HISTORY OF GREEK FOOD

Food for the dead (2)

noreply@blogger.com (Mariana Kavroulaki) — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 08:48:00 +0000

http://www.avlona-messinias.gr/images/ekdilosis_image/arous_02.jpg

An ancient Roman festival known as dies rosationis or rosalia in May or June, when family members brought roses to the graves of their beloved is the reason for the Greek feast of Rosaliou. On the 2nd of June people decorate the graves with flowers and take to the church kollyva, pies (psychopites: soul pies), lamb and other foods which are blessed by the priest after which they are distributed amongst those present. Thus the dead eat and the souls rest in peace.

In some parts of Greece "The whole village [...] makes its way to the tombs. It is the last day of freedom for the souls, which have been freed since the Sunday before Lent by the blood of hens slaughtered over their graves. [...] The central part of this ritual is the gonatisma (kneeling) which takes place after the first part of the service has been sung inside the church. Everyone, young and old, walks in procession to the churchyard (perivolos) led by the women, who carry baskets of offerings covered with fine scarves, usually white.

The women stay at the tombs to guard the offerings, kneeling with heads bent towards the earth, while the priest takes the men back to the church to continue the service also kneeling.

During this silent kneeling the souls are believed to rise to eat and drink. Afterwards the men come out of the church ans sit round the tombs in a large circle while the women hand round food and drink.

The separation of men and women during the vital moments of this ritual illustrates the importance of woman in matters so intimately concerned with the dead.'' (The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition, Margaret Alexiou, Dimitrios Yatromanolakis, Panagiotis Roilos)

Food for the dead (1)

Fig spoon sweet with a twist

noreply@blogger.com (Mariana Kavroulaki) — Thu, 31 May 2012 20:42:00 +0000

I am not a person who likes sweets but I am fond of fig spoon sweet which is made with immature male figs....

.... those that contain wasps and pollen and are not eaten raw.

Sometimes I serve sweet figs stuffed with a drop of strained yogurt and chopped roasted almonds.

Words are not enough to describe the taste.

Click here for a recipe for fig spoon sweet.

ΓΙΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ, ΕΔΩ

Ovens

noreply@blogger.com (Mariana Kavroulaki) — Sat, 26 May 2012 16:18:00 +0000

And from a peculiar way of baking or roasting it, there is a loaf called ipnites (or the
oven loaf) which Timocles mentions in his Sham Robbers, where he says —
And seeing there a tray before me full
of smoking oven-loaves, I took and ate them. (THE DEIPNOSOPHISTS. [b. III. , 74])

In the past, wood oven (or fourno in Greek) was an essential tool in homemade bread baking, in preparing rusks and drying fruit and nuts.

Cyclades islands faced acute fuel shortage, thus the oven was traditionally heated with dried brushwood meticulously picked from the countryside. Sheep manure was also used as fuel. On the other hand, the ovens in Crete and Pelloponese are heated with olive wood since olive cultivation is widespread across these regions. Ovens in central Greece are heated with oak wood and wood of the beech tree.

Traditionally, food demanding the higher temperature, such as bread, was baked after the ashes and embers are pushed aside or swept out of the oven. The remaining heat was not wasted: food baked in lesser temperatures followed, and after that it could be used for preparing rusks and drying fruit and nuts.

Today wood ovens do a lot of meat roasting and less bread making.

Attica, ca 1947 (Photo by Evans/Three Lions/Getty Images)

Bread still means everything in Greece though.

Large ovens are more fuel-efficient. For this reason many old agricultural houses have really large constructions. They were used for baking large quantities of bread and barley rusks few times a year or for cooking for large groups of people.

A large Cretan oven (base diam.: 2,10 m.) The entrance is in the kitchen; it is above a double fire – place which was used as a source of heat, for roasting or for cooking for special occasions.

A second, smaller oven was occasionally built for regular use.

Karpathos (Greece On April 01, 1980 by Francois Le Diascorn- Getty Images)

Outdoor ovens are usually placed in the yard of the house, oriented to take advantage of prevailing winds for better dissipation of smoke.

If people didn't have an oven they used to take the dough to large, community owned ovens, specially built for baking bread and rusks. The public ovens were also a place for women to socialize and share stories and news.

Today, in most parts of Greece, the old communal bread ovens are gone. At the same time, restaurants begun to offer many dishes cooked on the hearth of a brick oven.

Theophilos, 1933

However, Greeks keep up another old tradition; they pay a few euros to a professional baker to put pies, meat and other dishes in his oven.

Bakehouse, Volos

A crunchy wonderful crust is one of the foremost features of wood-oven baked loaves.

Olive-cheese-tomato bread

Women used a piece of bread dough to check the oven temperature. Sometimes they let the dough be plain and prepared a quick, tasty bread for children.

for the starter:

1 cup (120 g) of wholewheat flour

1 cup (240 ml) of water

for the bread
1 1/2 cup bread flour

1 1/2 cup wholewheat flour

1/2 cup of prepared starter

1/2 cup Kalamata olives, pitted, drained, roughly chopped

1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

1/2 cup chopped tomatoes, without skin

up to 1 cup of warm water

1/2 tsp thyme

1/3 tsp salt

Stir the starter mixture using a wooden spoon. Cover it with a hand towel and place it in a dark, warm place to promote the fermentation process.

Mix flour, starter, tomato, salt and 3/4 of water together in a large bowl. Knead for about 4-5 minutes. The dough will look very dry, so add more water and knead again. If the dough is too wet, add a tablespoon or two of flour, if it is dry add more water. In any case, knead for another minute or two, until the dough barely sticks on your fingers.
Spray the inside of a bowl with olive oil, place the dough into the bowl and cover it with a a piece of plastic wrap and a towel.
Let it rise all night.
Next morning, sprinkle the dough with some flour, knead it gently for 3-4 minutes and flatten it using your hands. Add the olives and the feta cheese, sprinkle with thyme and knead the dough into a small round circle.
Spray the inside of a baking dish with olive oil, then sprinkle some flour and place the dough on it. Let it rise for 1 hour and bake it until golden brown (preheated oven, 180C).

Surprise spice wine and period dishes

noreply@blogger.com (Mariana Kavroulaki) — Thu, 17 May 2012 21:34:00 +0000

The recreation of period dishes is a love story with history, adventure, test cooking and playfulness.
And every time I cook, I always seem to find myself asking the same question: "How did it taste? Can we ever know what an ancient dish tasted like?"
Some of the difficulties are obvious; there are no precise measurements and times. Moreover, if a recipe calls for 4 eggs you will probably use 3 thanks to modern chickens that lay big eggs. The modern milk is homogenized, pasteurized, and has less fat than ancient milk, so you may need to use a mixture of milk and cream.
The truth is that while forming the recipes, I experiment with all the possibilities.
The following section presents a dinner based on recipes that appeared during Rome's Imperial period.

The table of the ancient Roman aristocracy allowed to express one's wildest imagination. That's not a big surprise since the Empire, at its zenith, stretched from Western Europe to the Near East and from Northen Europe to Northen Africa (famed for its agriculture). Moreover Romans adopted Greek fashions, spending lavishly on imported foods and wines.
Of course, not all inhabitants of Rome ate stuffed dormice and peacocks' tongues. The common people lived in crowded conditions and had to sustain on grains, vegetables and fruits. The state provided them bread and free entertainment; panem et circensus~ bread and circuses. So, they didn't revolt.

FIRST COURSE

The cooking of Imperial Rome can be defined as the art of perfecting a dish by adjusting bitter, sweet, sour and salty tastes.

Cucumbers and watermelon, sprinkled with freshly ground black pepper, pennyroyal powder, liquamen, wine vinegar and passum.*

Zucchini seasoned with pepper, cumin, a pinch of asafoetida,** rue (Ruta graveolens), liquamen,wine vinegar and a little defritum (for color).*

Moretum

MAIN COURSE

Always in use in the Roman kitchen were olive oil, garum or liquamen and wine. Salt was used mainly in preserving. Since sugar was unknown, honey and a concentrate of grape must were commonly used as sweetener, as were dates produced by Syria and Egypt.
In the Apicius cookbook, the flavor of dishes is often enhanced with 5-15 spices and herbs.

