Greek Recipes

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 ...

  Traditional Greek rice pilaf is a serious comfort dish - perfect to be enjoyed all year round. However this version, a vine shoot pilaf called ambelokorfades pilaf (Αμπελοκορφάδες πιλάφι) is just for spring and early summer when the shoots of the vines are still incredibly tender. I have always loved the way in which traditional Greek cooking uses grape vine leaves in such a variety of ways, but it was a real revelation to have been given a recipe, from a Greek friend in the Ionian Islands, for just the vine shoots themselves. Another novel wild green I would never have thought of using, except for the wisdom of my Greek friends! I love how absolutely nothing goes to waste in the Greek kitchen - and the way in which a few good quality humble ingredients can really make for a very special dish.   This is a great dish to try if you have very productive grape vine at home - or perhaps a neighbour or friend who does - and who won't mind you taking some scissors to it! Even bette...

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...

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 ...

When looking at the Mediterranean diet pyramid, there is quite a large amount of cheese featured. In fact, if you follow a mediterranean diet it is recommended that you eat dairy each day, in moderation of course. Greeks rarely consume cow's milk products, with the exception of some yoghurts and there is certainly no low fat, over salted processed yellow plastic cheeses! The mediterranean Greek diet is all about fermented milk products such as yoghurt and feta cheese made predominantly from sheep and goats milk based products. Feta cheese is probably the most iconic and well known of all Greek cheeses. It is rich in probiotic bacteria and made from a mixture of sheep and goat milk. It is not to be confused with cow's milk 'feta' from some other countries, the taste and texture of which is dramatically different too Greek Feta. Indeed, Greek feta cheese now has a Controlled Denomination of Origin (DOC) (hooray!), which specifies that it must be made from pure sheep milk...

This week saw the name day of my dearest Mr K, who was named after his paternal grandfather, Konstantinos. In Greek culture, name days are much anticipated and more significant than birthdays. Name days originate from the Greek Orthodox Church's calendar of Saints - people celebrate on their particular saint’s day with a special feast or party. Traditionally, the person celebrating their name day offers sweets or drinks to family members, friends and work colleagues and in return they are given the blessing of 'Hronia Polla' meaning ‘many happy years’. Given that my Mr K is a seafood connoisseur, what better way was their to celebrate than with one of his favourites - sardines. The choice to prepare one of Mr K's favourite fish was made even easier by the fact that the fishmonger at my local market that sells them fresh, already filleted in a neat little packet. While sardines are lovely dipped in flour and fried simply in olive oil with a big squeeze of lemon - a name ...

Easter is the most important celebration for my Greek family. It just inches ahead of Christmas and it holds a very special place in my heart. I love the traditions of colourful dyed eggs, tsoureki, the Easter biscuits - Koulourakia, spit-roast of lamb and the "lambathes" decorated candles. The Easter rituals of the Orthodox Church are rich and spiritual. Even though it falls during the start of Autumn in Australia, there is still that feeling of energy and renewal that often comes with the start of spring. As in years past, since I married Mr K, Holy Thursday marked the start of my Easter preparations. Traditionally it is the day when the eggs are dyed red and the day when the Easter bread, called tsoureki and Easter biscuits, called Koulourakia are made. This year I made two Tsoureki - one modern version which is filled with plenty of orange zest, dark chocolate and almond ( find the recipe here ) that has become a favourite in our house and a more traditional version scent...

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...

My love for wild greens has not abated this summer. My first love, the sweet green summer vlita (βλήτα), had to vie for attention as my affection for crispy lemony purslane has grown. We have enjoyed purslane slowly braised along with zucchini and vlita in a spicy tomato sauce , as well as a variety of salads - from simple tomato and olive - to a really fresh and punchy traditional Lebanese fattoush, the recipe courtesy of my gorgeous friend, Mama Z. I hope to share the recipe for fattoush with you soon, before the purslane of summer disappears. However, this week I needed a starchy hit - but I had a basket absolutely brimming with freshly picked purslane. The solution - a quick skordalia with purslane (σκορδαλιά με αντράκλα). This recipe for skordalia is 'quick' because I cheated and used my food processor instead of using the more traditional mortar and pestle. I was a little worried, as I hate putting potatoes near a food processor for fear of a heavy, gluggy sludge - a mor...

This has to be one of my most favourite salads - it's a variation on the traditional Greek beetroot salad, patzarosaláta (παντζάροσαλάτα). In Greece, patzarosaláta, is usually served two ways. The beetroot, along with their greens, are boiled. Once they have cooled, they are sliced and served with a generous dressing of olive oil and wine vinegar. This salad is served alongside a dish of skordalia, feta cheese and bread. Alternatively, the simply cooked beetroot is cut into small cubes and folded through garlic spiked Greek yoghurt - similar too and often served as an alternative for tzatziki - a pretty soft pink version of tzatiki. The greens are also served - this time as a seperate dish on the side, rather than mixed through with the beetroot itself. My variation of this salad combines these two approaches. Instead of being boiled, I roast the beetroot with a little balsamic vinegar to bring out its natural sweetness, along with a pinch of cloves to emphasise its earthiness. Onc...