Researching regional cuisines, we the food writers, are usually met with incredibly welcoming cooks who not only share their recipes and tips, but may go as far as to organize a whole cooking event for us, inviting their friends and relations, in their eagerness to teach us the cooking of their village or region. But occasionally we encounter a professional, or semi-professional cook who stubbornly refuses to even vaguely describe their signature dish. 

 

 

One such experience I shared with my mentor, renowned author Paula Wolfert in the ’90ies, as we travelled through the Northern of Greece, collecting recipes for our books.  Paula’s marvelous account of such an incident she shared, some years ago, on the food forum egullet, and now she posted it on the Facebook page Greek, Balkan and Mediterranean Food : (more…)

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“I wonder if you Greeks eat also the stuff that comes out of your ears…” exclaimed chef Rick Moonen as he spit out a piece of pickled volvos –wild grape hyacinth bulb (lampascioni in Italian). A dozen years ago I was asked to initiate Rick Moonen –then chef of Oceana— and Jim Botsacos into authentic Greek taste and home cooking when the Livanos family was preparing to launch Molyvos, in Manhattan. Rick is one of the most talented chefs I know, a really adventurous eater, but bitter seemed to be a taste he didn’t tolerate. He is not alone. Many Americans and Europeans have an almost violent reaction towards bitter foods. On the other hand we Greeks, together with the inhabitants of Italy, and especially Puglia–at the heel of the Italian ‘boot’—are somehow genetically conditioned to crave bitter: besides wild hyacinth bulbs, we also love red-stemmed chicory, probably the most bitter of the bitter greens, and fresh cracked green olives that have just become edible, after a very brief curing.

Healthy ‘poison’

Although in the old days bitter taste was associated with something poisonous and harmful, today scientists insist that the compounds that give bitter taste to some vegetables are the most beneficial for our health.Galatsides, another strain of the extended bitter chicory family, are among the most popular winter greens foraged in Kea. Early in the spring, locals search the gardens and hills for porichia, the shoots of a wild mustard green. Rare and delicious, with a slight bitter taste, porichia are blanched and served as salad, dressed with fruity olive oil and lemon. From my Kean grandfather I learned to drink the cooking water where the various wild greens are cooked. Ari Weinzweig’s potlikker reminded me of this deliciously bitter broth, which I keep in bottles in the fridge and drink warm or cold with a fair amount of lemon juice. (more…)

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Costas dug out the potatoes this morning. We had only planted a few, and we are quite pleased that we ended up with a full basket! Plus a few dark purple Peruvian potatoes from just one that I brought from California. We must have managed to get about 10 pounds, but I didn’t weigh them and now is too late as we have already eaten a few; we couldn’t wait!

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For centuries, poor Greeks used foraged leafy greens to complement their frugal menu of bread, cheese, olives, and olive oil. Today chefs in upscale restaurants –much like the famous René Redzepi, of Noma– serve them in all kinds of imaginative dishes!

Aginaroula (wild artichoke), alivarvara, karyda, skaloukares are a few of the names used in various parts of Greece for this much sought-after succulent green. Centaurea raphanica is the botanical name, and the plant is part of the extended centaurea family. This time of the year one finds bunches of this curled up horta in farmer’s markets. As the lacy leaves grow on the ground it needs soaking and thorough washing to make sure all dirt and sand is removed.

In Crete the tender leaves are often eaten raw, together with other wild and cultivated greens and herbs in a salad dressed with fruity olive oil and home-made vinegar, that is not too aggressive. In Syros island the whole plant is pickled in a vinegary brine, and served as meze with ouzo. (more…)

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On New Year’s Eve or after the festive lunch on the first day of the year, the father of the family cuts into a rich and aromatic cake, which has the year written in almonds on top and a lucky coin secreted inside. Each family member gets a piece, starting with the older ones, and whoever gets the symbolic coin is rewarded with a gift of money and starts the year with an advantage.

There are two basic kinds of Greek vassilopita, as this sweet is called: In my home we baked the Brandy & Orange Cake, a sumptuous westernized sweet with plenty of eggs and butter –a luxury in the old days. Other people baked vassiolopita politiki (from Istanbul) a yeasted, brioche-like sweet bread scented with orange zest and mahlep. The yeasted bread is probably closer to the older Greek traditions that have been kept alive by the so-called prosfyges (refugees), the Greeks who used to live in modern-day Turkey and were displaced from their homes in 1922, in accordance with the international agreements that followed the defeat in the Greco-Turkish war. Many bakeries throughout the country sell yeasted vassilopita, which can be baked in considerably large pans in the professional ovens. Offices, factories and all sorts of clubs and professional organizations order, and ceremoniously cut and distribute vassilopita to their employees or members, often rewarding the person who finds the lucky coin with a generous bonus. (more…)

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