Aliter Isicia omentata: I mixed ground meat with bread soaked in wine. The mixture was flavored with pepper and liquamen and after I had added pine nuts and pepper, I shaped it into something like keftes or small kebabs. Then, I wraped them in caul (omentum — caul) and boiled them in caroenum.*

Porcellum oenococtum: Sucling pig cooked in wine. SCALD [parboil] THE PIG [and] MARINATE [2] PLACE IN A SAUCE PAN [with] OIL, BROTH, WINE AND WATER, TIE A BUNCH OF LEEKS AND CORIANDER; [cook (in the oven)] WHEN HALF DONE COLOR WITH REDUCED MUST. IN THE MORTAR PUT PEPPER, LOVAGE, CARRAWAY, ORIGANY, CELERY SEED, LASER ROOT AND CRUSH THEM, MOISTEN WITH BROTH, ADD THE PIG’S OWN GRAVY AND RAISIN WINE TO TASTE. ADD THIS [to the meat in the sauce pan] AND[197]LET IT BOIL. WHEN BOILING BIND WITH ROUX. THE PIG, PLACED ON A PLATTER, MASK [with the sauce] SPRINKLE WITH PEPPER AND SERVE. (no 377)

MORETUM

A poem attributed to Virgil describes the simple lunch of a farmer.
“First, lightly digging into the ground with his fingers, he pulls up four heads of garlic with their thick leaves; then he picks slim celery-tops and sturdy rue and the thin stems of trembling coriander. With these collected he sits before the fire and sends the slave-girl for a mortar. He splashes a grass-grown bulb with water, and puts it to the hollow mortar. He seasons with grains of salt, and, after the salt, hard cheese is added; then he mixes in the herbs. With the pestle, his right hand works at the fiery garlic, then he crushes all alike in a mixture. His hand circles. Gradually the ingredients lose their individuality; out of the many colors emerges one (color est e pluribus unus) – neither wholly green (for the white tempers it), nor shining white (since tinged by so many herbs). The work goes on: not jerkily, as before, but more heavily the pestle makes its slow circuits. So he sprinkles in some drops of Athena’s olive oil, adds a little sharp vinegar, and again works his mixture together. Then at length he runs two fingers round the mortar, gathering the whole mixture into a ball, so as to produce the form and name of a finished moretum. Meanwhile busy Scybale has baked a loaf. This he takes, after wiping his hands…” (Moretum 88-120, translation by Andrew Dalby and Sally Grainger, The Classical Cookbook).

Follow Virgil's method for this salad using the ingredients listed.
2 medium heads of fresh garlic
2 tb celery tops
1/2 small bunch of coriander leaves, finely minced
2-3 dried rue leaves
400 gr feta cheese or romano cheese, hand grated (the poem calls for a hard cheese but moretum is also tasty when made using feta cheese)
2 tb virgin olive oil
3 tb wine vinegar

CONDITUM PARADOXUM (Surprise spice wine)

Honey infused wines generally were served as aperitifs. The recipe is one of the very few in Apicius that include precise quantities.

"The composition of this extraordinary spiced wine is as follows: Place 5.4l of honey in a bronze vessel, having previously added 1.8l of wine. In this way, the wine shall be boiled off in the melting honey. The mixture is heated by a slow fire of dry wood and stirred, to boiling, with a wooden rod (if it begins to boil over add more cold wine to it). Take off the heat and allow to cool and settle. When it is cold, light another fire underneath. This second fire is followed by a third and only then can the mixture be moved away from the hearth. On the following day, skim the surface. Then add 120g of crushed pepper, 4g of mastic, a handful each of saffron leaves and spikenard and five roasted date stones: these previously having been crushed and soaked in wine to soften them. When all this has been done, add 16l of light wine into the vessel. Hot coals are added [to the finished product]."(http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/roman/fetch-recipe.php?rid=roman-conditum-paradoxum)

I used
3/4 bottle of red wine
3/4 cup of honey
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 small bay leaf
1/4 tsp mastic powder
1 pinch saffron
(I didn't use dates)
1/4 bottle Vinsanto wine (Domain Sigalas)

*Passum, defritum, caroenum
**Asafoetida was imported from central Asia as a substitute for Libyan silphium, which had been harvested to extinction.

ΓΙΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ ΕΔΩ

Pig's tongue for the 1st of May

noreply@blogger.com (Mariana Kavroulaki) — Wed, 02 May 2012 06:46:00 +0000

Spring by Yiannis Tsarouhis (detail)

1st of May,
beware of the snakes, bad spirits and dead returning to the earth.

So, you didn't forget to put a garlic in the May day flower wreath, eh?

And you didn't forget to add an olive tree branch for the family's love, a thorny branch for the enemies and wheat for fertility, did you?

And you ate the salted or smoked tongue of the Christmas pig! Otherwise you will be unprotected against May spells and glossofagia, the bad luck that results of words and envy.

Oh the magic month of May!

Pig's tongue stew (Choirini glossa stifadho)

1 pig's tongue, well washed and blanched in boiling water

1 kilo whole peeled walnut -sized onions

1 medium whole peeled red onion

5 cloves chopped garlic

1 cinnamon stick

4 cloves

2 bay leaves

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 cup dry red wine

1/2 cup sweet red wine

freshly ground black pepper

sea salt

1/4 cup olive oil

Scrape the skin and cut the tongue in small pieces.
Stick the cloves into the red onion.
Using a large pot, saute the baby onions in olive oil, until they begin to brown. Add the garlic and saute for one minute.
Add the tongue, the onion, all seasonings, as well as the tomato paste, the wine and enough water to cover everything. Bring to the boil and then simmer until the tongue is tender and the sauce is thick.
Freshly baked bread is perfect to scoop up the delicious sauce.

Mαγιοβότανα (Magic Herbs or Herbs of May) - a cycle of eight songs by MANOLIS KALOMIRIS on a set of poems by KOSTIS PALAMAS from a live concert in Tokyo, Japan, on April 30, 1987, with mezzo-soprano DAPHNE EVANGELATOS and the YOMIURI NIPPON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA conducted by YOSHIKAZU TANAKA

Till the first decades of the 20th century, the magiovotano (May herb) or sarantavotano (40 herbs) was the basic protective elixir of May Day. It contained 40 types of herbs, greens, nuts, milk and honey.

Easter ovens

noreply@blogger.com (Mariana Kavroulaki) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 16:25:00 +0000

Though the spit roasted lamb and kokoretsi are considered the traditional Greek Easter foods, in fact they belong to the tradition of central Greece.
In islands people put their easter roasts and meat pies in ovens.
In Cretan villages the use of ovens is essential year round; hence almost all houses have ovens. It is not a big surprise then that the Easter lamb or goat is cooked in the oven. In other islands (e.g. Kalymnos, Santorini) it was only the rich who had an oven in their backyard. But in many Aegean islands the tree vegetation is sparse, therefore the fuel shortage forced the people to share the use of an oven. On the other hand, in Crete there is an abundance of olive wood.
The lack of fuel also affected the cooking methods. People adopted heat efficient cooking methods; for example, in Siphnos, mastello, a specially made earthenware pot is filled with lamb, dill and red wine. Sometimes its’ lid is sealed with dough.

On Easter Saturday Kalymnian mouri -whole lamb stuffed with a mixture of rice, ground meat, chopped lamb liver, tomato, chopped onion, pine nuts and cinnamon powder- is baked in a sealed clay pot. The door of the village outdoor oven is also sealed with cement or clay. The meat will be slowly cooked until the Easter day ( how symbolic the lamb in the tomb-liked oven, opened up after the second Ressurection is announced). Today, many Kalymnians use olive oil metal cans instead of clay pots, though it is widely believed that the meat doesn't taste exactly the same.

Stuffing the mouri

In cities, people bring the lamb or goat to bakery shops to be cooked in the baker's oven; however an increasing number of people is building their own outdoor ovens--they are considered a "must" for new house constructions.

