Melópita – Honey pie from Sifnos island

 

    Sifnos, located in the south Aegean sea, is a beautiful island famous for its ceramic workshops; ceramic bowls, plates, vases and cooking pots that bake wonderful oven stews.

     Al though it can be also found in other Aegean islands, honey pie is famous as a specialty of Sifnos. It is one of those traditional desserts made with simple ingredients found in any agricultural community: homemade myzithra cheese, honey (μέλι) from their own bees and free range eggs. These ingredients were enough to make people creative and turn an old fashioned cheesecake into something we may nowadays call a gourmet dessert. The addition of more honey and some cinnamon when served makes it even more impressive. 
    Myzithra (also called anthótyro)  is a low fat soft and fresh cheese made from both goat and sheep's milk, but if you can't find it abroad it could be substituted by Italian ricotta cheese with similar results.

Quince jelly, beautiful red jelly flavored with rose geranium

    

     Quinces are ideal fruits for jellies and jams because they have a wonderfully perfumed flesh and, most importantly, because they are full of pectin. In Greece we also make a sweet preserve with pieces of quince, but we also use them in cooking, for example in festive stews with pork or game, the same way you would use potatoes.
In different areas of the country quince jelly is flavored with rose geranium ( Pelargonium  graveolens) or lemon verbena, but you can also flavor it with cinnamon and cloves, vanilla, or something to your own taste.
     This jelly, popular all over the planet, can be used as a jam on toasted bread, to accompany cheese on a cheese plate, or as a natural jelly to gloss fruit tarts. It has a wonderful red color and, properly preserved, can be stored for up to a year. 

Gemistà - stuffed tomatoes with rice and herbs

Stuffed tomatoes are called gemistà in Greek.
Red, ripe tomatoes with their natural sweetness can turn this humble dish into a wonderfully flavored summer meal. As a kid I remember we would cook this dish at home, mostly in August, when the tomatoes from our garden were ideally ripe.

Rice and finely grated vegetables together with herbs is the classic stuffing for gemistà. In some parts of Greece, raisins and pine nuts are used to give a festive touch to the dish. 
Another version calls for minced meat in the stuffing, but it’s not nearly as popular. 
Gemistà  can describe not only tomatoes but also other stuffed summer vegetables such as aubergines, green peppers, and zucchinis.

Melitzanes me tomata & feta - baked eggplants with tomato sauce and feta

     Eggplants and tomato; tomato and feta!  Add some basil or oregano and this chain reaction can give an explosion of taste in your mouth.
     Slices of eggplant covered with tomato sauce, and topped with feta can easily become a filling summer dish, served either as a first or as a main course.
     In Greece we season tomatoes with oregano, but basil is a classic Mediterranean companion for tomato as well;  so  it’s up to you.
Cooking this dish, won't take you more than 20-30 minutes.

Sfougàto - zucchinis and kefalotyri cheese frittata.

   

 Zucchinis are widely available in summer and since they are quite popular for their light fresh flavor, many dishes are based on them.
    At this time of the year we usually have more time for cooking but we prefer spending time eating instead, so easy and fast recipes like omelets are always popular.
    This frittata with zucchinis, which on Aegean islands is called sfougàto (spongy), is easy to make and quite filling.

Scordomacárona –An easy spaghetti with garlic and tomato paste

   The first day we would go to our summer house, my mother always had to do a lot of cleaning, so there wasn't much time for cooking - Scordomacárona was the answer!

   This simple pasta made with tomato paste is probably the first dish I ever learned to cook, because it’s easy to prepare and very tasty at the same time. We use tomato paste a lot In Greece and a can of it is always available in every household fridge.

Santorini island makes a very special paste because they use the local heirloom ‘dry’ tomatoes which are grown in the volcanic soil of the island without ever being watered.  The plant absorbs water from the night breeze which brings moisture from the sea. Its taste is unique but the limited production makes it a bit difficult to find.

Melitzanosalata - eggplant spread, the monks' way

   

      Eggplants are the basic ingredient of many summer dishes; they make wonderful combinations with tomato, garlic, onion, peppers, basil and many other summer vegetables, all producing very tasty dishes.


