Author: aglaia

I love Quince!

aglaia Leave a comment

I have a bowl or a basket with fragrant quince at our kitchen
table almost all winter. 

 

I get them from our trees whenever I think they are almost ready but I often cut them when they are still hard, because if I let them the worms and wasps will get them before us… When I use them up I get new ones and let them ripen and acquire a bright yellow color before I cut them up bake, poach or cook with meat or make our favorite quince preserves.

 

I sometimes make a rolled, strudel-like pie but what I most like are the various savory dishes I have invented (more…)

Share

Read More

Quince Preserves (Kydoni Glyko)

aglaia 2 Comments

Quince is one of the most popular Greek spoon sweets. It is served as a dessert topping for yogurt in taverns all around the country. Tourists love it, though unfortunately most restaurants use cheap commercial preserves.

By cooking down the cores and seeds that contain most of the pectin, and adding their rich broth to the sweet, we can make our own quince preserves with less sugar and more fruity flavor and aroma. I prefer to fill small jars—once opened, the contents are difficult to resist. At least with small jars you might pause before breaking the seal, but then again you might not!  By adding spices, I turn some of the spoon sweet into an unusual relish (see Variation).

 

Makes 3 1/2 pints (1.5 L) or 6 one-cup (250 ml) jars (see Note) (more…)

Share

Read More

Yogurt, Olive oil, and Feta Drop Cookies (Koulourakia Almyra)

aglaia 2 Comments

My mother used to made a version of these, with more flour together with the yogurt and olive oil, so that she could shape flat disks and fill the half-moon tyropitakia (turnovers) with feta mixed with eggs and chopped mint.

I just thought that I could probably whip up a savory cookie that contained the cheese and mint, and here is my version.  You can halve the recipe, but keep in mind that you can freeze these savory koulourakia and even if you don’t warm them up a bit before serving, they are still delicious.

 

Makes 40-45 cookie (about two-inch) (more…)

Share

Read More

Apple Cake with Olive oil and Lemon

aglaia Leave a comment

This moist, fruity cake is based on a recipe for Rustic Tuscan Apple Cake that my friend Val posted in her brilliant site More than Burned Toast.

I tweaked the recipe, substituting olive oil for the butter, and also used my lemon liqueur instead of the amaretto the Tuscan recipe suggests.I made it in a rectangular pan, and as I took it out of the oven I glazed it with some marmalade diluted in more lemon liqueur…

 

For a 10X7 inch (25X18,5 cm) cake (more…)

Share

Read More

Red-pepper-and-feta-topped Flat Bread

aglaia Leave a comment

Besides adding our garden’s delicious red peppers to sauces, fry, and stuff with rice, vegetables, meat, or fish, I love the combination of flavors created by olive-oil-sautéed peppers and use them as topping for my flat bread, pairing them with crumbled feta cheese.

The dough is the one I use for my everyday breads, sometimes adding yogurt if I have leftover that is going too sour or any kind of mashed vegetables or greens.

See also the Tomato and Cheese topped bread, the Smoked Cheese and Kumquat Bread which is basically the winter version of my topped breads. For a more spicy-aromatic topping spread Zaatar mixed with olive oil over the tomatoes.

 

Makes TWO large Laganes (flat breads), or FOUR smaller 10X7 inch (25X18,5 cm) breads, serving 8-12 people as appetizer 

(more…)

Share

Read More