Snails, Artichoke, Carrot and Fresh Pea Stew.

noreply@blogger.com (Mariana Kavroulaki) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 07:39:00 +0000

Delicate hearts hidden behind thorny leaves (the Cretan spiny artichokes) ~ fresh tender peas ~ sweet carrots ~ scallions and fresh garlic ~ wild fennel:
a telltale sign that spring has arrived.
Pair with snails and you'll have a great dish.
Hard to believe that this ode on spring's most delicious vegetables and flavors is a lenten dish.

But,

don't bother yourself if you have the frozen or canned version of the main ingredients.

Clean four artichokes halve and rub them with lemon juice to prevent browning.
Blend half a head of fresh garlic (minced)
with one onion (chopped)
and four scallions (chopped);
sauté them in a little bit of olive oil until they are the color of gold.
Add one red, juicy tomato (chopped).
And sixty cleaned snails.
Pour in about two cups of water and 1/3 cup of olive oil.
Season with salt and pepper
and bring to a boil.
Then reduce the heat and after ten minutes add two cups fresh peas followed by one large carrot cut in pieces. Simmer for 10 minutes.
Add the artichokes and two tablespoons wild fennel and cook until all vegetables and snails are tender.

Artichokes cooked with broad beans
Artichoke pie

''...the only food they had was the spring swallows''

noreply@blogger.com (Mariana Kavroulaki) — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 13:23:00 +0000

The Third Siege of Messolonghi was fought in the Greek War of Independence, between the Ottoman Empire and the Greeks, for almost a year. The people of Messolonghi attempted a mass breakout on the night of April 10, 1826. The no-surrender decision of those too weak to participate in the Exodus culminated in the blowing up of the gunpowder magazine and their self-immolation.

The sortie of Messolonghi by Theodore Vryzakis

Hunger is closely connected with the siege of cities. Therefore, it is no coincidence that one of the most dramatic famines in the modern history of Greece occurred during the siege of Messolonghi in 1826. 2 ½ months before the exodus, the hunger forced Messolonghites to consume unfamiliar foods: "While we searched the houses we found sufficient quantities of flour. We distributed it using a cup. A cup of beans was distributed to the needy as well.

They started to mix this small amount of beans in a pot with flour; they added some crabs too.... A doctor cooked his dog with olive oil, which we had in abundance, and he was full of praise for this food. The soldiers seized any dog or cat found in the street [ ... .] Around the March 15, we started (consuming) pikralethres, a bitter weed of the sea; we boiled it five times until the bitterness was gone, and ate it with vinegar and olive oil, like a salad, and (also) mixed with crab broth. [ ... ] they also ate rats and whoever could catch even a single one was happy. Unfortunately, there were no frogs. From the lack of food diseases, arthritis and mouth ache, became commonplace. This was the situation when we got a letter from our envoys in Nafplion proposing us to eat (if it was needed) each other. " (1)

After they ate all the quadrupeds, birds, and greens – both the edible and dirty ones- Messolonghites started to eat strictly forbidden foods, such as human flesh or more precisely corpses, although -before the starvation’s climb to extreme levels- a proposal on eating the dead enemies had been rejected with horror. But "as the days passed by, the lack of food became desperate; the description given by Lefkadios Stefanitsis (the fortunate doctor of the Guards who managed to survive the famine and exodus from Messolonghi) is really horrific: soon after the battle of Kleisova, predicting more severe food shortage, Stefanitsis suggested that the corpses of the Egyptians should be salted and given as food to the residents. But this was rejected and the only food they had was the spring swallows."(2)

But,
during times of desperate need for food, human being does the unthinkable and unmoral to survive. N. Kasomoulis, Art . Michos and N. Makris mention the following incidents of necrophagy in their memoirs. "...many families started to eat their relatives who were killed by the famine", Mihos writes, "and (Vayias) found a piece of a thigh and other remains of a child hidden in the home of a family from Zygo or Apokouro; shuddering with horror, he had been informed by the lady of the house that the kid had died of hunger but was used to feed the survivors. Unfortunately, this was true, since no other food was found in the house" ( 3) Kasomoulis says that "a man from Kravara cut some flesh from the thigh of a killed defender, and ate it.”

The abolition of dietary codes and taboos because of hunger is associated with a softened feeling of disgust and of moral inhibitions. Cooking process helps starving people to transform prohibited foods into something delicious or just tolerable. General N. Makris mentions in his memoirs that "Many Messolonghites found themselves in need for food, thus they removed the liver from the killed healthy people, fried it in olive oil and poured some vinegar on it; This food was considered tasty by those who ignored its origin, and tolerable by those who were aware of it. (4)

It is true that the stories related to the ultimate taboo are not really detailed, however, they say a lot about the Messolonghi tragedy. The last meeting of the defense leaders offers one of the most dramatic stories that came out of the city: “after having one hour conversation, they agreed that in order to save most of us, should eliminate those factors- like cowardice or love for life- that might encourage a betrayal. It was decided to kill all captives, Turks and Christians, who worked in the public sector, simultaneously, and if someone knew a Turk or Christian suspect, he should kill him as well. Tziavelas immediately ordered to kill his beloved and faithful Arab Turk, and everyone did the same. Immediately they killed and slaughtered all the Cossacks, up to 30 people, and craftsmen, who worked for the enemy (diggers) and were captured (by us) as well as all Turks. Our hearts became so hardened that we didn’t know (what we have done). My brother Metros (Kasomoulis) recovering from illness and being informed about it, he ran and slaughtered twelve people on the beach. He came covered in blood from head to toe, happy. He startled my soul; I scolded him for trying, like a pelican, to kill so many people.
-Eh, he said, don’t bother me now; I could slaughter 500 people, and many more. What is left to us besides drinking blood, for we have nothing to eat? "(5)

Necrophagy is a historical fact mentioned in Greek history. Of course, not a single word is to be found about it in the Greek schoolbooks. It is hushed up, just like a detail that doesn’t contribute to the ethnocentric concept of the nation. At the same time, famine was considered the main cause for the fall of Messolonghi. Not a single word about the lack of unity or about the Peloponnesian leaders who didn't trouble themselves to help Messolonghi (6); not a single word about the wasted English loan of 1.000.000 talira while "100.000 talira could save this stronghold."

1 Ν. Κasomoulis, ''Enthymimata stratiotika tis Epanastaseos ton Ellinon, ed. G. Vlahogiannis, Athens, 1939, vol. Β΄, p. 256.

2 Michopoulos Ph. Oi teleftaies imeres tou Messolonghiou, Αthens 1957, p. 22.

3 Michos Art., “Αpomnimonevmata”, Apomnimonevmata agoniston tou 21, ed. G. Tsoukalas, vol.2, Athens 1956, p. 48.

4 Makris N., Apomnimonevmata agoniston tou 21, ibid, vol. 19, p. 64

5 Ν. Kasomoulis, ''Enthymimata stratiotika..'', ibid, p .252.

6 ''What if Messolongi is falling? Is the whole Greece Messolonghi?'' Spyromylios, Chronico Messolonghiou 1825-6.

ΓΙΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ ΕΔΩ

Traditional foods of Greece: hyacinth bulbs.

noreply@blogger.com (Mariana Kavroulaki) — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 06:15:00 +0000

Yes, I am a bulb eater.
And yes, wild blue hyacinth is my favorite bulb.
Not feeling the enthousiasm?

The bitter taste of bulbs (muscari comosum, Gr. volvoi) is much appreciated in Greece ever since classical times. They also had a good reputation as an aphrodisiac amongst ancient Greeks and Byzantines.

If you come across them in the farmer's market, please buy them! It is really worth it to try them out. Clean them and if they are big cut a cross in the root base of each of them. Leave them for 2 seconds- 2 minutes in boiling water (the boiling time depends on their size). Then put them in a large bowl of water. Change the water every 3 hours for one day and one night. Drain the bulbs in a colander, put them in a jar, add some peppercorns and cover with good quality wine vinegar.
Serve them with virgin olive oil and garnish with chopped spring onions and dill or with chopped fresh garlic and mint. Their mildly bitter taste makes a truly wonderful combination with those flavorings.

