Semolina Slice

Hello :) This morning I walked to my friend Tara's house (she conveniently lives 10 minutes away) to make a semolina slice + watch a movie! We decided to make the slice first. I've never actually used semolina before and was interested to cook with it. It seems similar to polenta (which I have never cooked with either!), kind of like cous cous. The slice itself didn't take long at all- although the mixture needed to rest for an hour. We did get a little panicky however when we realised we had no rose water/essence, a 'pivotal' ingredient to the slice Tara believed and so we rushed to a nearby Indian supermarket where they thankfully had some.

Recipe: Semolina Slice
Ingredients (slice)- 
450g coarsely ground semolina
1 tsp bicarb
1 cup milk
1 cup yoghurt
120g butter (melted)
2 tbls tahini
almonds, blanched
(syrup)- 
2 cups water
400g sugar
1 tbls lemon juice
1 tbls rosewater
Method- 
1. Place semolina + bicarb in bowl and combine
2. Pour in milk, yoghurt, and butter and mix throughly. Work quickly as mixture tends to thicken. Brush a 20cm by 30cm tray with tahini. Pour in semolina mixture, smooth top and allow to sit for 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Slice semolina diagonally into diamon shapes + top each with one almond.
4. Bake for 35-40 minutes- or until browned.
Method (syrup)- 
In a medium saucepan bring the water + sugar to the boil. Add lemon juice and continue to boil for 15 minutes or until syrup is thick. Stir in rosewater and remove from heat. Pour warm syrup over slice and allow to cool.

It was a bit of a workout mixing everything! I wouldn't recommend tasting the mixture before it's cooked though, not too pleasant ;)

Ready to go in the oven! 

Mmmmm. Perfect!

I was very impressed by this slice! It was scrumptious :) Light, and the texture of the semolina was really nice. Loved how the tahini was used to coat the tray! We didn't blanch our almonds as you can see though, which turned out fine. And I know it seems like a lot of sugar, so you could easily halve the syrup recipe, although it does soak in and moisten the slice. 

We enjoyed a few slices whilst watching Bright Star... :) 

Have you ever cooked with semolina?

And as I mentioned I'm off to Melbourne next week (well I leave on Sunday), so I'll see you all in a week or so.

Hannah x

P.S. Wow, it's July already! Where has this year gone... ??