Flavors of times past

Anna helps her mum

Family is not as it used to be and food on our table isn't either. In our globalized fusion kitchens we tend to experiment with tastes and flavors from all over the world. Greek cuisine is not an exception since the land itself has been the crossroads and the melting pot of different civilizations and cultures for thousands of years. Modern greek cooks cannot identify themselves with what was served on Plato's "Symposium" nor with the extravaganza of the byzantine times.

However, apart from the elaborated dishes that have ornated the tables of the mighty and rich, what actually remains in the collective subconscious is the simple and often poor food, served on the tables of the humble people, dictated by seasonal ingredients and more often than not by what was affordable or available by foraging.

The women of the house, since cooking was a chore totally assigned to them, had to improvise from what little provisions they had in their pantry and provide a meal to satisfy the hunger of a usually extended family. A household which had stored in its cellar flour, olive oil, cheese and wine, was considered to be well-off and the rest of the staple foods were provided by the kitchen garden for vegetables and herbs and the nearby fields or forest for greens and various nuts.

Areas near the sea were also blessed with an abundance of fish and seafood and the mountainous people relied on hunting, mostly birds and hares. Wild boars have never become extinct even though they were hunted fiercely because they damaged farmer's crops.

Selling fish

Farm animals were mostly raised for their products - milk, eggs, wool- and rarely consumed as meat,

A very popular traditional wedding song says " In my child's joy (=wedding), we slaughtered a rooster"! Imagine a feast, where the whole village was usually invited, with only one chicken as the centerpiece of the celebratory dinner!

This culture of self-sufficiency is gaining ground worldwide, especially in times of economic crisis such as these but I wouldn't imagine myself making an absolute 180⁰ u-turn and start doing everything from scratch. What I'd really like to do is to preserve those unfamiliar and unknown recipes, handed down from our grandmas, and maybe, just a little, taste the original flavors of a difficult but equally fascinating bygone time.

(The pictures for this post were taken from the alphabet book of my childhood)
unless they were very old or on festive days, such as Christmas or Easter. Even then they made the most of them and nothing was wasted.

Stuffed vineleaves and zucchini (Dolmadakia kai kolokythakia gemista)

This vegetarian dish originates from the district of Macedonia in Greece and it belongs to the "ladera" category of dishes. That is, food cooked until all the juices have evaporated and there is only some olive oil left in the pot.
"Ladera" compose a whole school of thought in Greek cuisine, being the main solution during our long fasting seasons when even fish is forbidden most of the days. Moreover they play the major role in the Mediterranean diet, making great use of  vegetables, legumes and olive oil.
If we were in Italy, we cood call it "cucina povera" since it needs only some rice and what it can be found in your vegetable garden this season.If you don't have a garden, you can find everything at your greengrocer's or your supermarket. Vineleaves are also sold in jars, preserved in brine.

It can also be tranformed to a more rich dish if you add beef/lamb mince in the rice stuffing and some egg-lemon sauce in the end. But this is only a matter of taste.

As I said the ingredients are mainly found in our garden:

- 350 grams vine leaves (fresh or in a jar)
- 1 kilo of zucchini, big enough to be stuffed (see the picture above)
- 500 grams spring onions, chopped
- 1 dry onion, diced
- 1 bunch of dill, chopped
- 1 tablespoon dry mint or 2-3 sprigs of fresh mint, chopped
- 500 grams of olive oil (2 large water glasses filled)
- 500 grams of rice (risoto type)
- the juice of 5 lemons
- (optionally) some tomato juice, fresh or canned
- salt & pepper

If you have fresh vine leaves, you must wash them thoroughly and blanch them in a pot with some water, salt and the juice of half a lemon. Take them off the boiling water and let them cool on a plate until you prepare the stuffing. If you use leaves from a jar, you must also wash them because they are preserved in brine and this makes them extra salty.

Grate the zucchini from the outside, then cut them in the middle and hollow them (just like toy boats) with a small spoon or the special gadget we also use for fruit salads. Keep the stuff from inside in a bowl.