In Crete, where you find a plethora of dishes based on foraged wild plants and roots, volvoi are cooked together with lamb, pork, snails octopus or cuttlefish.

But of all bulb recipes I have ever made, there is one really favourite that was worth my effort to set up its proportions. Philemon, the comic poet, suggests this preparation of bulbs in Deipnosophistae of Athenaeus: "Look, if you please, at the bulb, and see what lavish expense it requires to have its reputation — cheese, honey, sesame-seed, oil, onion, vinegar, silphium. Taken by itself alone it is poor and bitter." Homemade goat cheese, thyme honey and a pinch of asafoetida powder, virgin olive oil, homemade wine vinegar, onion, sesame seeds and slightly bitter bulbs make something truly memorable.

ΓΙΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ ΕΔΩ

Sparrows rooted in soil

noreply@blogger.com (Mariana Kavroulaki) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 18:06:00 +0000

Αre sparrows found rooted in soil?

Greek word "strouthion" means literally "little sparrow", which doesn't not seem an unlikely name for the delicate Bladder Campion as its flowers resemble small chubby sparrows moving here and there.
In Greece it is known under several names including strouthoula, strouthoni (sparrow related names), fouskoudi (Lemnos and Mani), koukaki (Zakynthos), stroufouli, agriopapoulo and ktypalo (Crete). As for its botanical name, it derives from Sileni, the drunken companions of Dionysus or from ancient Greek "sielon" (saliva) because of the gummy exudation of the stems.

The leaves and young stems of strouthion are traditionally eaten in omelettes or with scrambled eggs (Crete, Cyprus, Mani); they are also used in small pies filling (Cyprus) and in Lenten green pies. Cretans brown them in olive oil or they cook them with meat or salt cod.

I myself like to mix them with spinach, wild sorrel, spring onions, a few sprigs of wild fennel and cook them with fresh cuttlefish.

Clean the cuttlefish, cut it into pieces and brown it with olive oil and chopped onion. Then add water and demi -sweet red wine to cover, and continue cooking. When it is almost ready, add the greens, cleaned and cut into large pieces. Cook until everything is tender. If necessary, add water and taste to see if it needs salt.
Another delicious with cuttlefish is to stuff it with the mixture of the greens. Of course, chop the greens by cutting them in very small pieces and add pine nuts or some other unsalted nut.
I am not going to give precise instructions and proportions here, just trust your taste.

Gennadios P., Phytologicon lexicon pp. 872; Stavridakis Cl, Wild edible plants of Crete pp. 121.
Many thanks to Angelina of twominutesangie for the mention of "spourgitaki" (sparrow). I also thank Kyriaki Pantelis, social geographer with special interest in Historical Geography of Food; she told me that "sparrow" is Silene voulgaris since in Cyprus it is called strouthouthki (small sparrow) or tsakridki.

ΓΙΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ ΕΔΩ

GREAT GREEK PRODUCTS, WORTH THE EFFORT TO FIND

noreply@blogger.com (Mariana Kavroulaki) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 22:17:00 +0000

The following list includes only a small part of high quality Greek products exported, so it will be enriched from time to time.

Irini Olive Oil has been awarded several times in the last years, including the Mario Solinas award in Spain. It is exported in Denmark and Sweden.

Sitia Olive Oil has also been recognized internationally and has been awarded several times. Considerable amounts of BIO SITIA (biological extra virgin olive oil), SITIA 0, 3 (extra virgin olive oil) και SITIA 0, 7 (extra virgin olive oil are exported to Germany, Canada, Australia and Russia.

Gaea- Kritsa Extra Virgin Olive Oil, is produced at Kritsa- one of Crete’s oldest olive groves. This unique extra virgin olive oil has won a lot of Greek and international awards. You can find it here.

Kalamata olives.

If you live in Belgium, France or Holland don't miss the dairy products of Pappas Bros. Although they produce various cheese types like gruyere, kefalotyri etc., they are known for their unique cheese type named "Ziros". It is a hard cheese with intense flavor made with spring sheep milk.

Balsamon mustard: aged balsamic vinegar, honey, extra virgin olive oil and herbs add a smooth and very pleasant taste to this internationally awarded mustard.

Ef zyn Paste of sun dried tomatoes from Tinos island in cold pressed extra virgin olive oil and Ef zyn tomato sauce with vegetables and fruits.

Trikalinos grey mullet bottarga, traditionally prepared and packed in beeswax. A superb product of astonishing flavour. You can find it here

Chios mastic and mastic products by Chios mastiha growers association. Dozens of various mastiha products can be found in Mastihashops (New York, Paris, Jeddah) arranged into 6 different categories: natural mastiha, foodstuffs, organic, traditional products, beverages, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and folk items.

Kozani crocus- Red Greek saffron: The dried red- gold strands of the purple crocus flowers are exported all over the world under the name “Krokos Kozanis.

Honey

Sea salt

Aged assyrtiko vinegar: A unique sweet vinegar brings together the traditional French recipe from Orleans and Italy’s Aceto Balsamico.

Greek wines. During last years Greek wines have been tremendously improved. More about them, here and here and here.

BUY GREEK (?) PRODUCTS....

noreply@blogger.com (Mariana Kavroulaki) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 15:28:00 +0000

A citizens’ group, called “We consume what we produce” and a “buy Greek products” movement seek to promote the consumption of Greek products increasing the awareness of consumers, who are considered as the most direct power to support Greek economy. This is not the first time that Greek nation is linked to products and economy. Lalakis the imported, an advertisement made in the mid-80s, emphasised the economic dangers of Greek xenomania (the excessive objection with all things foreign).*
However, two questions arise.
First, to what extent does Greece produce enough food to feed the population? Secondly, which Greek products are considered as Greek?

Not enough food -at least until now.
In terms of economy, the basis of Greece was agriculture until the pre-war period, although it was geared towards self-sufficiency rather than profit.
Greeks lived on small producing farms but had poor days because of wars, plant diseases, climatic variability and improper agricultural practises. Land unsuitable for cultivation was a major problem too. For example, Greece was never able to produce enough grain to support the population, so it imported it from other areas like the grain-rich Black Sea region.
On the other hand, in the late 19^th century, the newly constituted Greek state faced huge economic crises related to the prevalent model of monoculture farming, overproduction and monoexport (e.g. raisins crisis of 1893 was due to the sudden fall in the international demand.)
Low levels of productivity due, mainly, to the very small size of farm holdings, under –investment in improvements, lack of programming, lack of farmers’ training and education, lack of cooperative consciousness (Greece adopted a system of farming cooperatives as early as 1915 though) and shrinkage of agricultural sector have been for years on of Greek agriculture’s standing characteristics. Moreover, "both the ‘farmer-friendly’ policies (by Greece and EU) and the state corporatism that predominated in the farming sector were chiefly income-oriented in character, placing emphasis on subsidizing the volume of production, and not enhancing the necessary structural adjustments."
So, it is not surprising that Greece is traditionally an importer of agricultural goods rather than an exporter.
However, the agricultural sector itself is very important to the country's economy because many Greek products are known for their very high quality, although until recently, Greece has never really promoted them as such.

Which Greek products are considered as Greek?

Trikalinos' grey mullet bottarga, an excellent Greek product

"Buy Greek poducts": Lately the phrase is in common use, but it is not always clear where products are manufactured, where raw materials come from or who pockets the profits.