     Today we harvested the first eggplants of the season and the best way to taste them without too much cooking is melitzanosalảta, a spread made with roasted eggplants, olive oil, vinegar and just an idea of garlic. Roasted red peppers can  also be added for extra color and sweetness. This vegan version is called agioritiki and takes its name from the monks’ community of Athos peninsula (Agio Oros). The addition of yogurt or mayonnaise does give a rich taste but one closer to what you find in the store bought melitzanosalata.

Zucchini fritters and choriảtiki salad - a light summer meal

    




     Mediterranean summers are very hot and heat calls for light meals. In Greece we use many vegetables in our summer cuisine - in salads, in vegetable stews, grilling them, baking them,  or making fritters for more filling bite size snacks. 
     The most famous Greek salad among locals and tourists is choriảtiki the base of which is tomato, cucumber, and onion topped with a generous slice of feta cheese. Choriatiki is also garnished with olives, green pepper, capers and dry oregano. Olive oil is the final and most important ingredient of any salad; it has to be fresh extra virgin olive oil because salads are not cooked, and therefore all special characteristics of the oil used affect the taste.
     A zucchini fritter (kolokythokeftẻdes) is a nice way to turn zucchinis (kolokỳthia) into a tasty snack. It is usually served as a first course or as a meze for your ouzo or wine. Some Greek yoghurt  is always nice with fritters.

Fava - yellow split peas puree with caramelized onions

     

Yellow split peas or fava, as we call them in Greece, are cultivated in many regions of the country where different microclimates give them completely different tastes. Santorini, apart from being one of the most beautiful islands, is the place of origin of the best quality fava beans produced in our country. The volcanic soil and the unique dry climate give to the beans an exquisite taste but the limited production makes it difficult to find them outside the island. Very good fava is also produced in the valley of ancient Feneόs here in the Peloponnese.   
     Fava is usually cooked as a puree and since its taste is quite neutral, caramelized onions, capers or some finely chopped Greek salad on top, can transform it into a gourmet dish. 

Fakẻs soupa - lentil soup

     Legumes are an important part of the Greek diet. Lentils (fakẻs in Greek) are usually cooked as a soup with carrots and garlic and are traditionally served with a drizzle of olive oil and vinegar.
     I remember lentil soup was a Tuesday dish in my home and, as you know, kids don’t usually like legumes. So my grandmother would make omelet for me with my mother hesitating to agree, - thinking  that I would become spoiled. So I was almost ten years old when I first tasted my mother’s lentil soup. We were on summer vacation with my cousins who loved lentil soup and they convinced me to try it. Since that day I have never argued about this dish. Actually I really like lentils a lot, so why don’t you try them for yourself?

Wild asparagus made it clear; Spring has come!

Yesterday, under the olive trees, we found the first wild asparagus of the year.

What a treat! Have you ever tasted wild asparagus? That is not something you wouldn’t remember!. Their taste is superb. . In Greek they are called σπαράγγια-sparảgia and in my opinion, wild ones are ten times better tasting than cultivated ones.

In the mountains you can find native wild asparagus from late February to late April. As I read on wiki, wild asparagus are found all over Europe and Asia as native plants, so look out for them in scrubland, roadsides, and river valleys near you. Their shape is much thinner than the cultivated variety and their color is green or purple.

The most common way we cook them in Greece is in omelets. You can also make nice risottos or simply cook them for a minute in boiling water and serve them strained with olive oil and lemon.

Galaktoboúreko, time for dessert!

         

          Some traditional desserts are so popular that there are pastry shops specializing in making only that special one; they often have long queues with customers waiting to buy their favorite. One of those desserts is galaktoboúreko.
          Galaktoboúreko is a traditional dessert made with phyllo pastry crust and filled with semolina custard. Butter and vanilla give to the cream its wonderful taste. 

          Galaktoboúreko was traditionally made at Easter. But it is so tasty that no one could wait until Easter to enjoy it, so now you can find it all year long. Every home cook and pastry shop has its own version of this dessert. Everyone uses different proportions of the same ingredients. The quality of the butter, orange or lemon zest, the thinness of the phyllo pastry, and  the baking time are a few of the  secrets leading to different unique results. It’s not difficult to make. All you’ll need is phyllo pastry from a Greek or Middle Eastern food store and friends to enjoy it.

