Greek Recipes

The largest of the Cyclades archipelago, Náxos is one of the few Greek islands that is completely self-sustainable and could feed itself. Every square inch of the island, including the main town proudly boasts either a small vine plot or abundant market garden, squeezed in between low rise apartment blocks and villas. Further into the centre of the island, you will see flocks of sheep and goats everywhere, along with row upon row of silvery-green olive trees. Naxos also has some of the Cyclades loveliest beaches and its most dramatic scenery: vast mountains, lush terraced valleys and traditional white-washed villages. It has a unique regional food identify, famous for the grapefruit like "kitron" which is the key flavouring for the smooth local liqueur and spoon sweet. Naxiot potatoes are also renowned throughout Greece - as is the islands impressive array of both sheep and goat's milk cheeses. There is more than enough on offer in Náxos to keep you fully occupied for a w...

Naxos is well known for its incredible culinary heritage and its reputation rests largely on the amazing produce of the island. This super easy to make meze, which hails from Naxos, can be easily recreated outside of the island, with produce from your local farmers market. We enjoyed this meze in Naxos recently ( you can read more in my guide to Naxos ). The recipe comes from a small fisherman's taverna, which sits right on the main ferry port. It was the perfect start to a leisurely evening meal, accompanied by a very chilled ouzo, set against the spectacular backdrop of the sun setting over Naxos' famous Porta. This was one of those holiday dishes that was really going to stay in my memory and I just had to ask for the recipe. I could have seen myself back in Sydney regretting a missed opportunity if I had not asked. Luckily the taverna cook was more than happy to oblige and the recipe was shared, along with the secret tip to use plenty of fresh herbs - a common theme in much...

A 'Fanouropita' (φανουροπιτα) is a cake that is traditionally made in Greece to honour Saint Fanourios, patron saint of lost things, on August 27th. The Saint's capacity to help find something lost is suggested in his name, in the Greek language, φανερώνω (fanerono) means reveal. In seeking the intercession of the Saint, for something lost, the Greek people will take their baked caked to the village church to be blessed. Then it is shared among the congregation. As such, whoever made the cake is supposed to be given hope that whatever they have lost may be found.  The cake itself is vegan and flavoured with olive oil, cinnamon, cloves and orange. It a sort of Greek version of gingerbread (albeit, without the ginger). Tradition requires the cake to be made with 7 or 9 ingredients and it must contain  fruit and nuts, so that you are able to "find" something while you eat the cake.  Fanouropita (Φανουρόπιτα) 4 cups self raising flour 1 & 1/2 teaspoons of ground...

The best thing about returning home from a Greek summer? It has to be spending time with family and friends that we missed while we were away and drinking in the winter sunshine in dad's beautiful garden.  While we had been basking in the Greek summer sun, dad's citrus was revelling in near perfect growing conditions in a little corner of inner west Sydney. Dad's citrus was not alone, with many Australian farmers reporting it had been an amazing year for all kinds of citrus fruits.  The kumquat tree in dad's garden was quiet simply heaving with little orange gems. Talk about a Christmas in July! The kumquat tree came with the best kind of Christmas decorations - edible fruit. Well, 'edible' fruit that requires a little tender loving care. You certainly would not want to be eating these juicy but bitter little guys fresh straight from the tree.  That is where Ma's sage advice came to the fore. The kumquat is such an Ionian kind of fruit.  Commonly made into a...

Agrigento's Valley of Temples is one of Sicily's most popular tourist destinations. This spectacular Ancient Greek site is set against a backdrop of incredible trees; almonds, olives and Sicily's ever present citrus fruits. Indeed, it would be hard to imagine Sicily's unique cuisine without them. While there are a large number of differnt types citrus fruits grown across Sicily, Agrigento's main crop is the navel orange, called 'Brasiliane'.  The province of Agrigento stretches from inland Sicily to the coast. As such, the food of this province of Sicily has a good deal of spectacularly varied produce to choose from - navel oranges included. Sardines and anchovies are some the most favoured seafood, enjoyed fresh on the coast and in times past, preserved in salt to also be enjoyed by those in the more inland region of this province.  When we recently visited Agrigento, I had the good fortune to be able to try some of the spectacular local sardines. Whenever ...