Alfa Beta Vassilopoulos, the 2^nd largest supermarket chain in Greece, which is owned by the Belgian Delhaize group, promotes a vast range of traditional Greek products, employs 11.000 people and pay taxes to the Greek state. Since 1991, Misko, the largest pasta brand in Greece, is owned by Barilla group. But Barilla uses Greek raw materials for Misko products and built the 3^rd largest European pasta factory in Viotia. The Greek branch of Friesland Campina also employs 470 Greeks and uses 15^%of domestic milk production for dairy products and baby foods sold in Greece. Not to mention the international manufacturer Elais Unilever, which produces ‘Altis’ olive oil along with Becel and Vitam spreadable oils and fats, using Greek raw materials. Minerva, the leading exporting company of standardized Greek olive oil, is also owned by the multinational group PZ Cussons.
Coca-Cola HBC Greece, a franchised bottler of Coca Cola company, employs 2000 people and also provides consumers with a variety of its own brands and products. Athenian Brewery, a member of the Heineken group, employs 2000 Greek workers and purchases local barley for its products from Greek farmers. Evga ice cream brands have traditional been favored by Greeks because of the firm’s Greek identity and taste. But Evga’s brands and distribution network has been acquired by Unilever.
These are only some of foreign-owned companies in Greece employing Greeks (their businesses also translate a lot of work for advertising agencies, printing businesses, magazines, tv media etc)

And what about the wholly or partially Greek owned companies that operate in and outside of Greece using imported raw materials (and employing foreign workers in case they operate outside of Greece)? For example, Greece is the largest EU importer of high quality sesame seeds. A large scale of sesame is mostly used for the production of traditional food products, such as tahini, halva, and pasteli. It also imports fresh meat for traditionally cured meat products. Many Greek companies import goods from countries that pay low wages in order to make their products more affordable.

I mean that the benefits of supporting Greek products are immense in terms of sustainability, environmental protection, social ethics and economy. However, since we consume more than we produce we cannot live only on Greek products. And since for over 30 years we live in a world in which a few multinationals firms dominate the food markets, we can not always be sure where products are manufactured, where the raw materials come from or who profits.
But, of course, we can place a great emphasis on high quality products "made in Greece" or "produced in Greece".

Despite the weaknesses (low levels of productivity, frequently changing legislation, low standardization ability in fruits, vegetables and olive oil, lack of promotion in markets outside Greece), the food and drink sector is one of the most important in Greece with high potential of further growth. Greece produces high quality olives, bottled water, bottled olive oil, honey, yogurt, cheese etc. Its climate is ideal for a plethora of fruits, vegetables and herbs. Wine is an export with promise. Thus the direction of agricultural sector and food and drink industries should be toward both the growth of production of high quality products and more exports. The European preference for traditional products, the tendency to "Mediterranean" diet and the growth of tourism offer great opportunities to Greece for strong sales. An aggressive promotion can help provide much-needed support.

*A certain degree of the love of everything foreign can be attributed to the end of long-term political instability and poverty as well as to tourism. The xenomania was also enhanced by mass media and by Greek students and professionals living abroad.

Worth reading:
Charlafti Gelina: Greek commerce and shipping at the north coast of the Black Sea.
Vassilis Patronis: Between state and market forces: Greek agricultural cooperative organizations in transition period.

ΓΙΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ ΕΔΩ

THE PROS AND CONS OF GREEK CRISIS

noreply@blogger.com (Mariana Kavroulaki) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:06:00 +0000

Many things have been said about the Greek crisis in the last two years, most of them confusing. The  fact is that many Greeks suffer tremendously by the economic turmoil, while the political elite remains untouched.

Ordinary people face deep cuts in wages, collapse of businesses, bunkruptcies, huge tax bills, never- ending Kafkaesque bureaucracy, high cost of living, steadily increasing adult unemployment (from 6·6% in May, 2008 to 16·6% in May, 2011); huge leap of youth unemployment (from18·6% to 40·1% );  diminishing opportunities  particularly for young people; absence of growth strategy; reduction of social security benefits.
Is it any wonder that  a growing number of graduates are leaving their home country in search of a better fortune elsewhere?
Of course, this causes a massive brain drain.
And...
is it any wonder why more and more families in large cities, especially from the middle and lower classes*, are facing extremely difficult times?
They are losing their jobs** and their homes- they are also losing the access to health care and preventive services. They are struggling to feed their children. The most desperate of them are seeking help from SOS Children...
And after that?
They are facing homelessness and they are forced to stay with family or friends. Many of them are sleeping in their cars, fearing that they are one step away from street homelessness.

"But these are no ordinary homeless people. With an average age of 47, 11% of Greece’s homeless have a university degree (!) and 23.5% hold a high school diploma, while only 9.3% are illiterate. The new Greek homeless class members have laptops and iPhones, remnants of their “old” lives. “They come to us in suits with their laptops in hand. These citizens a couple of months ago had ordinary lives. They had a job, a home and car,” says Nikitas Kanakis, the head of Doctors Without Borders in Athens. Counselors from the Department of Homeless Services describe a similar situation. “We even have homeless from suburbs like Kifisia and Voula! They come here with their laptops and expensive smart phones they once used for their work, shocked and depressed”.
These homeless are not drug addicts or immigrants or people who were always deprived. They are former teachers, doctors, economists, secretaries – the list goes on. Their homelessness is not a result of poor backgrounds or a lack of skills and education; but rather, a result of the “crisis” that continues to play out on front page news, and has destroyed their lives for no reason." (Emmanouela Seiradaki, Greece’s New Middle Class Homeless Hold a Degree and a… Laptop)

The worst thing about this situation is the lack of official policy planning for their return to work and to society.  Thus people who are in material misery, are at the mercy of the social services, the Church, the non profit organizations and the philanthropy of wealthier people.

And
economic recovery appears to be a long way off...

However,
as the ancient Greek word "krisis" implies, crisis has double meaning; it is not only a chaotic situation but also a crucial situation that demands judgment.

From this perspective, the present crisis can be seen as an opportunity to see the past differently, correcting mistakes (many of them are related to the large, inefficient public sector and to the crisis of institutions) and making new decisions with awareness.

Crisis can bring inventive solutions and can force us make consious choises.

However,
to prevent the economic crisis from turning into a social catastrophe, a concerted effort is needed to rediscover those very Greek  values of philanthropy, compassion and philoxenia in order to compensate the weakest groups from its adverse effects.

Crisis can set people against one another, but it can also bring them together and give birth to new ways of looking at and interacting with the world.

Worth reading articles:
One small Greek island's relentless struggle to get by.

Hundreds of Athenians queue for free vegetables.

GREECE: A new wave of homeless made up of debt-stricken people - including families - is stretching current limited resources and forcing the government to search for ways to shelter the newly impoverished.

At Dinner with the Homeless in Athens, Greece.

A group of community-minded gardeners have turned a former Athens airport into a blooming vegetable plot, showing how Greece's eroded soil holds the keys to a revival in farming and a way to buck the jobless trend.

Amid economic strife, Greeks go back to the land.

Made in Greece: revolutionizing the agricultural sector.

Potatoes & Snails instead of Big City Life.

The crisis is an opportunity for development, say the Greek big business.

“Boroume” or “We Can”, is a voluntary initiative that fights food waste and coordinates the daily donation of surplus food to orphanages, soup kitchens, old age homes and other welfare institutions.

The Diaspora To The Rescue In Greece... Well, Almost.

Whose crisis?

The Greek crisis

Solidarity with the Greek people ! I, too, am Greek.

*Most threatened are unemployed women - 40 percent, and families with one parent and at least one minor child - 33.4 percent.
**An average of 1,200 people is losing their jobs each week.

ΓΙΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ ΕΔΩ.

MATCHING ANCIENT FOODS AND ANCIENT CERAMIC REPRODUCTIONS

noreply@blogger.com (Mariana Kavroulaki) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:48:00 +0000

Meal inspired by ancient Greek recipes at Thetis Authentics. It was perfectly matched the specific technologically authentic reproductions of ancient ceramic artefacts made by Thetis.

Black glazed ceramic pyxis (=box) with lid. Leaves and a sprig of myrtle decorate the lid. (Attic Workshop, 4th c.BC.) Ancient Greek pyxis may have served as a container for small objects, such as jewelry and toiletrie.

Black glazed plates, red glazed plate and a black glazed skyphos (drinking cup).

It was not proper serving etiquette at an ancient lunch to serve food in drinking cups and jewelry boxes but is permissible at a modern one. Besides, the foods looked so pretty in them.

ΓΙΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ ΕΔΩ

BEST THING ON A COLD NIGHT: TRACHANA SOUP

noreply@blogger.com (Mariana Kavroulaki) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 09:36:00 +0000

Cold nights call for a warm bowl of trachanas soup, rich and satisfying.
Trachanas, as many of you know, is cracked wheat or flour dried with yogurt, or milk (regular fresh or fermented) or vegetable pulp. Cracked barley can be used instead of wheat, it is not a common practice though. When trachanas cooks it becomes a creamy soup.
I use to cook trachanas as soup, pilaf or side dish and love to add it to pies, so I always have different types of it in my fridge.
(The best way to store any uncooked trachanas is to keep it in the fridge.)