Lagảna bread and taramosalảta , Shrove Monday’s specials.

              Shrove Monday is the day after Carnival and the first day of the Orthodox Great Lent which lasts for forty days until Easter. Like any other festive day, Shrove Monday has its own traditions. Adults love it for the food and children love the flying of the kites.
              In Greek it is called “Clean Monday” because we don’t eat meat, dairy products, and only certain types of fish are traditionally allowed. All the bakeries in  the country bake only one kind of bread, lagána, a very tasty flat oval bread sprinkled with sesame seeds. It is such a pity we can find this bread only once a year. 

             In every town there are open air festivals for the flying of the kites, - where everyone is served fasolada, baked butter beans, lagána bread and taramosaláta. Taramosaláta is a cod roe spread made with the roe, bread crumbs, olive oil, and lemon. It is not fishy at all; it tastes rather like mayonnaise with shrimps.  White taramá is the best quality cod “caviar” but red taramá, a mixture of roes, will work fine. 

Fresh pasta, without eggs- Striftᾱdia or Makaroones

My grandmother used to make fresh pasta for her eight (!) children, twice a week. Actually each of my grandmothers had eight children.

 Her fresh pasta was made without eggs. Eggs were used only in dry pasta. All the taste would come from the fresh homemade butter and the mizithra cheese served with the pasta. Every family in the country side used to have their own goat’s milk in order to make butter, feta and mizithra cheese for their domestic needs. Of course they also had their own flour for bread and pasta and they would buy only those things they couldn’t produce themselves.

When industrial pasta became widely available people stopped making fresh pasta because of the cheap price and the lack of effort involved. That was the time my grandmother stopped making fresh pasta too. I had the chance to taste her pasta only once - at a family gathering many years ago when my uncles asked her to revive their childhood memory. I still remember that taste: simple, very tasty, and heartwarming food. I make this pasta a few times every year; it’s easy to make and everyone will love it.

In the Peloponnesus, this pasta is called “striftᾱdia” which means “twisted pasta”. When made in the Aegean islands of Karpathos and Kasos it is called “makaroones”.

If you can’t make fresh pasta, try the butter, onion,  and mizithra combination with cooked dry pasta to experience  the taste of this traditional dish. It is ideal when you have no time to make a sauce.

Baked giant beans and cabbage salad with mustard-yogurt dressing

              Beans are widely used in Greek cuisine. Small ones are used for soups and salads but those bigger in size are ideal for cooking in the oven. When I say bigger I really mean “giant beans”!!! Giant beans (also referred to as ''elephants'') are called butter beans in English and are cultivated mostly in northern Greece because they thrive in cooler mountainous regions. 


              They would look funny in a soup but many recipes for baked giant beans have been invented all over the country according to each region’s eating habits. The most common version is to bake the beans in tomato sauce with carrots and celery. This is the version commonly found in houses and taverns; other versions with spinach or sausage are found in northern Greece where the climate calls for spicy food. Giant beans are also a classic meze for ouzo.

               Cabbage with its natural sweetness adds taste to many winter dishes but raw cabbage makes very nice salads too, - with sliced orange, apple, and mayonnaise or with just a nice mustard dressing like the one I present here. In Greece we often eat cabbage-carrot salad with only extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice added. 

Merry Christmas!!! with our favorite cookies

Christmas is everyone’s favorite time of the year. I enjoy it mostly for the food! Many savory dishes and desserts are made only during the Christmas and New Year festivities. This makes things interesting but it is a pity we can’t enjoy them throughout the entire year.

In Greece we have two favorite cookies which are found in every single house as well as every pastry shop in the country. We just love melomacarona and kourabiedes!! There is no such thing as Christmas without these cookies.

Melomacarona are egg free cookies scented with cinnamon, clove and orange. After baking they are immediately dipped into thick honey syrup that makes them irresistible.

