Greek Recipes

  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...

Sfougato (σφουγγάτο) is a term used to describe a basic egg dish, which can actually look like anything from an open faced omelette to a frittata, to a zucchini slice or a soufflé! Commonly, a sfougato will often combine eggs with a variety of greens or green vegetables, depending on what is in season – and as per the name "sfougato", the finished dish will have a sponge like texture. In the first spring after we were married, I made Mr K as special meal one weekend of a green garlic soufflé - green garlic being one his great culinary loves. Ever since then, he often thinks fondly of that soufflé and will ask for it to be made when every green garlic appears at the market, or if we are planning a special dinner for family and friends – he suggests it should be on the menu. My version of sfougato was born from the memory of that green garlic soufflé – but this is a version that can be made in five minutes on a weeknight! The nettles take a little bit of special handling and c...

Given that I have just posted my " Field Guide to Greek Wild Greens ", I thought it perhaps fitting to share a new recipe with you, which uses a variety of different wild greens and comes from my mother in law’s recipe collection. Quite commonly in tavernas all over Greece, a big bowl of horta is served alongside a plate of char-grilled octopus. At home, the weekly meal is a little more simple and the octopus and horta are combined into the one dish. Sometimes you can just have the braised greens alone and the style of cooking them is called ‘tsigariasta’ (τσιαγαριαστά) which means sautéed in Greek. It is a very popular style of cooking in the Ionian islands. Depending on the season, the greens can be braised with a little fresh tomato, or in winter when citrus is at its best, you can use a generous squeeze of lemon. To give the greens a little more flavour – different types of seafood can also be added, depending on the season and what is available. This dish was a common ...

I would love to be able to spend hours foraging for wild greens – but it is a time-consuming activity and you MUST have someone with you (preferably an older Greek person) who can properly identify what is what, so you don’t end up serving something potentially poisonous in your spanakopita! To alleviate my foraging anxieties (and to learn more), I have started to grow many ‘wild’ greens from seed in my garden – the seeds being the (well identified and home cultivated) gifts of my Greek parents-in law, their family, cousins and friends and my lovely Italian neighbours - or the sellers noted below.  Another good starting point has also been frequenting local grower’s markets to learn more about the wild greens being sold. In Australia, wild greens are growing in popularity at farmer’s markets and you can now easily buy a range of seasonal greens from dandelions to mallow leaves. In Greece, at the laiki (local street market) you will always find an abundance of wild greens on display...

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...

I could barley contain my delight, when at the market this week, I found some vlita (βλήτα) (otherwise known as amaranth). It is my absolute favourite wild green, closely followed by glistrida (γλιστρίδα) (otherwise known as purslane). And guess what? There was some of this too at the market. These two beautiful greens always take me straight to summers spent in Greece, where my lovely husband first introduced me to the delights of these greens. We would puchase them at the morning market and serve them for the evening meal, outdoors in the warm summer night air, on a table under a fresh green grapevine trellis. Simply boiled and served with local olive oil and vinegar or lemon juice, they made a feast with homemade ladotyri cheese, home cured olives with plenty of lemon and rigani, rustic bread from the local baker and glasses of chilled homemade rose wine. Early in the season, glistrida can be eaten raw. I love to add it to a salad with plenty of juicy tomatoes, salty rich thrombes o...

Following hot on the heels of Ma's stuffed artichokes, in this post I am sharing with you another traditional dish, which is a spring favourite in Greek homes - goat frikase (Κατσίκι φρικασέ). Goat frikase is also one of my father in law's favourite dishes. In the same way that my mother in law will always opt for small fish, fava and Horta on a taverna menu - Ba will always go for the frikase – a super tender lamb or goat dish that is cooked up with wild greens and sometimes lettuce, then swirled with a rich egg lemon sauce. Frikase is a very traditional dish and there are many versions and interpretations of this dish throughout Greece - depending on what produce is more readily available. Wild greens or lettuce are most typical, but in Northern Greece leeks are used - whereas in Crete the other great spring favourite artichokes are used. In my parents in law 's garden in Sydney's inner west there is an abundance of beautiful spring greens, hence they feature promine...

A few weeks ago, I posted a recipe for one my favourite Greek dishes, Hortopita (χορτόπιτα) or wild greens pie . In that recipe I used some store bought phyllo and I promised a follow up recipe for homemade pastry. I am still to get a lesson from my lovely mother in law - but in the interim, I have a recipe to share from my travels in Kefalonia. Last year we stayed in Kefalonia for a couple of weeks in a little village near Klismata Beach. While staying there, thanks to Mr K's beautifully fluent Greek, we befriended Stavros and Anna who owned a small taverna and supermarket nearby our villa. This is Anna's recipe for hortopita, which I recently found in my travel notebook. I love keeping a travel notebook, the one from this trip to Greece was packed with watercolour and gouache sketches, recipes, business cards - as well as lots of labels from new season olive oil and wine. Anna's recipe is completely vegetarian and does not use any cheese, so it is perfect for fasting. It...

Spanakorizo, or spinach rice, is super healthy, very moreish and a hearty winter dish. It can be served as a main or side dish, and is ready in under 40 minutes. It is similar to a risotto (but with more greens than rice), spanakorizo can be accompanied by some feta cheese, a big dollop of sheep yoghurt or even a grating of aged mizyithra or kefelograveria cheese. If you are in need of extra "comfort" you can also enjoy it with a few slices of rustic home-style bread for a full meal. It also benefits from a healthy drizzling of olive oil over the top just before serving. As a primary schooler, Mr K can remember a big bowl of spanakorizio often being placed before him after a day at school. I can see why. This is a relatively inexpensive dish, especially if you have an excellent crop of spinach growing in your garden. It has beautiful fresh flavors of lemon and dill - and there is little preparation involved. The one bit of preparation that is absolutely essential though is ...