If the uncooked trachanas is highly flavorful, it needs only be boiled with water. Some yogurt or feta cheese can be added at the end.

Trachanas also makes a delicious warming breakfast.

These days I have 3 varieties of trachanas in my fridge.

These are two different kinds of trachana from Lemnos*: spicy lenten trachanas made with a combination of flour, red peppers, onions, and basil leaves (left) and trachanas made with cracked local barley** and fermented milk (right).

Here is a close up of lenten trachanas.

This is wonderfully tasty Turkish tarhanas made by dear Ozlem's mother.

Tarhana herb (echinophora sibthorpiana, engl. thurb) has been used as a flavoring in it. Nurcan Deghirmencioghlu suggests that this herb also improves the fermentation of trachana.

*Lemnos produces wheat flour of an exceptionally good quality for bread, pasta and trachanas.

**The local barley of Lemnos is called Virgin Mary's barley (krithari tis Panaghias).

MORE ABOUT TRACHANAS

Do not forget the poor, the needy, the homeless.

Xinohontros: a fermented milk - cereal mixture.

S.M. Valamoti: Ground cereal food preparations from Greece: The prehistory and modern survival of traditional Mediterranean "fast foods".

N. DEGH IRMENCIOGH LU et al.: Influence of Tarhana Herb on Tarhana Fermentation, Food Technol. Biotechnol. 43 (2) 175–179 (2005)

A BOX OF GANACHE CUBES

noreply@blogger.com (Mariana Kavroulaki) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 10:16:00 +0000

Chocolate:

c.1600, from Nahuatl xocolatl, possibly from xocolia "to make bitter" + atl "water." Brought to Spain by 1520, from thence to the rest of Europe. Originally a drink; as a paste or cake made of ground, roasted cacao seeds, 1640s.

To a Coffee-house, to drink jocolatte, very good [Pepys, "Diary," Nov. 24, 1664].

Chocolate chip is from 1940; chocolatier is attested from 1888; chocolatey from 1965. (Online Etymology Dictionary)

Ιn Greek: sokolata, diminutive form: sokolatitsa

Sokolataki (sing): a kind of small dessert based on chocolate. A box of sokolatakia. On his name day, his family offered liquor and sokolatakia to the guests. (Triantaphyllides, On line dictionary)

Ι like dictionaries. They use direct, precise language and take things literally, however they leave their door open so the secret life of words can go out.
Sokolataki, sokolatitsa, sokolata, chocolata.
A dear aunt of mine calls it "chicolata". She uses to carry small Ion milk chocolates with almonds in her pocket "just in case, my dear child''.

Sokolatakia made with ganache

3 parts of high quality chocolate (cocoa mass content 60-70%)
1 part semi-skimmed evaporated milk
1 tbsp butter
cardamom seeds, toasted in a dry skillet until fragrant

instant coffee granules
ground walnuts, lightly roasted

gound red pepper
high quality cocoa powder, sifted

Ganache is not just an easy chocolate sauce; it is also the basis for chocolate truffles and sokolatakia easy to prepare at home. As you can see, evaporated milk replaces the heavy whipping cream that is typically used in ganache; so you reduce the fat without significantly altering the taste. Of course do not dilute the milk with water.Cut the chocolate into very small pieces and pour them into a heatproof bowl.

Bring the milk just to a boil.
Add the butter and pour the mixture of milk- butter onto the chocolate.
Allow the chocolate to sit and melt for a few minutes.
Stir the chocolate with the milk. The ganache should be a thick, velvet cream.

Transfer the ganache into three smaller bowls. Now you can flavor the three parts of ganache with a) cardamom, b) coffee granules and c) ground red pepper and walnuts (Use tiny amounts, then taste). Stir again.

Line the sides and the bottom of 3 pans with plastic wrap, smoothing to remove any wrinkles. 

Pour the 3 kinds of ganache into the prepared pans and chill for 2-3 hours.

Remove each kind o ganache from the freezer and gently flip it over onto a baking sheet covered with cocoa powder, so the ganache is bottom side up. Peel the plastic wrap off the ganache.

Using a stainless steel wire, make small ganache cubes.

Roll them in cocoa.

Now the ganache cubes are ready to make perfect little gifts.

ΓΙΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ ΕΔΩ

HAPPY NEW YEAR BREAD

noreply@blogger.com (Mariana Kavroulaki) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 20:14:00 +0000

Vasilopita (St. Vasilio's pie) is a powerful new year's symbol of fertility and good luck for the rest of the year.
If nowadays in many occasions, we have transformed it into a big, sweet cake there are still Greek women who make the vasilopita using recipes, sweet or salty, passed down from mother to daughter. Watch this video to see how to make and decorate a traditional bread- pie from Varnavas / Attica (European bread museum of Varnavas).

Vasilopita or Vasila from Varnavas

2 kilos of flour

4 envelopes dry yeast

salt

water

In a large bowl shift flour and make a well in the centre. Pour in the yeast dissolved in plenty of warm water and mix well. Knead for 15 minutes, adding flour if it is sticky or warm water if it is too hard. Place the dough on one or two olive-oiled baking dishes. Put the lucky coin into the "heart" of the dough. Cover it and let it rise for 2 hours.

In the meantime make dough with flour, water and salt. With a knife make shapes intending to bring fertility, luck for the rest of the year and to prevent the evil eye from entering house: a cross, a house, trees, animals and the hand of Virgin Mary.

Bake in preheated oven (200° C) until golden brown and cooked through.
Turn the loaf onto a wire rack and allow to cool.

Best wishes for a happy, healthy and peaceful New Year!!!

THE HISTORY OF GREEK NEW YEAR'S PIE

VASILOPITA FROM CONSTANTINOPLE

VASILOPITA WITH YOGURT

PUMPKIN VASILOPITA FROM THRACE

ΓΙΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ ΕΔΩ

CHRISTMAS FOOD TRADITIONS IN ASIA MINOR

noreply@blogger.com (Mariana Kavroulaki) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 22:05:00 +0000

"On Christmas Eve, the women who had lost loved ones made 3 breads, baked them and censed them on behalf of the soul of the dead. The same night they boiled beef and cooked rice pilav. Very early in the morning- the church still held a service- they knocked on their neighbours' doors and offered them food."

"Christmas. When the bell rang, my mother got up and placed a pot on the tandoor to make herse. She took a piece of cleaned meat and one or two bellies. She boiled them until tender, then she separated the fibers into very fine threads. She added korkot (unboiled, cracked wheat). She pounded and stirred the mixture with a wooden ladle. Then she added finely chopped onions. When herse was ready, she transfered it to plates and dressed it with browned pure butter. It was such a great food!
My mother put herse on seven plates and distributed them to seven houses. I don't know the meaning of this number.
We called this custom Mary's Logusalik (turk. post partum period), because this food was given to post partum Mary.
Besides bread, beef and rice we also distributed yogurt to seven houses. When we came home from church service, yogurt was the first thing we ate. Yogurt gives light, we said. After a 40 day fast we woke up on yoghurt... it was good for us."

"On the night before Christmas Day, the women made ashure. Ashure is made with boiled wheat. They add spices. Ashure is not kollyva. It is watery, just like trahana soup. They add walnuts and sugar to it.
Ashure is made for Panayia (Virgin Mary). It is a gift to her for giving birth. Her special food. A gift like three wise men's (Magi) gifts.
They make ashure and eat it. They distribute it to the poor as well. They also made small breads from fine white flour, similar to prosforo (blessed bread). We called them Panayia's ekmek (Virgin Mary's bread). We ate them along with ashure.
For making ashure, women should take bath and abstain from sex for 5-6 days. They cook ashure on the Christmas Eve. And we eat it on the night before Christmas."