In a deep frying  pan add the dry onion, the spring onions, the dill and the mint, salt and pepper and half a cup of water. Let them simmer for five minutes and take the pan off the heat. Now add half the olive oil, half the inside of the zucchini finely chopped, the rice, salt and pepper and the juice of the other half of the lemon. Stir well and the stuffing is ready.

Put a layer of vine leaves at the bottom of your cooking pot. Take each zucchini boat and fill it with 3-4 teaspoons of the rice stuffing. Put them in the cooking pot in rows, next to each other.

Lay flat a vine leaf on your kitchen board and put a tablespoon of stuffing in its middle. Fold the sides of the leaf so as to form a small cylinder and the stuffing is secured inside. (You can see how to do it in the sketch).

 Put it in the cooking pot over the stuffed zucchini. Continue until all the leaves are stuffed and in very tight rows in the pot. Try not to leave gaps between them or they will open and the stuffing will pur out.

Add the rest of the olive oil in the pot, the juice of 2 lemons and enough water to cover the food. Take an old dish and put it upside down in the pot over the vineleaves. This will serve as a weight to prevent them from opening. Simmer for about 30 - 45 minutes. During the cooking time we can add the tomato juice and some hot water if the liquid is absorbed.

Let them cool totally and then serve on a plate, putting the zucchini in the middle and the dolmadakia around them. Serve with some plain yoghurt or tzatziki if you like but feta cheese is essential to all lathera dishes.

Kali orexi!

Μπορείτε να δείτε τη συνταγή στα Ελληνικά εδώ.

Black Risotto with Cuttlefish from the Aegean Islands (Σουπιοπίλαφο)

Ok, I know this sounds very Italian, however it’s a traditional recipe of the Cyclades, the Aegean islands. 

It is also expected from a maritime people who had long-term relationships with the italian cities of Venise and Genoa, through conquer and trade, to adopt and adapt many of their recipes. 

After all, the use of seafood such as octopus, cuttlefish and calamari is extensive throughout the coastal cities of the Mediterranean. 

You can buy fresh cuttlefish from your seamonger or deep-frozen ones, which usually come from the Indian Ocean. 

One way or the other, you have to clean them carefully so as not to destroy the precious little pouch which contains the black ink. This is responsible for the black colour of the rice and also those black spaghetti that you so much admire at the shelves of your local deli.

You wiil need:

• -        1 kilo of cuttlefish (fresh or frozen)
• -        2 large onions, diced
• -        1 large cup of olive oil
• -        3 large ripe tomatoes, diced
• -        500 grams rice
• -        2 level teaspoons of salt, a little pepper
• -        the ink of the cuttlefish

The traditional recipe suggests that you use all the ink pouches from 1 kilo of cuttlefish, though I wouldn’t recommend it if you cook this for the first time. Just use 1 pouch and if you like the result you can increase it the following time.

Clean carefully the cuttlefish and wash it under running water. Cut it in bite size and let it dry in a drainer. Put the ink in a bowl and disolve it with a little water. Usually there is some sand which will naturally sit at the bottom of the bowl, so be careful when you add the liquid to the food.

Saute the onion with the olive oil, add the cuttle fish and stir in high temperature for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes, salt and pepper and let it simmer for one and a half hour. When the are cooked (they must be soft, not like rubber) add the ink and as much water as to amount up to 4 cups of liquid. Let it come to the boil, add the rice, stir once, turn down the heat, put the lid on and let it simmer until the rice is cooked to your liking. Don’t forget to stir occasionally because the rice tends to stick at the bottom of the pot, and then you’ll literally have “charcoal”  rice.

Serve it in room temperature accompanied by cool white wine or beer.

Good apetite! Kali Orexi!

It's all greek (food) to me!

Ok! This is not the ultimate list of greek cuisine, but it's a good place to start.
Most of these dishes are typically cooked around Greece and can be found in the majority of Greek traditional restaurants.
There are many more, usually regional dishes, which are a pleasant surprise to those who want to get off the beaten track.
I have to admit that for this post I relied on Wikipedia because I wasn't quite confident about some of the vocabulary, though I had to adjust some details.
In the future, you will find in this blog the original recipes, especially those from different regions of Greece. Enjoy!

