I had quite a crazed weekend this past one. In fact it was so hectic that I felt that I needed a weekend to get over my weekend. Do you ever have those times when you collapse into bed exhausted at the end of a Sunday night at 9pm?  And whilst I love social engagements, all I wanted to do was get into the kitchen and bake these little buns and socialising like a mad woman meant that these were going to be a Monday afternoon project once the weekend was over.

And on the Monday morning I awoke feeling slightly run down or more accurately, run over.  My legs ached from wearing heels all weekend – I used to be able to run miles in the things! I also awoke very parched in my throat. I had in fact dreamt of drinking a tall glass of water just before I woke-and that glass  of water was delivered, randomly, by Don Draper from Mad Men. Make of that dream what you will. I wondered how on earth people handled other, even more ferociously busy weekends. We hadn’t gone to bed at 3am like I had done so in the past and there wasn’t that much alcohol involved for me.  And when the phone rang, I groaned and it was hard for me to answer “Good morning” when all I felt like saying was “Good moaning”.

Good Moaning to you piggy…

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Once upon a time, my mother made some BBQ Pork buns. She told me that they turned out perfectly and she saved the recipe so she could make them again. However, like most mums, she became too busy to make these from scratch and would take advantage of the BBQ Pork Buns available in the freezer section of Chinatown grocery stores and we’d get our fill of them at Yum Cha. I was always naughty and ate the filling leaving the fluffy bun behind. Then one day recently she dug up this old recipe and straightened the paper reflecting on her batch made a long time ago “Would you like me to make these for you?” she asked me and without a moment’s hesitation I said yes and thus began the saga of the BBQ Pork Bun and the tale of the three attempts.

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Every cuisine has their late night food. The food that whilst perfectly good during the daytime, tastes even better after a long, late night and is best enjoyed when your memory of it and whoever you kissed is fleeting and when your stomach craves something buttery or greasy to balance the alcohol within it.

Greece’s late night food looks almost too damn pretty to give it a tag of “late night food” (click here for an example of a late night monstrosity I had in Finland called the Kannibal). No greasy kebab or pie, it’s a delicious custard filled filo pasty parcel. I first heard about this from a Greek friend and my interest intensified when I started talking to David Tsirekas from Perama restaurant, a restaurant that I visited only the other night. He’d twitter tempting things such as “making mandarin bougatsa” and I’d be urged to bump this to the top of my “to make” list, a messy scrawled piece of paper that I’ve clipped to my teapot wall calendar. I knew of course that I wasn’t going to make the filo from scratch and my version wouldn’t be as amazing as his but I persevered.

These were very, very good. I wouldn’t be so presumptuous to say that they were as good as the ones at Perama but if you want to make your own version at home, say late at night when the clock strikes midnight, these will certainly do. I loved the crunchiness of the buttery, light filo and the softness of the oozing vanilla and lemon custard.

And yep you guessed it. It’s Wallpaper Wednesday! How about some Bannoffee Peanut Butter cups?  I’m sure we’ve all made a quick version of this late at night with a spoon, some chocolate and a jar of peanut butter!

So tell me Dear Reader, what is your favourite late night food either at home or when you are out? A kebab? A pie? A friend used to get the urge to make wedges at midnight. What’s yours?

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