There are some books that we return to again and again. "Herse, Vasilopites kai alla"* is one such book. It is focused on the food customs of the 12 days of Christmas, as they were orally transmitted by Greek refugees from Asia Minor. A valuable material that describes the holiday's customs during the peaceful pre-disaster period. Lots of informations about food symbols, an amalgam of ancient traditions arising from the desire for abundant crop, offerings to the dead, caring for poor and needy, gifts to post partum Mary and the beautiful engravings by Markos Kampanis make this book unique.
A great gift of love to those reading Greek.

"Herse,Vasilopites kai alla" is published by Babis Legas, bookbinder and president of the Hellenic Society for Bookbinding.

* Herse, New Year's pies and more.

A TASTE OF ANCIENT GREECE

noreply@blogger.com (Mariana Kavroulaki) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 08:03:00 +0000

On the 15th of December, I explored at Avocado Vegan Restaurant some appetizing vegetarian dishes relying primarily on the writings of Athenaeus. Though established centuries before the introduction of the tomato, pepper, potato and eggplant, ancient Greek everyday food depended on some elements familiar to modern Greek cuisine: cereals, legumes, wild greens, vegetables, herbs, olives, cheese, nuts, seeds, olive oil and honey.
The recipes I made were adapted for use in today's kitchen environment.

Peas cooked with leeks and dill. Celery leaves in boiling water. Both, water and leaves, were poured over bulgur.

Many thanks to Avocado's chef. His help was invaluable.

Serving myttotos, the ancient Greek sauce, made from leeks, garlic (of course), cheese and olive oil. On the left side you see sowthistles and beetroot leaves sprinkled with olive oil and verjuice. In the white bowl: pickled radishes and bulbs sprinkled with honey, vinegar, sesame, cheese and asafoetida.

Starting clockwise from the top center. Fava (Lathyrus clymenum) with pomegranate seeds, onion and olive oil. Peas with leeks. Mushrooms in honey and vinegar. Chickpeas with fresh coriander and cumin. In the center, bulgur.

Gastris, made from sesame seeds, toasted ground almonds and hazelnuts, poppy seeds, honey and black pepper.

The Avocado's lovely helpers

ΓΙΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ ΕΔΩ.

PUMPKIN RECIPES with a twist

noreply@blogger.com (Mariana Kavroulaki) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:38:00 +0000

Pumpkins. Curcubitae!!!
Round, oblong, or violin-shaped, yellow, orange, yellow-green, green, smooth or grooved pumpkins. There are many varieties, from mini to maxi. One of them, Lagenaria siceraria (bottle gourd), was widely grown in Greece from ancient times for its use as vessel or utensil. It is interesting that this curcubita “is generally considered to be the only cultivated plant common to both hemispheres prior to 1492’.

What a pity that today we don’t give pumpkin the appreciation it deserves; however, in past it was a popular ingredient in the cuisines of rural Greece.

But
I am not going to talk about the fried savory or sweet pumpkin slices that were such a hit with children.
I will not talk about the delicious pumpkin and cheese pies; or about baked pumpkin, croquettes, rice and pumpkin dolmathes or pumpkin cooked with trahana.
I will not even talk about my favorite pumpkin al saor (ala savoro) or about the flavorful stew of the cuisine of the poor: pumpkin, chestnuts, onions, one or two potatoes, a cinnamon stick, a bay leaf, a small piece of orange peel … what delicious delicacy!
And
I will leave aside the spoon sweet, the compote, the ‘naked’ pumpkin pie** and the crispy phyllo pies, despite the fact that I am a big fan of a Peloponnesian pie filled with pumpkin, spinach, walnuts, flavored with cinnamon and honey.

Today
I would like to share with you two recipes that hold my attention.
The first one is a recipe for anchovies and pumpkin and the second one is for pastry triangles filled with pumpkin cream.

Anchovies served on pumpkin slices

The recipe is taken from Cretan Gastronomy and it belongs to Yiannis Apostolakis the thoughtful chef of Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania. However, I changed some things.

1 / 2 k. fresh anchovies, bone and head removed

Juice of 1 – 1 ½ medium lemons.
1 tbsp vinegar
Sea salt
Black pepper
Virgin olive oil
300 gr. pumpkin cut in slices

Place the anchovies in a stainless pan, pour the lemon juice over them, cover the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Drain and discard the liquid.

Lay the slices of pumpkin in a lightly oiled roasting tin, pour over a light oil, grind over sea salt and black pepper and roast until they are soft and tender.

Lay the anchovies in another oiled roasting tin, grind over sea salt and roast until they are ready.

Serve them over a small bed of pumpkin slices, drizzled with olive oil and vinegar.

Pastry triangles filled with pumpkin cream

The second recipe is inspired by the pumpkin bougatsa of Demetra Lambros.

My house is near a pastry shop that makes not fantastic desserts, however its trigona Panoramatos are remarkable. These triangle – shaped* pastries are filled with a delicate creamy custard. Moreover, the pastry shells are also sold as empty 'pockets' . The only thing we have to do is fill them with home-made custard cream. So, I thought it would be a good idea to fill them with a pumpkin cream.
The trigona filled with pumpkin cream were beyond delicious!!

Empty trigona

7 triangles (pick up the recipe here)

3 1/2 cup milk
1 cup pumpkin puree
7-8 tbsp corn starch (may need more or less it depends on how ‘wet’ the puree is)
I used somewhat less than 1 / 2 cup of sugar (it depends on how sweet the trigona are)
a vanilla bean
1 cinnamon stick
4-5 roasted almonds for each trigono.

Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out its pulp. Put 1 cup of milk, the vanilla pulp and the vanilla bean in a sauce pan over medium-low heat. Cook until mixture begins to steam.

Put pumpkin puree and 1 cup of milk in another sauce pan over medium – low heat. Cook, stirring, until mixture begins to steam. Remove from the heat and leave aside. When cool put it into a blender and blend until very smooth.

In a bowl blend corn starch, sugar and 1 cup of milk. There should be no lumps. Remove bean pod from the milk. Add pumpkin puree, cornstarch mixture, cinnamon stick and remaining milk to the pot. Cook stirring.

Once it begins to thicken reduce heat to very low and transfer a part of the cream to a bowl. You will use it as a sauce.
Cook, stirring constantly, the remaining cream until thicken. Remove from fire. Remove cinnamon stick and discard. Cool.
Use a pastry bag to fill the trigona. Place three almonds in each trigono’s ‘mouth’.

Serve the pumpkin trigona with pumpkin sauce.

Pumpkin bougatsa and pumpkin galaktoboureko.

.

* Trigono (sing.) = triangle
** A pie which don’t have crust.

ΓΙΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ ΕΔΩ

Before the (male) chef became a chef, he was...

noreply@blogger.com (Mariana Kavroulaki) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 07:57:00 +0000

Who rules the roast might rule the seas

Before the (male) chef....

Lefteris Lazarou, Varoulko's head chef

....became a chef,

Nicholas Tselementes, the moderniser of Greek cuisine.

He was a chef for many years at the St. Moritz Hotel.

he was an archimageiros (chief- cook).

An archimageiros in restaurants, often based in fine hotels,

Cooks (mageiroi) in the kitchen of Aktaion hotel ~Palaion Faliron

or an archimageiros on a ship....

.... an artist in the kitchens of the rich.

He was a mageiros in Byzantine inns (pandoheia)

Byzantine inn (Tempi, 829-842)

Photo: Vasiliki Paschali - ΑPΕ-BΕ

http://news.pathfinder.gr/photoscope/culture/news/14717.html

and in Graeco-Roman taverns.

Reconstruction of a Roman taverna from Demetrias /Thessaly (Museum of Volos)

He was an excellent cook in the kitchen of the rich,

in Greece

Casa Romana / Cos island

in Rome

where Greek cookery stood in high regard and an archimageiros could rise to great heights of civic importance
“the conquered thus conquered the conquerors".

During the Hellenistic and Classical periods, a mageiros was a high- skilled cook*, a culinary specialist, a butcher and a tradesman (demiourgos).**

Of course, he was an artist in the kithchen of the rich.

