Fasolada - Our national dish!

   Most tourists who visit Greece, are familiar with popular dishes like mousaka or souvlaki but probably no one knows that fasolada  (bean soup) is actually considered to be our national dish!  Why such a humble food?  

   In the old days when meat wasn’t available to everyone, beans were the main source of nutrients. As late as the Second World War, thousands of people survived thanks to soup kitchens offering fasolada. Nowadays, fasolada is a favorite winter dish and there is even a special day, - Shrove Monday -when everyone eats fasolada at home or in open air festivals where we also traditionally fly kites.

     Many varieties of beans have been cultivated in Greece since the 16^th - 17^th century. The fact that beans can be easily cultivated in various soil qualities, helped to spread them all over the country. Kastoria in northern Greece is a place where some of the tastiest beans are produced from local varieties. In our tavern we use beans from the area of Ancient Feneos here in the Peloponnesus. They are also famous and really nice.

Small white beans are used to make fasolada together with carrots, onion, celery and tomato. This soup is served with side dishes like taramosalata and olives. 

Galatopita - Milkpie

The four basic ingredients in pastry are sugar, eggs, flour, and milk. There are endless variations and proportions in which these four ingredients can be mixed to become different desserts. Nowadays there is a great variety of special pastry ingredients but in the old days people had to use their creativity, four basic ingredients, and maybe some spices and natural flavorings to make different desserts. Such a simple dessert in Greek cuisine is Galatopita (milk pie), a sweet baked cream with ingredients found in every house

My grandmother had goats in our cottage house and galatopita with goats milk was often on the menu.

The ideal combination to flavor a Galatopita is vanilla in the cream and some cinnamon to dust the pie just before baking. There are several variations to make this pie, like using semolina flour instead of all purpose flour, pie crust or fyllo as a base or simply flavoring it with lemon zest instead of vanilla.

Galatopita

Serves 4-5

500gr milk

100gr flour

80gr sugar

2 eggs

¼ tsp salt

vanilla flavoring to taste

cinnamon to dust the pie  

Combine in a saucepan sugar and half of the milk and bring to a simmer. Meanwhile, in a bowl beat together the eggs, vanilla, salt, remaining milk (250gr) and flour until it becomes smooth. Gradually pour half of the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking to combine. Scrape the egg mixture back into the pan with the remaining hot milk and cook over low heat, whisking constantly until it is thickened. Then pour the thickened mixture into a 20cm round greased pie pan and dust with cinnamon. Preheat the oven to 180˚ C and bake for about 30 minutes until golden brown.

Green beans, a summer classic!

Laderá in Greek means braising vegetables with olive oil (ládi) to taste.

These dishes are mostly cooked in summer when there are many fresh vegetables, but also because of the heat, light dishes are most enjoyed.

Green beans is the most classic ‘’oil cooked’’ dishes.

All over Greece there are many local varieties of green beans that differ in size and shape. Of course, there are frozen green beans,all year long in the super market, but I believe that vegetables should be consumed fresh when they can be cultivated outdoors in the right season. 

Green beans are always cooked with onion, tomato and parsley, while the quality of olive oil defines the final taste. Extra virgin olive oil gives to vegetables a light and really superior taste.

The most suitable and popular side dish for vegetables is cheese, - feta or any other local cheese, such as graviera or kefalotyri.

Ode to tomato – Kayanas

“The street filled with tomatoes, midday, summer, light is halved like a tomato, its juice runs through the streets. (….)

The tomato offers its gift of fiery color and cool completeness.

Pablo Neruda   “Ode to tomato”





Every summer I look forward to harvest the first ripe tomatoes in order to make kayanas with the right taste.

That magnificent combination of tomatoes and eggs is my favorite main course for the hot summer days. It is also nice over toasted bread as an appetizer in a summer lunch, or as a rich sauce for pasta.

Kayanas can be seasoned with oregano, basil, mint or garlic but please only one of them; tomato has to be the King of flavor.

This food reminds me of my childhood, when my mother used to cook it with tomatoes from our garden. I could eat that every day for the whole season!

How many roses did you have for breakfast? - Rose jam

Rosa Damascena

In the old days when modern methods of preserving fruits all year long didn’t exist, there was still a need to serve your guests some always available dessert. This led people to invent fruits preserved in syrup. A spoonful of such a preserve and a cup of Greek coffee were and still are the common welcoming treat.

''...add the lemon juice and magically your jam turns to a beautiful red''