I did this post two years ago but the weather this weekend seems very similar. Only our peas are not yet ready for picking, and their blossoms are white. But I guess I will cook and bake similar dishes. 

Kathari Deftera (Clean Monday), the first day of Lent is traditionally celebrated out of doors. During the long weekend people travel to the country to eat, drink, fly kites and dance to the tunes of live bands provided by various municipalities. But this year it seems it will be a rainy or quite windy day, a welcome change for us after a long period of sunny and dry weather, but the city people who will come to enjoy the island will probably feel miserable…

Yesterday the rain and the wind scattered the almond blossoms everywhere. 

Two years ago the moving feast had happened later, in March.

Just before the rain {two years ago} Costas and I gathered the first sweet peas from the garden; the wind had broken a large branch which we decided to use as decoration for our humble table. I briefly sautéed the peas with garlic, and dressed some of my pre-cooked beans with spicy ladolemono–lemon and olive oil with chopped scallions and Maras pepper. This year our lettuces are prolific and we share them with friends.

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With the fruit, besides my usual marmalade, I make curd substituting lemon with bitter orange juice, and also a fragrant, Campari-like drink (Vin apéritif à l’orange amère) inspired by a recipe from Provence. 

Fifteen years ago, we planted two navel-orange trees in the southwestern corner of the garden. One is still around in a pitiful state and we have yet to get one full-grown orange from it. The other almost dried up, ‘burned’ by a cold January wind; but grew back from its un-grafted part. Now it thrives as a bitter orange tree, one of the most common, somewhat overlooked trees in Greece, that line the sidewalks in Athens and other big cities.

Our modest tree gives us an abundance of fragrant bitter oranges each winter and I am always on a lookout for recipes to use them up, besides my usual marmalade, of which I make loads every season. This marmalade has become my staple ingredient; I add it to cakes, creams, and breads, both sweet and savory, often omitting sugar, especially in my fresh cheese and yogurt summer desserts. (more…)

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Around mid-January, as the new olives are almost ready, I try to find ways to use-up the olives of years passed.

 

This fragrant Eliopita,  with an unusual, delicious, easy dough of olive oil and orange juice, is the first thing that comes to mind. It is much simpler than the common olive breads, and much more enticing. The original recipe was given to me many years ago by Zoe Evangelou whom I had met at my friend Roxani Matsa’s winery in Kantza. I made the pie several times, and included it in one of my early Greek books. Later, the recipe was revised by  Vali Manouelides, another friend, who instead of the original large loaf, divided the dough and filling to shape smaller logs that were easier to cut and serve as finger food. (more…)

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