Kourabiedes are very simple to make, since they are made only with flour, butter and sugar and are scented with vanilla and brandy or rum. Very good quality butter gives these cookies their characteristic taste and aroma. In Greece we use goat or sheep’s milk butter both of which have a very intense aroma, but any good quality milk butter will do.

 Every home has its own version of these cookies. For example, in melomacarona some use only flour, whereas we use both semolina flour and all purpose flour. Semolina flour helps the cookies stay crispy and syrupy inside, but the choice is yours.

I hope you will enjoy them both. Merry Christmas!!!

Quince, a fruit for gods!!!

Quinces have been used in Greek cuisine for thousands of years. Ancient Greeks used to call them ‘’apples’’ and they used to combine them with meat in savory dishes or in simple desserts like baked quinces stuffed with honey and almonds’’.

In mythology quince was the fruit dedicated to the goddess Aphrodite (Venus)  and the ‘apple’ given to her by Paris in the famous beauty contest.. Plutarch tells us that Solon (a lawgiver and poet) suggested that brides bite into a slice of quince before they met with their husbands to ensure  a memorable and pleasant first kiss!

Nowadays we still use quinces in cooking, in festive dishes with pork or beef or in desserts the same way you would use apples.

The following recipe is a ‘’spoon sweet’’ which is quince cooked in syrup. It is the simplest way to preserve fruits and then use them in pastry. Quinces make a very tasty preserve with a vibrant red color that matches perfectly with yogurt, cheesecake, or as it is.

Kolokythopita- Savory Pumpkin Pie

In Greek cuisine pumpkin is mostly used in savory or sweet pies (kolokythopita), but there is also a preserve - a ‘’spoon sweet ‘’ - as we call it, made with pumpkin and honey that in Rhodes island is called ‘’retseli’’.

In the countryside almost every house has pumpkins even if only as a decorative plant on fences. Neighbors are competing to show who has the biggest pumpkin every year or who has the greatest production.

Sweet pumpkin pie is made with the addition of raisins, walnuts, cinnamon, and, of course, sugar, and it is dusted with icing sugar after baking. This pie resembles apple pie and is served as a dessert.

In the Peloponnesus we make a savory pie with feta cheese and this is one of our favorite winter dishes. You will notice that we use dried pasta in this pie, giving the pie extra taste This way the pumpkin juices are absorbed instead of merely being discarded. We use chylopites  which are small squares of pasta. You can use any kind of dried pasta but flat shaped pasta works and looks better. In northern Greece people prefer to use rice instead of pasta in this pie.

Fanouropita- Lost and found!

Religious traditions often influence the eating habits of a nation. In Greece, Orthodox tradition has influenced our cuisine to such a degree that even those who are not religious keep the traditions. Family memories and customs keep them alive but, mostly, it is the pleasure that traditional food offers.

 Fanouropita is a cake made on the 27th of August,- St. Fanourios Day. It is also made every time we have lost something or when we want to make a wish about something, - for example, good health or a new job. We used to make Fanouropita often at home because it’s a nice cake with coffee (Okay, we would make a wish from time to time!).

Fanouropita is an egg and dairy free cake and according to tradition only 9 ingredients must be used to make it. Others believe that 12 is the correct number. I will give you the 9 ingredients version I know and also a twist with syrup to make it as a dessert.  Even if you haven’t lost anything, don’t lose the chance to make this!

Lahanoriso - cabbage, a huge flower bud!

“To eat a nice cabbage, you have to wait until November” my grandfather used to say. Cold weather makes cabbages really sweet. In Greek cuisine cabbage is a basic winter vegetable because you can’t grow many things in your garden at this time of the year. It gives its special character, taste, and sweetness to many different recipes.         

It matches ideally with pork or beef in dishes like ‘’staffed cabbage leaves’’ (dolmades) or pork and cabbage fricassee. It makes nice salads chopped finely with carrot or boiled in water and served warm with olive oil and lemon. But my favorite dish with cabbage is lahanoriso; with carrot, rice, celery and olive oil, a simple, tasty and filling food.  My mother has been making this dish often in winter maybe because we always had cabbages in our garden at this time of the year. My favorite side dish for lahanoriso is fried potatoes, but if you would like to have a rich winter meal, a nice sausage would be ideal.