Appetizers

• Deep-fried vegetables "tiganita" (courgettes/zucchini, aubergines, peppers, or mushrooms).
• Dakos, a Cretan salad consisting of a slice of soaked dried bread or barley rusk (paximadi) topped with chopped tomatoes and crumbled feta or mizithra cheese.
• Dolmadakia, grapevine leaves stuffed with rice and vegetables; meat is also often included.
• Fava: purée of yellow split peas or beans; sometimes made of fava beans (called κουκιά in Greek). In Santorini made from yellow lentils.
• Garides Saganaki: shrimp in spicy tomato sauce with cubes of feta or some other local cheese.
• Gavros: european anchovy.
• Gigandes plaki, baked giant white beans in tomato sauce.
• Greek salad: the so-called Greek salad is known in Greece as village/country salad (horiatiki) and is essentially a tomato salad with cucumber, red onion, feta cheese, and kalamata olives, dressed with olive oil. In Cyprus it contains also cracked wheat (bulgur), spring onions instead of red onions, and lemon juice.
• Horta: wild or cultivated greens, steamed or blanched and made into salad, simply dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. They can be eaten as a light meal with potatoes (especially during Lent, in lieu of fish or meat).
• Kalamarakia: deep-fried squid.
• Katsouni, cucumber from Santorini
• Kolokythakia: zucchini.
• Kolokythoanthoi: zucchini flowers stuffed with rice or cheese and herbs.
• Koukia: fava beans.
• Lachanosalata: cabbage salad. Very finely shredded cabbage with salt, olive oil, lemon juice/vinegar dressing. Often combined with finely shredded carrot.
• Kroketes: croquettes.
• Marides tiganites: deep-fried whitebait, usually served with lemon wedges.
• Melitzanes, eggplants. Notable is the white eggplant from Santorini.
• Melitzanosalata: eggplant (aubergine) based dip.
• Pantzarosalata: beetroot salad with olive oil and vinegar.
• Patatosalata: potato salad with olive oil, finely sliced onions, mayonnaise, lemon juice or vinegar.
• Saganaki: fried yellow cheese, usually graviera cheese; the word "saganaki" means a small cooking pan, is used to say "fried" and can be applied to many other foods.
• Skordalia: thick garlic and potato puree, usually accompanies deep fried fish/cod (bakaliaros skordalia, i.e. fried battered cod with garlic dip, a very popular dish).
• Spanakopita: spinach, feta cheese (sometimes in combination with (mizithra=ricotta cheese), onions or scallions, egg and seasoning wrapped in phyllo pastry in a form of a pie.
• Taramosalata (from Turkish tarama, roe): fish roe mixed with boiled potatoes or moistened breadcrumbs, olive oil and lemon juice.
• Tzatziki: yogurt with cucumber and garlic puree, used as a dip. Served with warm pita bread.
• Tyropita: a white cheese (usually feta) pie with phyllo pastry. When yellow cheese (usually kasseri) is used, it is called Kasseropita.

Soups

• Bourou-bourou, a vegetable and pasta soup from the island of Corfu.
• Fakes, a lentil soup, usually served with vinegar and olive oil.
• Fasolada, a bean soup defined in many cookery books as the traditional Greek dish, sometimes even called "the "national food of the Greeks". It is made of beans, tomatoes, carrot, celery and a generous amount of olive oil usually served with a variety of salty side dishes.
• Kotosoupa (chicken soup), usually thickened with avgolemono.
• Kremidosoupa, onion soup served with sprinkled cheese.
• Magiritsa, the traditional Easter soup made with lamb offal, thickened with avgolemono.
• Patsas, a tripe soup.
• Psarosoupa 'fish soup' can be made with a variety of fish, and several kinds of vegetables (carrots, parsley, celery, potatoes, onion), several varieties include the classic kakavia which is drizzled with olive oil.
• Revithia, a chickpea soup.
• Trahana soup, made from a dried grain-dairy substance.

