Picture from last week’s “laiki agora” our farmers’ market. In Greece we do not have a lot of varieties of potatoes, such as yellow potatoes, blue potatoes or red potatoes nor do we have names for them. The only potatoes we have are the usual oval, brown skin and white flesh potatoes. There …
Greek
Akoumia Symiaka (means doughnuts or donuts from Symi island). Symi is a small island of the Dodekanese to the north of Rhodes. These akoumia are not widely known even by Greeks because they are Symi’s local traditional doughnut recipe and are made only on the island of Symi.
The formula to make an Orange or other Citrus liqueur, such as lemons, bergamot, mandarin, bitter oranges, pomelo, etc is very simple. You take the peel or zest and steep it in alcohol to extract the essence of the fruit. Then you make a simple syrup with sugar and combine both together.
Kalon Prama, which is the Cypriot name for Samali, is a moist, eggless, semolina cake, made with sheep’s milk yoghurt, flavoured with mastic and bathed in syrup.
Melitzanosalata is a traditional Greek vegan dip / appetizer made with eggplants which have been charred over charcoal or over an open flame, until the skin blisters, to get a smoky taste. The skin is then removed, as well as the seeds, if any, and the eggplant is either finely chopped, mashed with a fork or pureed.
Melitzanes Papoutsakia (pronounced pah-pou-TSA -kya) are stuffed eggplants with meat sauce, topped with a rich bechamel sauce and then baked. The word “papoutsakia” in Greek means little shoes and probably they are named after their shape.
It’s difficult to cook for a family when you can’t get the whole family to eat the same thing. My children are not very fond of legumes and most of the times I have to cook two meals so that everyone will eat. I have made it a rule to cook legumes at least …
Giouvarlakia, pronounced yiou-var-LA-kia, is a Greek soup with meatballs using ground veal, pork or chicken, rice, herbs and spices cooked and thickened with a lemony avgolemono sauce.
Eliopsomo is a Greek Olive bread made with Kalamata olives. The salty olives add a depth of flavor to this rustic bread recipe!
These Greek Keftedes me Rodi (Meatballs with Pomegranate Sauce) are perfect on any occasion and if formed into small balls, they will be the hit of your next party!