Greek Recipes

As 2015 comes to a close,  I am so thankful to all who have taken an interest in this little blog over the last year. It is so wonderful to be able to share something I love to do with you and I wanted to say thank you to those reading in Australia, Greece, Cyprus and all over the world. What better way is there to say thank you than by offering up some baking goodness?  In Greek homes, when the New Year arrives, it is also the feast day of St Basil (Aghios Vassilios) and it is traditional to celebrate the day with a "vasilopita" - a bread or cake which has a foil wrapped coin hidden inside. In this post, I am sharing with you the cake version - inspired by the flavours of the Ionian islands, with plenty of citrus and a little splash of brandy.  On New Years day, the family gathers around the table and the head of the household will make a sign of the cross over the bread or cake and turn it three times - once for the Virgin Mary, once for Christ and once for the house. A...

I love making a range of Greek style pickles - called toursi (τουρσί) in Greek. They are especially great in summertime, when after a day spent at the beach you get that urge for a chilled ouzo and meze. It's so nice to know that you have little jars of toursi tucked away in the fridge or the pantry and the only effort required is opening the jar! The pickle recipe I am sharing today is for calamari toursi (καλαμάρι τουρσί). It makes for a great meze spread with a little feta dusted with riagni, some simple fava (a yellow split pea dip) topped with sweet red onion and capers - and a little fresh, crispy salad on the side, such as a purslane and marinated olives. Pop open the jar of calamari and in minutes you have some lovely mezethes to enjoy with a chilled ouzo in the garden on a warm, dusky summer evening. If you skip the feta you also have a Greek Orthodox fasting friendly meal for those few weeks before Christmas - or Easter. If you are interested in making other Greek style p...

So it's the first day of Summer here in Sydney - and is shaping up to be another 30C+ day. When it's so hot, I rarely feel like cooking much in the evening after a day in the office and a steamy city commute. However, my efforts can stretch to chopping a few tomatoes and whipping out the fry pan for a batch of tomato fritters, called domatokeftedes (ντοματοκεφτέδες). These brightly coloured delights are a speciality of Santorini and they are traditionally made with the island’s native tomato.  Santorini is also home to amazing fava (yellow spilt peas), capers and wine. Happily you can now buy the crisp white wines from Santorini easily in Australia - and it's a perfect match for these domatokeftedes. Another essential for a warm evening and eating outdoors! My version of domatokeftedes uses very ripe Roma tomatoes and I have flavoured them with plenty of mint - both dry and fresh. I use a dried wild mint from Greece, which is incredibly aromatic (You can buy a similar wild ...

  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...

     In Greece there are three different types of yogurt, depending on the milk (goat, sheep or cow) used to make it.       Yogurt made from cows’ milk is the most popular because of its mildness; it has a less sour taste compared with yogurt made from the milk of goats or sheep.      In Greece we call yogurt ‘’strained ‘’ if it has undergone a straining process after it has been created. As a result it has far less whey than plain yogurt. Its dense silky texture makes it ideal for cooking too.       If you are lucky enough to have access to fresh milk from local farms, you should definitely try at some point to make yogurt at home and experience its wonderful taste. If you have kids, they will be fascinated by the process that magically turns milk into yogurt.      We make yogurt at home when we have extra milk that is close to its expiry date; this way we give it at least an extra week of shelf life. ...

Prawn saganaki is one of those 'holiday to Greece' dishes, which everyone recalls with fondness. It is served in nearly every Psarotaverna (fish taverna) in Greece and a favourite with tourists and locals alike! It is certainly a favourite in my dinner party repertoire - it makes a great 'shared plate' style entree and is ready from scratch in less than 20 minutes. It also makes for a comforting and colourful mid week dinner - without the normal calories that come with starchy comfort foods. Some recipes for prawn saganaki call for deglazing the dish with a little ouzo. I prefer to have that on the side and instead, I use a little Metaxa brandy in the tomato sauce, which you could replace instead with a little white wine. If you are a fan of aniseed flavours you can always add a little fennel seed or dill to the tomato sauce base. Prawn saganaki (Γαριδες Σαγανακι) Greek olive oil 1 red onion, finely chopped 3 - 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced 1 tablespoons Greek tomato p...

One of the things I love most about my journey of discovery of Greek cooking is simply the variety of food used. The Greek motto when it comes to food is why buy it when you can either grow it - or forage it for free! There is no better time for foraging when it comes to spring - when there is an abundance of edible wild greens, herbs and shoots - just ripe for the picking. One of the rarer treats from the season are fresh, green almonds - picked before before the shell has hardened and the nut inside is still a little gelatinous capsule. Fresh or green almonds are called tsagala (Τσάγαλα) in Greek and they are somewhat of an old fashioned food. My husband had never eaten these raw or otherwise, but my parents in law remember them being a real treat as children, where they would compete with other kids in the village to see how many they could pinch off their neighbours trees. I didn't need to pinch my stash of green almonds off my neighbours tree. He happily offered them for free ...