Vegetarian main dishes

Very popular during fasting periods, such as the Great Lent:

• Anginares a la Polita: artichokes with olive oil.
• Arakas me anginares: oven-baked fresh peas with artichokes.
• Bamies: okra with tomato sauce (sometimes with potatoes or during non-fasting times with chicken/lamb).
• Briám: an oven-baked ratatouille of summer vegetables based on sliced potatoes and zucchini in olive oil. Usually includes eggplant, tomatoes, onions, and ample aromatic herbs and seasonings.
• Domatokeftedes: tomato fritters with mint, fried in olive oil and typically served with fava (split-pea paste). Mainly a Cycladic island dish.
• Fasolakia: fresh green beans stewed with potatoes, zucchini and tomato sauce.
• Ghemista, baked stuffed vegetables. Usually tomatoes, peppers, or other vegetables hollowed out and baked with a rice-and-herb filling or minced meat.
• Gigandes plaki: baked beans with tomato sauce and various herbs. Often made spicy with various peppers.
• Horta (greens), already mentioned in the appetizers section, are quite often consumed as a light main meal, with boiled potatoes and bread.
• Kinteata, a dish from Pontos cuisine, made from boiled young nettles.
• Lachanodolmades: cabbage rolls, stuffed with rice and sometimes meat, spiced with various herbs and served with avgolemono sauce or simmered in a light tomato broth.
• Lachanorizo, cabbage with rice.
• Prassorizo, leeks with rice.
• Spanakorizo, spinach and rice stew cooked in lemon and olive-oil sauce.

Meat and seafood dishes

• Apáki: a famous Cretan specialty; lean pork marinated in vinegar, then smoked with aromatic herbs and shrubs, and packed in salt.
• Astakos: lobster.
• Astakomacaronada: spaghetti with lobster.
• Atherina: fried smelts.
• Chtapodi sti schara: grilled octopus in vinegar, oil and oregano. Accompanied by ouzo.
• Fagkri sti schara: grilled red porgy.
• Gavros: fried or marinated anchovy.
• Giouvetsi: lamb or veal baked in a clay pot with kritharaki (orzo) and tomatoes.
• Gopes tiganites: fried bogues.
• Gyros: meat (usually pork or chicken) roasted on a vertically turning spit and served with sauce (often tzatziki) and garnishes (tomato, onions) on pita bread, or served as a sandwich wrapped in pita bread together with tomatoes, onions, tzatziki and tomato sauce; a popular fast food.
• Hilopites pasta with chicken: savory chicken is mixed with "Hilopites" or cut up tile-shaped pasta in a spiced tomato sauce.
• Kalamari: squid, most often fried or stuffed with rice.
• Kleftiko: literally meaning "in the style of the Klephtes", this is lamb slow-baked on the bone, first marinated in garlic and lemon juice, originally cooked in a pit oven. It is said that the Klephtes, bandits of the countryside who did not have flocks of their own, would steal lambs or goats and cook the meat in a sealed pit to avoid the smoke being seen.
• Keftedakia, fried meatballs.
• Loukaniko, sausage
• Macaronada: classic spaghetti.
• Moussaka : an oven-baked layer dish: ground meat and eggplant casserole, topped with a savory custard which is then browned in the oven. There are other variations besides eggplant, such as zucchini or rice, but the eggplant version, melitzánes moussaká is by far the most popular. The papoutsákia ("little shoes") variant is essentially the same dish, with the meat and custard layered inside hollowed, sauteéd eggplants.
• Barbounia: red mullets.
• Bifteki: Ground beef burgers either baked, fried or grilled.
• Mydia: mussels.
• Oven-baked lamb with potatoes (Αρνί στο φούρνο με πατάτες). One of the most common "Sunday" dishes. There are many variations with additional ingredients.
• Oven-baked chicken with potatoes (Κοτόπουλο στο φούρνο με πατάτες). Another common Sunday dish.
• Paidakia: grilled lamb chops with lemon, oregano, salt and pepper.
• Pastitsio: an oven-baked layer dish: Bechamel sauce top, then pasta in the middle and ground meat cooked with tomato sauce at the bottom.
• Pork with celery (hirino me selino/hirino selinato).
• Savridia: mackerels oven-baked or fried.
• Soupia me melani: cuttlefish cooked in its ink.
• Soutzoukakia Smyrneika (Smyrna meatballs): long shaped meatballs with cumin, cinnamon and garlic and boiled in tomato sauce (sometimes with whole olives). Often served with rice or mashed potatoes.
• Souvlaki: (lit: "skewer") grilled small pieces of meat (usually pork but also chicken or lamb) served on the skewer for eating out of hand, or served as a sandwich wrapped in pita bread together with tomatoes, onions, tzatziki and/or tomato sauce; a popular fast food, also called kalamaki (small reed) mainly in Athens.
• Spetsofai: a stew of country sausage, green mild peppers, onions and wine. Originates from Pelion.
• Stifado: rabbit or hare stew with pearl onions, vinegar, red wine and cinnamon. Beef can be substituted for game.
• Xiphias: swordfish.

