Greek cooking

Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes and Paspalas, the Kea ‘pork confit’

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The name of the dish, as well as the bits of pork that are simmered until tender and then fried in their fat are called ‘papspalas’ in the local dialect of the island.

READ more about it. 

 

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Because I make these scrumptious scrambled eggs mostly in the winter, I roast the pale, greenhouse tomatoes to give them more flavor. In the summer, diced fresh, vine-ripened tomatoes are perfect for this, as for any other dish. You just need to cook them a bit longer in olive oil until their juices become syrupy. See also Bonnie S. Benwick’s version at the Washington Post. 

 

Serves 2-3 as a main course, 5-6 as part of a meze spread

 

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Beets and Greens with Skordalia (garlic sauce)

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This garlic-scented combination of beets and greens, or green beans is served on many islands during the spring Lent, before Easter and all-through the summer. On other occasions, you will find it accompanying fried salt cod, fried anchovies or other humble fish. The skordalia (garlic sauce) in this particular version can be quite mild and creamy, like garlicky mashed potatoes, or more pungent, to your taste.

See also the unusual Pelion skordalia with unripe grapes or verjuice.

 

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Serve the salad as a first course or as a side dish with grilled or fried fish.

Adapted from The Foods of the Greek Islands (Houghton Mifflin)

 

 

Makes 4-6 servings

 

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Green Black-eyed Pea Salad with Tomato Vinaigrette

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Blanched ambelofasoula (green black-eyed peas) are the most sought-after and expensive summer salad in Greece and usually accompanies grilled or fried fish. The word ‘ambelofasoula’ means ‘vineyard beans’ and it is only used for the green black-eyed peas; maybe the prolific plants were planted close to the vines in the old days. 

 

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The dressing is inspired by a recipe I got from the island of Kythera, where it was used on vlita(blanched amaranth shoots). It is a wonderful dressing for blanched broccoli, cauliflower or any kind of blanched greens.

 

Serves 3-4 (more…)

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Paximadia Salad with Tomatoes, Feta and Capers

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The crumbled hard, barley rusks steeped in the juices of the chopped tomatoes and the spicy aromatic olive oil sauce acquire a superb flavor and texture. Lighter biscuits get mushy.

Prepare the salad 1-3 hours in advance, but toss just before serving.

 

Paximadi Salad can be a full summer lunch, perfect for pick nicks at the beach. I make it in a large container and serve it under the beach umbrella in our attractive re-usable plastic pick nick bowls. The chunky salad can be eaten with a spoon or fork, and we often enjoy it sipping the crisp fruity white or rose wine that we take to the beach in a cooler. (more…)

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