"Pastitsado" from Corfu

During my many years of "wandering" round Western Greece, I picked up many local recipes which became our favourite Sunday meals.

One of the most appreciated is "Pastitsado", from the island of Corfu. It usually refers to a chicken stew (usually poor old roosters) - "kokoros pastitsado"- served over very large macaroni or penne pasta. However it is also made with veal or beef which do not have to be from the expensive cuts.

There are many recipes in books or on the internet, yet nothing compares to the original flavour at a local house or a taverna. The difference lies on the one hand in the use of local products and on the other hand in the correct balance of herbs and spices. Cloves, allspices and rosemary along with red wine and a bit of vinegar, add to the final distinctive taste.

Today I cooked beef pastitsado but with white rice instead of pasta. It was equally tasty though lighter for our digestive system!

What you need:

- 1 kilo beef meat, in small chunks (If you use a country chicken, have it cut in portions)
- 1/2 cup of olive oil
- 1 full tbsp of butter
- 2 large onions finely chopped
- 2-3 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 4 medium size ripe tomatoes chopped (or 400 grms tomato juice)
- salt, pepper (optionally 1 small chili pepper)
- 4 whole cloves, 5 whole allspices, a pinch of fresh rosemary leaves
- 1 tbsp wine vinegar (plain or balsamic)

Heat the olive oil and the butter in a deep casserole. Add the chunks of meat and stir-fry for a few minutes. Add the onions, the garlic, salt, pepper and the spices. Fry for a few minutes, pour in the wine and let it evaporate. Finally add the tomatoes and the vinegar, put on the lid and let it simmer for about one hour and a half. Boil some rice or pasta and serve with some grated cheese on the top.

Bon apetit - ΚΑΛΗ ΟΡΕΞΗ!

Marinated Salted Anchovies

I'm doing my best with the last anchovies of the fall, before their price climbs again to unreachable heights.
I pull off  the intestines from the ancovies and the central fishbone. I put the fillets in layers in a shallow bowl and in between I sprinkle salt and vinegar. I let them rest for 24 hours in my fridge, and then put them in a strainer. Finally (in a plastic container) I make beautiful layers of anchovies, olive oil, finely chopped garlic, parsley and chilli pepper.
They keep well in my fridge for about a month.
I usually serve them as a meze for ouzo or tsipouro, bu they also accompany wonderfully winter soups with legumes such as beans (fasolada) or lentils fakes)!

Ηπειρώτικη Χορτόπιτα-Grand Serai, Ιωάννινα

Roasted Eggplants with Feta cheese

Deep purple, ready to perform!
The summer princess (the crown belongs to tomato) is gloriously and invitingly sitting on the market stalls. I can't resist the challenge. Roasted eggplants with tomato sauce and feta cheese. It's the greek answer to eggplant-parmesan without the egg batter.

- 1 kilo of eggplants
- 2 large onions (chopped)
- 2 cloves of garlic (chopped)
- 3 large ripe tomatoes or 500 gr canned tomato juice
- 300 grams feta cheese (grated)
- salt and peper, 1 level teaspoon each of
thyme, oregano and basil
- olive oil, for frying

Wash the eggplants, cut them in 1/2 slices, spinkle with salt and let them drain for 1 hour.
This way the extra (and bitter) liquid will drain out. Pat them dry, and fry them in plenty olive oil. Put them in rows in a baking dish.
Make a simple tomato sauce, with the onion,
the tomato and the herbs. Be careful with the salt. Place the sauce over the eggplants,  cover with the feta cheese and bake in medium oven for 15-20 minutes. Wait until it gets down to
room temperature before you serve!
Enjoy!

Summer rewards

All this digging wasn't for nothing!!!!

Fish "Savoro" (marinated)

Fish "Savoro"

We're half between Easter and the Pentecost,  namely the Mid-Pentecost. Traditionally we eat fish today so here is a favorite dish of mine and quite an easy recipe.

I usually use red mullet or pandora fish (greek λιθρίνια) for this but it can be done with any type of medium size fish.

It is a recipe mainly of the greek islands and the "savoro" sauce was a good way to preserve leftover fried fish for the following day. They are much tastier, I can assure you! Try to make this dish at noon and serve it in the evening supper. Uncomparable!!!!

Get ready for cooking:

- 1 1/2 kilo of fish (ask your fishmonger to clean it, if it's too much touble for you)
- plain flour for the frying and thesauce
- salt, peper
- 250 grams of olive oil (for the frying and the sauce afterwards)
- 1 small glass of wine vinegar
- 300 grams fresh tomato juice
- 2-3 garlic cloves
- 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary or 1 tablespoon dry leaves
- lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon caster sugar

Clean, wash and drain your fish, add plenty of salt and drizzle with lemon juice. Let it marinate for some minutes.

Pat it dry with some kitchen paper, flour it and fry it in small batches. Place it in rows on a large plate.

Using a sieve, drain the remaining of the frying oil into a clean sauce pan. Let it heat and the garlic in thin slices. Don't let it burn but add in the saucepan 4 level tablespoons of plain flour. Stir well until it gets a golden brown colour and add the vinegar. Add the rosemary, the tomato juice, the sugar, some salt and pepper and let them simmer until the tomato is cooked and the sauce is thick enough.

Drizzle over the fish and let it cool for at least 30 minutes before you serve so that the fish absorb the sauce.

Kali orexi!

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!

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