Greek Recipes

In our house this week, we celebrated Greek National Independence Day. In Greece, 25 March is a public holiday, but people of Greek heritage all over the world celebrate the origin in of the modern Greek state, which had its beginnings on 25 March 1821. Importantly, 25 March is also the Annunciation (or Evangelismos in Greek) to the Theotokos - one of the Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church. It holds an extra special significance for us, as we were married in the Cathedral of the Annunciation of our Lady Theotokos, in Sydney. Many Greek men and women are named for this event, Evangelos or Evangelia and celebrate their name day on this date as well. On this day in Greece, there are parades in every town of Greece and the streets are peppered with people waving the Greek flag. There is dancing, with people dressed in intricately embroidered national consumes and there is also plenty of singing and the odd brass band - but what of the feasting? Greek Independence Day falls during lent a...

In Greece during the Great Lent when dairy products, meat, and eggs are not   consumed (at least for those who still keep these traditions), tahini based recipes enrich their diet with nutritious elements. Tahini, a paste made from ground hulled sesame seeds, is a super food and, added in soups and other vegetable or legume based dishes, it plays a vital role in good nutrition. It contains many vitamins and minerals and is also rich in protein, - 25 percent by weight!   In this blog you may have noticed that several recipes, sweet or savory have the ending pita in their name. That is because we tend to call pita any batter which is baked in a flat baking pan.   So today’s special is Tahinópita , a dairy and egg free cake with tahini as a basic ingredient. Although the original recipe calls for cinnamon and cloves, I decided we had enough cinnamon this winter so a small twist in this cake’s makeup was inevitable: coffee and orange zest in this case. They match really wel...

Autumn makes herself known when the soft orange-pink pomegranates start to appear on my father in law's trees, like spectacular Christmas ornaments. It marks the start of one of my favourite seasons and always reminds me that my wedding anniversary is not too far away. I can always remember my dad and my father in law enjoying a very happy, animated conversation and a Greek coffee in the garden with an impressive backdrop of pomegranate trees, that were simply heaving with fruit, behind them on the day after our wedding. My father in law took cuttings from his trees and now they grow in my parents garden - and this is the first year that the new trees have produced a very generous and healthy quantity of fruit that is filled with sweet ruby coloured gems. Lent stays with us for a few more weeks yet and the recent baskets of pomegranates from both of our parents has provided a good source of inspiration for our almost vegan diet. Indeed they were the star feature in this filling sal...

In my kitchen this month, I am enjoying the rich bounty of late summer produce – tomatoes, zucchinis and eggplants from the garden. I am also very excited to be welcoming into my kitchen, over the coming weeks some spectacular autumn produce – figs, pomegranates, chestnuts and more! Thankfully, there are so many wonderful fruits and vegetables in season at the moment, as over the next few weeks the menus in my kitchen are going to be fasting friendly. As mentioned in my last post, we have just entered the Greek Lenten period of fasting, which is called nistia (νηστεία). In this day and age, many people do not follow a strict fast and there are different ways in which people fast. In our house, we will not be eating meat for the entire period of lent, and on Wednesdays and Fridays, we will be completely vegan – as well as olive oil and alcohol free. Given that we do not tend to eat too much meat generally, the fasting is not too tough. Although limiting our olive oil consumption is a bi...

While Greek food is so much about the seasons and homegrown produce, it is also driven by the festival calendar. We recently started one of the most significant fasting periods in the Greek calendar, Great Lent. This period is called nistia (νηστεία) and traditionally requires you to abstain from meat, eggs, dairy, fish (shellfish are ok), olive oil and alcohol. You are also required to limit the number of meals consumed each day. In recent times, many people do not fast for the whole period of lent (Clean Monday until Easter Sunday) but they do still fast in different ways. For many people, they will not eat meat for the entire period of lent but will still eat dairy. For others, they will not eat meat for the entire period of lent and will also be completely vegan, oil and alcohol free on Wednesdays and Fridays - which are regarded as significant fasting days in the Orthodox calendar year. In addition to this, most people fast strictly during the first and last week of Lent as well a...