salad
  
• Ouzo Almond Yogurt Cake with Greek Ouzo Honey Yogurt
  
• Drink: Ouzo on the Rocks
  

My dishes were the Ouzo cake and the baked feta. I would have to go out on a limb here and say the cake sort of stole the show. I thought it was delicious, as did everyone else. The store was all out of star anise so I missed putting that into the cake, but to make up for it I mixed ouzo into the yogurt to thin it out and make it easier to drizzle over the cake.

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Ouzo Almond Yogurt Cake

Pantry

• 3 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 1/2 cups, plus 2 tbl sugar
• 1/2 cup olive oil mixed with 1/2 cup sunflower oil

Groceries

• 2 cups whole almonds, divided
• 4 large eggs, separated
• 1 cup, plus 2 tbl plain whole-milk yogurt
• Greek honey yogurt, to serve

Liquor Store

• 3/4 cup Ouzo
  

PREHEAT oven to 375°F with rack in center position. Brush two metal loaf pans with olive oil. Line pan bottoms with parchment paper; brush parchment with olive oil.

SPREAD 1 1/2 cups almonds on rimmed baking sheet; toast in oven 10 minutes. Cool. Transfer to processor and coarsely grind (some small almond pieces should remain); set aside.

Finely CHOP 1/2 cup untoasted almonds in processor.

BOIL ouzo in small saucepan until reduced to 1/2 cup, about 2 minutes. Cool.

SPRINKLE 1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped untoasted almonds over bottom of each pan.

WHISK flour, ground star anise, baking powder, sea salt, and ground toasted almonds in large bowl.

Using electric mixer, BEAT egg yolks and 1 1/2 cups sugar in medium bowl until well blended (mixture will look grainy at first). Add 1 cup light olive oil; beat 1 minute. Add ouzo and yogurt and beat until well blended, about 30 seconds. Gradually add flour mixture to yolk mixture, beating just until incorporated (batter will be thick).

Using dry clean beaters, beat egg whites in large bowl until stiff but not dry. Fold 1/3 of whites into batter to lighten. Fold in remaining whites in 2 additions.

DIVIDE batter between prepared pans (about 3 1/2 cups for each). Sprinkle each with remaining finely chopped untoasted almonds, dividing equally. Sprinkle each with 1 tablespoon sugar.

BAKE cakes until golden brown and tester inserted into centers comes out clean, about 1 hour 5 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on rack 15 minutes. Turn cakes out onto rack and cool completely.

Makes two 8-inch loaves

Labels: Almonds, Dessert, Ouzo, Yogurt