• Yiouvarlakia: meatballs soup with egg-lemon sauce.
• Strapatsada: eggs scrambled in olive oil and fresh tomato puree, seasoned with salt, pepper and oregano. Often includes feta cheese.

Sweets

• Amygdalotá or pastéli exist in many varieties throughout Greece and Cyprus, and are especially popular in the islands. They consist of powdered blanched almonds, confectioner's sugar and rose water, molded in various shapes and sizes. They are snow-white and are considered wedding and baptismal desserts.
• Finikia, cookie topped with chopped nuts.
• Baklava, phyllo pastry layers filled with nuts and drenched in honey.
• Diplahs, a Christmas and wedding delicacy, made of paper-thin, sheet-like dough which is cut in large squares and dipped in a swirling fashion in a pot of hot olive oil for a few seconds. As the dough fries, it stiffens into a helical tube; it is then removed immediately and sprinkled with honey and crushed walnuts.^[16]
• Galaktoboureko, custard baked between layers of phyllo, and then soaked with lemon-scented honey syrup. The name derives from the Greek "gala"(γάλα), meaning milk, and from the Turkish börek, meaning filled, thus meaning "filled with milk."
• Halva, a commercial version consisting of a nougat of sesame with almonds or cacao and a homemade version with semolina and syrup.
• Karidopita, a cake of crushed walnuts, soaked or not in syrup.
• Koulourakia, butter or olive-oil cookies.
• Kourabiedes, Christmas cookies made by kneading flour, butter and crushed roasted almonds, then generously dusted with powdered sugar.
• Loukoumades, similar to small crusty donuts, loukoumades are essentially fried balls of dough drenched in honey and sprinkled with cinnamon, typically served with crushed walnuts.
• Loukoumi is a confection made from starch and sugar, essentially it is from Turkey known as the Turkish delight. A variation from Serres is called Akanés. Loukoúmia are flavored with various fruit flavors, with rose water considered the most prized.
• Melomakarona, "honey macaroons", Christmas cookies soaked with a syrup of diluted honey (méli in Greek) and then sprinkled with crushed walnuts.
• Milopita, apple pie with cinnamon and powdered sugar.
• Moustalevria, a flour and grape must flan.
• Moustokouloura, cookies of flour kneaded with fresh grape juice (must) instead of water.
• Rizogalo ("rice-milk") is rice pudding.
• Spoon sweets (γλυκά του κουταλιού) of various fruits, ripe or unripe, or green unripe nuts. Spoon sweets are essentially marmalade except that the fruit are boiled whole or in large chunks covered in the fruit's made syrup.
• Tsoureki, a traditional Christmas and Easter sweet bread also known as 'Lambropsomo' (Easter bread), flavored with Chios mastic and "mahlepi", the intensely aromatic extract of the stone of the St. Lucie Cherry.
• Vasilopita, Saint Basil's cake or King's cake, traditional only for New Year's Day. Vasilopites are baked with a coin inside, and whoever gets the coin in their slice are considered blessed with good luck for the whole year.
• Yiaourti, Yogurt with honey and walnuts.

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuisine_of_Greece)