But before a mageiros became a mageiros, he was a priest
responsible for slaughtering, roasting and dispersal of sacrificial meat.

Preparation for symposium~ Evrytios krater (Corinthian black -figure krater)

*Cookery was recognized as techne (art or skill).

** It was this time that commerce filled the tables with white bread, abundant fish and vegetables, and Persian banquets had a profound influence on Athenian eating habits.

ΓΙΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ ΕΔΩ!

SALEPI

noreply@blogger.com (Mariana Kavroulaki) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 11:32:00 +0000

I like to see the salepi vendors in their white shirts, early in the morning. And I like the bronze samovars that they have on their small carriages.

"Salepi original~Charcoal fire ~ Constantinopolitan Kostas"
Photo credits: Anastasia Yannopoulou.

In older days they carried large copper jugs or samovars on their backs.

Once they were fanatically patronized by early morning laborers and late - night revellers.

Once
they were plentiful...

Today
coffee occupies the most significant niche in the consumption of hot beverages.

Thus
salepi vendors are getting fewer and fewer....

Salepi has a long history in Greece though.

Before coffee spread, salep was extremely popular in Ottoman Empire. So, it was also available in the streets of the Ottoman occupied Greek cities. After the Asia Minor catastrophe (1922) many Greek refugees found work as salepi peddlers as well.

This wondeful antidote to the cold days and nights was mostly obtained from the pulverized tubers of Orchis mascula and Orchis militaris (among others).
The term ‘Orchid’ has its origin from the Greek word ‘Orchis’ for testicle, referring to the paired root tubers of some species. It doesn’t take much imagination to wonder why ancient Greeks and Romans ascribed medicinal and aphrodisiac properties to the tubers of orchid.

Today, Greek orchids are threatened with extinction due to overharvesting and destroyed habitats. They are protected by law, making it illegal to pick them or dig up their roots. Thus, most street vendors sell salep made from cornstarch, sugar, water and artificial flavor.

Of course, you can make it yourself at home. Buy salepi powder of cultivated orchids. Expensive but worth it!

Salepi

1 tsp - 1 tbsp salepi powder ( it is said the thicker, the better)

1 cup of milk

1/2 -1 tsp sugar

ground cinnamon

ground ginger

Pour the milk and sugar into a pot. Heat the mixture and add the salepi slowly. Simmer for 6-7 minutes, stirring, until it becomes thick. Sprinkle with cinnamon and ginger and serve.

More beverages:
Raisin syrup
Hydromeli
Zacharonero (sugar-vinegar water)
Frappe coffee
Pepitada
Canelada (cinammon beverage)
Tea

ΓΙΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ, ΕΔΩ

Yogurt in their faces

noreply@blogger.com (Mariana Kavroulaki) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 21:02:00 +0000

Last months Greece is threatened not only by its biggest post-war economic crisis but also by the most significant political upheaval since the end of dictatorship (1974).
It is not surprising then that the crisis has a big impact on the Greek psyche and on the popularity of the two main parties. To show their despair for the country's woes and their anger for the austerity measures, Greeks vent their frustration at the politicians. Eggs, yogurts -occasionally tomatoes and peaches- are hurled against them, even during the national parade.

Throwing foods at people you don't like has not deep roots in Greek history.
Throwing rice at newlyweds is believed to help them have a fruitful union.
Throwing a handful of grains and nuts in the land belongs to harvest time; it was thought to be a sacrifice to secure the fertility of the crops.
Throwing boiled wheat kernels into the open grave is a burial custom.

But throwing eggs, tomatoes or yogurt at people as a punishment and protest is a special case.

Way back in the days of the Cold War, many governments, press and the public throught the divided world reunited against the 'corrupted and violent' youth. They instituted measures aiming to influence and direct the younger generation and restore the young non- comformists, either capitalist or socialist. The corruption and unproper behavior was atributed to groups largerly male: The British Teddy boys, the Italian teppisti, the French blousons noirs, the American rockers*, the Greek tediboides (from Teddy boys) etc.
Tediboides gained a reputation for throwing fruits, eggs and yogurt at women, old men and high school teachers. Yogurt was their favorite 'weapon' though, due to the lightweight nature of the plastic containers that had begun to be used by dairy industries in the early '60s. Tediboides became the focus of a moral panic regarding their anti- social actions. In 1958, the state voted the 'Law 4000' that penalized verbal insult and the throwing of yogurt and eggs. “Teddy boys were arrested by the police, were given a buzz haircut, the revers of their trousers were ripped and were paraded handcuffed through the streets of Athens to publicly humiliate them. The law was in effect until 1983 by the government of Andreas Papandreou''.

Last 2 years the act of throwing yogurt (yaourtoma) at politicians became very popular. Expressing deep dissatisfaction and frustration, it is a symbolic form of corporal punishment. But symbolic speech can be powerful and sometimes is more painful than corporal punishment. Food throwing causes public humilitiaton and public humilitation is like bad rumors. They both cause loss of prestige. They also set an example for others.

According to an article by Leo Vournelis in FoodAnthropology "A traditional variety of Greek yogurt, made from sheep’s milk, is the most common food item used in public acts of indignation and resistance, although occasionally eggs and tomatoes have been used in a similar manner."
In fact, Greek protesters don't use only one variety of yogurt. Strained and unstrained yogurt made from cow's milk**, with some made from sheep's milk, are equally popular among them. Of course, strained yogurt sticks to the clothes and hair better.

Fruits, eggs and yogurt are inexpensive, messy but safe items. No one ever died from being pelted with them. But why is there a preferance for yogurt? As Vournelis puts it "To understand why yogurt is the favorite item to be used as a projectile we need to look at the association it has with Greek ethnic identity. The sheep’s milk yogurt in question belongs to a category of objects (feta cheese, olive oil, etc.) that are strongly associated with rurality and by extension with Greekness. Rurality has long been a target of objectification and fetishization in the service of national identity projects. Moreover, certain food items through everyday practices lend themselves to closer associations with ethnicity."
From a practical point of view, yogurt has the advantage that the protesters can throw it without messing themselves up. Apparently they can not quarantee this if they use eggs.

*Gerd-Rainer Horn, The spirit of '68: rebellion in Western Europe and North America, 1956-1976.

**Although Greek yogurt is traditionally made from sheep's milk, last decades cow milk is often used~ especially by dairy industries. So, the yogurt that is thrown at politicians is mainly made from cow milk.

ΓΙΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ ΚΑΝΤΕ ΚΛΙΚ ΕΔΩ!

LAVENDER CAKE

noreply@blogger.com (Mariana Kavroulaki) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 05:16:00 +0000

He is an old man, almost ninety, tall, with piercing brown eyes.
She is a nice looking lady, a few years younger than him. She has amazingly lovely smile.

Around dusk almost every evening I see them walking down the path towards to the park cafe.
He helps her sit down, then he slowly sits next to her.
You see them look and smile at each other.

He orders ouzo she orders orange juice. They seem to enjoy performing this routine.

When the time to leave arrives, the man stands up and helps his wife up. Then they hold hands and walk away together.

A Lavender - Cumin Cake with Chocolate Glaze for this lovely couple

For the cake
3 cups self- rising flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 cup Greek strained yogourt, full fat
1 - 1 1/2 cups sugar
6 extra-large eggs
2 tsp grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
1 tbsp fresh lavender florets or 1 tbsp dried culinary lavender, roughly chopped
1 1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 cup extra virgin olive oil

For the glaze 300 gr. Fairtrade bitter dark chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup extra virgin, light tasting olive oil
1/3 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Lightly grease and flour a ring pan or a round, loose-bottomed cake pan. In a bowl, whisk together the sugar and olive oil until light and fluffy. Add the eggs beating thoroughly, until mixture becomes thick. Add the yogurt, the milk, the sugar, lemon zest, cumin and lavender. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, making sure they are incorporated. Spoon the batter into the pan and bake for 50-60 minutes. Allow cake to sit for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Then, carefully place it on a serving plate. For the glaze, melt the chocolate in double boiler. Remove from heat and carefully stir in the olive oil and sugar. Let cool for 10 minutes, until not hot but still pourable. Pour it over the cake.

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