Greek Recipes

One thing common to all Mediterranean cultures - from Provence to Malta is the array of fantastic vegetable dishes, using primarily market-fresh tomatoes, zucchini, eggplants and onions. While eating a Greek Briam or this Provençal tian, I have often thought that you could easily become a vegetarian and eat spectacularly well in these sunny climates. I'll be sharing the recipe for a traditional Greek Briam soon, but in the meantime my kitchen - which is normally all about Greek food - has taken a little trip to visit a Mediterranean cousin and this Provençal tian. This dish is named after the earthenware pan it is traditionally baked in. Like a Briam, it is a gorgeous dish which melds the flavours of the vegetables together and just tastes like a big hug from summer. It tastes best the next day and if you are serving it as a standalone main meal, you can add a layer of partially cooked rice or quinoa underneath the vegetables to soak up all of their beautiful flavours. This dish lo...

Spring is in the air and the farmers' markets have been humming with beautiful spring produce. I was delighted to be able to use some of this wonderful produce to make a relaxed Sunday lunch for a best friend, Lady G and Mr K recently. Lady G is a both wonderful cook (professionally, as well as at home) and a wondeful friend. We often meet at our local market to swap recipes, share a coffee and discuss everything from world politics and wine - to 'a place to call home'. Lady G is also currently studying nutrition, so I was keen to make something for our Sunday lunch that both sung of spring, but was also a really healthy start to the week ahead for us all.  Taking inspiration from the classic Greek beetroot salad Patzarosaláta (παντζάροσαλάτα) and this season's best, this hearty salad was born. It makes a perfect starter for a spring time lunch. Beetroot, sorrel and chèvre salad (παντζάρια και λάπαθο σαλάτα με τυρί) Ingredients 2 medium sized beetroot, cleaned and peele...

Just as we all thought spring had arrived, winter decided to go for one last hoorah and rain all over our new espadrilles!! Mousakas (μουσακάς) is the perfect dish for this time of year, it manages to taste of summery Greek holidays and family parties, and boasts just enough comforting qualities to see you through a temperature drop and a spring shower. There is a lot of debate amongst Greek cooks about what constitutes the perfect mousaka. It is commonly made with minced beef or a pork/veal sauce, fried eggplants, kefalotyri cheese and is topped off with an egg-enriched béchamel sauce. Some people prefer to use lamb - a version to which Mr K strenuously objects. Other versions include eggplant and potatoes, or eggplant and zucchini, or all three. My version is based on my mum's 1970s dinner party classic - from the time when a Greek cooking trend swept through Australian dining rooms from Surry Hills to Sutherland. Mum recounts serving her mousakas in individual stoneware dishes t...

It is no secret how much olive oil is loved in our house - we even travelled to Greece and Italy a few years ago and timed the trip with the new oil harvest (you can read more about that trip here ). That love of olive oil extends to this chocolate fudge cake recipe, where I have used it in place of butter. The robust flavour of the olive oil enhances the bitter, chocolatey flavour that comes from Dutch-process cocoa.   Olive oil is a great baking alternative for those who can’t eat (or prefer not to eat) butter — in this cake I have used Greek extra-virgin olive oil, it has a robust, slightly peppery flavour and it really matches well with the bitterness of the dark cocoa. The quality of the olive oil is the key to this recipe, as the flavour of the oil really does subtly permeate the cake.   While the olive oil impacts on the flavour of the cake, it also has a big impact on the texture. Using oil instead of butter in the cake creates a very moist cake, with a fine crumb, whi...

It took me a little while to really come to love mussels. They had not graced our family table that often while I was growing up, and I liked them - but they were not the first thing I would always select on a menu. That was until, in a little Paris bistrot, I was presented with a huge, steaming pot of white wine, tomato and garlic soaked mussels - accompanied by a chilled glass of Chablis. They were a revelation, so tiny - unlike the hulking great big mussels that I had here in Australia - but sweet and with a delicate texture. From that time on, mussels have always caught my eye if they are on the menu. That was the case in Lefkada, when Mr K and I visited a family run taverna, perched right on the edge of the sea in Agios Nikitas. Μύδια γεμιστά (stuffed mussels) were on the menu and I just had to try them.  In Greek cooking, there is a certain penchant for the 'yemista' style - filling summer vegetables, flower blossoms, cabbage leaves, vine leaves and more with lots of aro...

In my last post, I suggested the merits of enjoying a citrusy salad with marinated sardines  (σαρδέλες Μαρινάτος), for a simple and flavourful springtime lunch. The perfect end-of-winter and start-of-spring citrusy salad for that simple lunch, is this wonderful Ionian classic "Salata me Portokalia kai Elies" (or orange salad with olives (Σαλάτα πορτοκάλι με ελιές). Like the recipe for the sardines, it is almost embarrassing really to call this a recipe, because it is so easy to make! I first enjoyed this salad on my first visit to Corfu, where the proprietor of our small guest house picked a few ripe juicy oranges off the tree in her garden, peeled them, removing the bitter pith and arranged slices on a plate. To this, she added thin slices of sweet red onion and a generous handful of wrinkled black, salty olives. The salad was finished with a generous amount of homemade olive oil, red wine vinegar and a sprinkling of sweet paprika. It was a masterpiece of colour and flavour ...

One of the most beloved Greek mezedes is marinated anchovies, made with incredibly fresh - preferably straight off the boat anchovies. Next to the anchovy, the other beloved Greek fish is the sardine. For whatever the reason, fresh anchovies are not all that easy to get your hands on in Sydney - but fresh sardines are! So, I have adapted this recipe (which is usually used for anchovies) for the incredibly fresh sardines I bought from the wonderful Oceana Traders at my local market this weekend. Sometimes described as 'pickling', preserving anchovies and sardines in this way has it roots in Ancient Greece. This was a food stuff to be put away to survive long winters and when the weather was to rough for fishermen to leave the shelter of the port. It also, no doubt, has it roots in the Greek kitchen mantra of not wasting or throwing out a single piece of food - and pickling is a great way to make sure every bit of a big catch is used up. In Greece, this dish is most often serv...

Beans or legumes are one of the great pillars of the Greek Mediterranean diet. Often called 'poor man's meat' they have been the main source of protein for many Greek people since Ancient times, also providing plenty of vitamins and antioxidants. While some people think beans and legumes are pretty boring, they don't know my mother in law, who has an incredible repertoire of dishes using beans - the genesis for these dishes being her firm belief in limiting the consumption of too much meat in her family diet. Ma recently shared this recipe with me for black eyed beans (μαυρομάτικα), sometimes known as 'louvi xero', swimming in bowl of flavoursome tomato sauce topped with a very generous drizzle of olive oil. I prefer using dried beans because of their quality - and you can sift out any unhealthy looking beans from the batch. Using dried beans just means you need to remember to soak them in water for about 6 hours - either the night before (if you want to use the...

Unable to visit Greece this year, we settled on a short break in New Caledonia. It is the second time that we have visited Noumea, which is like a small piece of France with azure water at every turn. The overwhelming French influences, deserted white sand beaches and postcard sunsets remain a heavenly reality. Being only two hours away, it is the best way for Australian Francophiles to get a little French fix over a long weekend or mini break. Noumea itself has remained not over-developed and it has certainly not been flooded by the 'budget travel' set. The capital is set on a high peninsula surrounded by sweeping white sand bays. The coastline is dotted with a mix of colonial architecture and the seemingly familiar Southern French style of peachy-pink coloured stucco apartments, bright shuttered windows and faded striped awnings. There is a relatively small number of Australian and New Zealand tourists here (apart from the tiny flood of hurried cruise passengers that have an...