In less than ten days I made two batches of melomakarona –my favorite spiced olive oil and orange cookies that are soaked in honey syrup– and also kourambiedes, the buttery, toasted almond cookies that are dredged in confectioner’s sugar. But first I baked two different variations of savory grissini and ring-shaped cookies with aniseed, coriander, mahleb and cumin; and this for me is definitely a ‘baking frenzy!’ (more…)
An Old-Fashioned Mediterranean Cake
An afternoon in the beginning of summer, Ela, my next-door neighbor, brought us a piece of airy, bright yellow cake. The cake, she said, was a traditional south Albanian recipe she got from her mother, who in her turn had gotten it from her own mother. She called it pendespan and I immediately recognized the word as a variation of what we call pandespani, the rich cake my aunt Katina occasionally would make.
The basic cake recipe in our family was the one called Tou Giaourtiou (meaning ‘made with yogurt’), a much heavier and filling dessert, with batter that, besides yogurt, also included olive oil, and margarine or butter. Apparently, both the Albanian pendespan and the Greek pandespani originate from the very old Italian Pan di Spagna (Spanish Bread) and the French Pain de Gênes (Genoa Bread or Cake). In modern patisserie that old name was lost, and these cakes evolved into the various common Sponge and Pound Cakes, with the addition of butter. (more…)
Roasted Quince with Carrots
I was desperately trying to find ways to use up the quince surplus we had this year, but I know mine is hardly a ‘problem’ many of you are likely to have…
Besides making Quince Spoon-sweet, cooking quince with sausage or poaching slices in sweet wine and honey, I wanted to find some simpler way to use the tart fruit in savory preparations, besides braising quince with meat or poultry –a favorite Greek Sunday and festive dish. (more…)
The Greek Island way with Pumpkin!
‘This is better than baklava!” exclaimed Athanasia, my late mother in law, the first time she tasted this pie. It is quite an unusual, deep flavored pumpkin pie from Lesbos, the large island of the northeastern Aegean, so much in the news these days for quite different reasons…
Athanasia, a very eclectic cook, was usually quite stingy with her praises and she really loved baklava. So her unsolicited approval meant a lot to me, and I will never forget it. She also baked her variation of the central Greek pumpkin/squash pie which starts by blanching the squash, then draining, mashing and mixing it with plenty of sugar and walnuts or other nuts. (more…)
Everyday Pasta Upgraded, and …Multiplied
I remember this peasant dish as skordomakarona (garlic macaroni) or makaronia bloom (flooded macaroni) because it was somewhat soupy. My mother made it occasionally for dinner –our secondary meal. For lunch she often made the more elaborate Greek makaronada: a platter of macaroni –usually overcooked– topped with rich, cinnamon-scented tomato sauce, sprinkled with copious amounts of grated kefalotyri cheese and then drizzled with sizzling sheep’s milk butter that partly melted the cheese, creating the desirable cords… My father loved this makaronada and usually ate more than he should, then blamed my mother for his stomach ache; she should have removed the platter from the table after serving, so he couldn’t have helped himself again and again, he shouted. I don’t think we witnessed this recurring argument for any other family dish, and I remembered it yesterday, as I kept adding to my plate more and more One-Pot-Pasta. (more…)