Greek Recipes

Magiritsa (μαγειρίτσα) is the traditional soup eaten early on Easter Sunday morning, following the midnight Divine Liturgy of the Greek Orthodox Church, to break the fast of Lent.  The soup is prepared on Holy Saturday and many families put the soup on a very low heat to cook, before they leave for church. Traditionally magiritsa is made with all of the offal from the lamb, which is spit roasted for the Paschal meal. The lamb offal is flavoured with spring onions, dill and lettuce. Rice is added towards the end of the simmering process and the stock is thickened with avgolemono. Accompaniments to this dish sometimes include the red, hard boiled eggs, salad, cheese and the Easter bread, tsoureki.  I grew up in a household where offal was a rarity, eaten only very occasionally at my grandparent's houses, my mum being more of a pescatarian (although not strictly). My first taste of traditional magiritsa came at my parents in law's home at Easter. It was absolutel

Easter remains the most important celebration for my Greek family. I love the traditions of colourful dyed eggs, tsoureki and  the Easter biscuits - Koulourakia. Holy Thursday has always marked the start of Easter preparations in our house, the day the eggs are dyed red and the  Koulourakia are made. For those in our family who are not friends with gluten, it seemed a shamed for them to miss out on part of the Easter traditions. So, this year, I have tried my hand at making some gluten free Koulourakia, flavoured with plenty of lemon, vanilla and the most incredible Greek superfood - Matsiha.    Mastiha are like little dusty pieces of crystal - which come from mastic-tree resin and are only found on the Greek island of Chios (I long to visit Chios one day - hopefully soon!).  Mastiha has been harvested on Chios for at least 2,500 years since Greek Antiquity. Mastiha is reported to have plenty of health benefits from  digestive issues to skin regeneration. In Ancient times it was used a

In my education of all things Greek, this year (so far) has been the year of the olive. The Greek word for olives is elies, ελιές, pronounced el-yes and they are without question the essential element of the Greek diet. Olives can make the simplest mezede and every meal is accompanied by a plate of beautiful glossy olives on the table.  My father in law has over 70 years of experience growing olives and for the sixty years of their married life, my mother in law has preserved the autumn crop. Their home preserved olives really are a team effort. Living in a sunny corner of Sydney's inner west has not hampered my in law's passion for home preserved olives. So, a few weeks ago, Mr K and I were part of the small team of harvesters in the Autumn sunshine. As we sat picking the olives from the branches, Dad (Ba in Greek) recalled stories of how he had harvested olives with his family in a small village in the Peloponnese during the 1930s.  Ba tells me that the best, most tastiest, o