Athanasia’s Cranberry Bean Stew (Fasolia Handres tis Athanasias)

Tuesday June 9th, 2015Monday December 28th, 2020 aglaia Leave a comment

Athanasia Moraiti, my late mother in law, cooked the mottled fresh cranberry beans together with potatoes and peppers, a combination I had not considered until I tasted it, and loved it. I was under the impression that shelled beans and potatoes were not the best combination for a hearty stew, but I was wrong.

Fresh cranberry beans, called handres (beads), are sold frozen in Greece; they are delicious and cook very fast. Dried beans of any kind, not just cranberry, can also be used for this dish.

Feta cheese, with its salty-sour taste, complements ideally this as any bean stew.

4 servings

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Slow-cooked Chickpeas with Orange and Celery

Tuesday June 9th, 2015Monday October 4th, 2021 aglaia 1 Comment

On Saturday evenings, women on Sifnos and other Cycladic islands bring to the communal bakery their specially marked clay casseroles filled with soaked chickpeas that have been doused in fruity olive oil and seasoned with oregano or bay leaves, and with bitter orange in Crete.

Covered, and often sealed with a piece of dough, the casseroles are set in the wood-burning oven, where they cook slowly all night in the receding oven heat. On Sunday morning, as the women return to their homes from church, they collect the pots and serve the tender, fragrant chickpeas for lunch, accompanied by olives and/or salted sardines and crusty bread to soak up the delicious juices. This recipe, like the one with Squash, cannot be made with canned chickpeas, but you can precook and freeze chickpeas to make a faster version (see Note 2).

This recipe is a variation of the classic revithada, loosely based on the chickpeas Kalomira Vrondamiti used to serve at her tavern, on the picturesque Vourkari marina, in Kea.

Serves 6-8

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Shrimp Saganaki with Greens, Scallions, Herbs, and Feta

Tuesday June 9th, 2015Wednesday March 1st, 2023 aglaia Leave a comment

I tasted the tomato-less version of saganaki in Chalkidiki, in northern Greece, many years ago. It was prepared with the local mussels which were wonderful. But in my kitchen in Athens, as I was trying the recipe, I had to use frozen mussel since fresh ones were not readily available then, and the result wasn’t great.

I decided to substitute shrimp for the mussel and I loved the dish, so I included it in my first book The Foods of Greece.

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In my original recipe I gave the option of mussels or shrimp, but over the years I have decided that the shrimp’s sweetness is perfectly balanced with the lemony sauce, the herbs and the briny feta. It is a matter of taste, of course, but I definitely prefer shrimp for this soupy saganaki.

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Serves 3-4
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Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes and Paspalas, the Kea ‘pork confit’

Tuesday June 9th, 2015Wednesday February 17th, 2021 aglaia Leave a comment

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)

Tuesday June 9th, 2015Monday May 10th, 2021 aglaia Leave a comment

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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