I know I probably repeat myself, but it is the time of year we feast on greens in our corner of the world. Together with the ones that grow wild in our garden, this year I add to the mix a few succulent grellos leaves (a kind of turnip greens) that I planted from seeds my friend Cali Doxiadis brought me from Spain. She said that unlike us, cooks in Spain don’t make horta salad, simply boiling the wild or cultivated greens and serve them drizzled with fruity olive oil and lemon; grellos are usually sautéed with pork or pork fat, she told me.

Here on Kea home cooks incorporate the winter greens into frugal main courses. They often flavor them withtsigagides or paspala—the local pork confit. Leftover small or larger pieces of the slaughtered pork are simmered with a little water, thyme or winter savory, and salt; when the water evaporates and they begin to sizzle, the scraps of pork are transferred to jars—clay pots in the old days—and preserved submerged in lard. (more…)

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I read that among all Europeans, Greeks and Albanians are the peoples less interested in wild mushrooms.  They are afraid that they will be poisoned and avoid them in general. This has changed in recent years, following French and Italian trends, and there are now organized mushroom foraging weekends in several parts of central and northern Greece. But I have yet to see individuals forage for mushrooms.  There are some exceptions, of course, like our friend Eva Green, a Greek-Australian painter who spends 5-6 months on Kea, and then goes back to Sydney, thus enjoying summer all year round. Eva has a passion for mushrooms and wanders around the mountainous central and eastern parts of the island, under the oak trees, where she once found some wonderful porcini. But, the other year she got some sort of mild –fortunately– mushroom poisoning, and she seems to have lost her enthusiasm…

Tourists visiting the islands in the summer probably think that mushrooms won’t grow in this rocky and arid landscape. But in the winter all over the Cyclades a wealth of wild mushrooms emerge among the wild greens. Even in our garden, under the olive trees, we get a few glystrites (Volvopluteus gloiocephalus) each winter; not a particularly delicious mushroom, but very common in the Cyclades. They are called lardites in Amorgos (lardi means ‘lard’) and islanders used to eat them in the old days dredged in flour and fried, like meatballs; they were often called ‘meat of the poor!’ (more…)

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Variations of this festive pie are baked in many parts of Central Greece, in Epirus and Thrace during Christmas and the New Year. Pork is often used instead of chicken, and leeks, or a combination of onions and leeks make the filling creamy. The lucky coin was hidden inside this savory pie, as in the old, frugal days people could not afford to bake special cakes, like the vassilopita. 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.

Home-rolled phyllo is essential, but even commercial frozen phyllo works here as the egg and olive oil topping adds the desired flavor and crunch. (more…)

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Dean Martin calls ‘Pasta fasoul’ this southern Italian staple in That’s Amore ; but the hearty, frugal dish it is more commonly known as Pasta e Fagioli. There are various combinations of pasta and beans all around the Mediterranean, but this one is by far the best!

_{photo by Anastasios Mentis}

Of all the different varieties of pasta, I found that orecchietti (“little ears”) –which are the traditional pasta ofPuglia, in Southern Italy—or shell-shaped pasta are best suited for to compliment the faggioli. Somehow, a bean seems to rest inside the curve of each piece of pasta. In Puglia the dish is made with fresh homemade pas orecchietti. (more…)

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The newest version of my everyday bread baked with some wonderful, ancient heirloom whole-wheat flour grown in Thessaly, Central Greece.

I bake our everyday bread with a combination of different flours and I have posted the recipe for my basic Wheat, Semolina and Barley Bread with Spices. Before I feel completely satisfied and decide to write down the recipes for my books I try and try them again; then I feel free to experiment again with other combinations of ingredients. In my everyday life I seldom stick to my published recipes, not even when I cook for a formal meal. I always add or substitute this for that, testing variations of the basic recipes using what I have at hand in the pantry or what I harvest from the garden. This is the traditional frugal way of cooking I learned from my mother and from other home cooks all around the Mediterranean. (more…)

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