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Friends from abroad often ask me how we drink ouzo.  Many think it’s a long drink to be taken with peanuts like some pubs serve beer. But that’s not the case at all. Both ouzo and tsipouro are meant to be accompanied by food. Usually, that’s not a big portion, but meze (plural: mezedes) ,  that are shared among everyone at the table. Usually meze is a selection of salty or spicy- small dishes, like stuffed vine leaves, olives, grilled octopus, oven baked giant beans, spicy cheese spread, aubergine tapenade, grilled cheese, etc.

Grilled aubergines with herring in a vinegraitte

We eat Meze to accompany our drink, but mostly to socialize and have fun without engaging in a full blown three course meal that requires hours in the kitchen. Meze is always informal and the central idea behind is sharing. You share several wonderful dishes, you laugh and have fun. Eating meze is an unhurried social event, not just a snack.
The dishes may be small but they are many and you are supposed to eat them slowly, between sips of your ouzo or tsipouro. Eating mezedes at the taverna, or at home, lasts for hours and hours. A good taverna will serve a different meze with each new bottle of ouzo (the bottles are tiny, around 75 ml while tsipouro sometimes comes into 25 ml because it is so very strong).

Tsipouro is a clear grape skin distillate up to 46% alc./vol.

 Black eyed peas salad with dill

 Baked aubergines in a salty and sour dressing

One of the best ouzo you can find. I tasted it in Chios last summer.

Getting drunk is not the point at all. While merriment is intended, being drunk while having meze is not. It is a social experience and not being able to talk is not social.
The meze you are going to get when you are eating out, depends very much on where you find yourself eating. If you are on an island you will almost certainly get fish and seafood. Most areas in Greece have their own specialties, so you are probably going to get those if you are having a meze there, like special cheeses or salads, or greens.

 Red Florina peppers

 Stuffed vine leaves are a classic ouzo meze

 "Kagianas" is an omelette with fresh tomato sauce and feta cheese

Warm potato salad

If you want to try and recreate the Greek Meze table at home, keep in mind that the main principles are:
Variety: you have to prepare many small dishes. A plate of olives is considered a dish.
Simplicity : you should be at the table, drinking and conversing with your guests, not slaving in the kitchen. Simple dishes, that are easily prepared with first quality ingredients are the key.
Quality: Choose the best ingredients, as a meze is a small dish and you cannot easily hide behind sauces and intricate dressings. Not that you’d want to.

"Real Men’s ouzo Kakitsi. You wake up and feel well. Chios. Attention! For men only". It is meant as a joke (I hope!)

Tsoureki (sweet bread)

Greek Easter is full of drama and the food follows in the same line. Throughout the Holy Week, we are supposed to abstain from meat and dairy and on Good Friday we don’t even have olive oil (other oils are ok although many older people just eat soups boiled in water).

 Mageiritsa soup

After Easter midnight mass on Saturday, we crack our red eggs and eat mageiritsa, a special soup made with lettuce, dill and innards (blech). I actually make a vegetarian version and you can find the recipe here. Then we may have some cheese  or tsoureki (a sweet bread) and that’s it. It’s after midnight, remember? And you have to leave room for the next day.

Easter Sunday is the biggest feast of all. That is, if you are not a vegetarian. That’s when people spit roast lamb ALL DAY and also eat other kinds of offal which I’d rather not talk about.

Baklavas

Sour Cherry spoon dessert

On Easter Sunday We also have lettuce salad, greek salad, tsatziki and several homemade pies like spinach pie or cheese pie. After lunch which usually lasts till dinner, we have desserts like baklava or koulourakia (butter cookies) and tsoureki.

Nafpaktos

Giant beans eaten on Good Friday in "Petrino" restaurant, Nafpaktos

Beet salad eaten in "Petrino" restaurant, Nafpaktos

Aubergine patties eaten on Good Friday in "Petrino" restaurant, Nafpaktos

This year, we spent Easter in Nafpaktos, a beautiful seaside town and we were very lucky, foodwise. Most restaurants serve great food, but especially Maria Loi’s. She is a well known Greek chef and has opened her restaurant in Nafpaktos. It’s the sweetest place and she is kind and attentive to all. She called us on the mobile to tell us she had found a table for us (the restaurant was fully reserved) and she even made special vegetarian food for us.

Fresh pasta filled with truffle at Maria Loi’s restaurant, Nafpaktos

Rocket and greens salad with a delicious vinegraitte which had some sweet fig syrup, at Maria Loi’s restaurant, Nafpaktos

Cheese cake, chocolate coated strawberries and panna cotta at Maria Loi’s restaurant, Nafpaktos

Mum’s easter salad

We had Easter Sunday lunch at my mum’s. Think Christmas dinner. Now multiply by 10. That’s my mum’s Easter lunch. This year the vegetarian options were roast potatoes, spring salad, mushroom pie, stuffed vine leaves (dolmadakia), cheese souffle, tsatziki, greek salad, the obligatory red eggs, several cheeses, and baklava and ice cream for dessert.

Mum’s mushroom pie

Mum’s stuffed vine leaves (dolmadakia) 

These dolmadakia are so tiny, just a bite and my sister and I treat them like precious gems. My mother gave some to my mother in law and my sister and I sulked. Mum said: "But I gave you too!" Whereupon we replied "Oh, yes? How many? One hundred?"

This was another one of those days when you don’t have time to go shopping and have to make do with whatever there is in the fridge. It was my son’s birthday so I had to make the things he like best, which is soya kebabs and chips. Peas and potatoes are a staple in Greece -and also peas and artichokes- but I wanted to add something more so I added spinach and chopped cabbage. Plus some mint and lemon.
It came out really tasty and fresh and it is no trouble at all. You can add whatever greens you may have as long as they are not too bitter.

Peas with everything

First I heated 3 tablespoons of olive oil in the pan and then I added one chopped onion. I mixed in 2 potatoes coarsely cut and 2 chopped cups of white cabbage. When the potatoes started softening I added 2 cups peas and 2 cups chopped spinach. You treat it a bit like risotto, adding water as you go, or even better, vegetable stock. Finally, I sprinkled some mint and served with a slice of lemon. It goes great with feta or any other white and slightly salty cheese. You can eat it a day old and it will still taste great, it gets better with age (limit it to just one day though).

To dream of carrots, portends prosperity and health. For a young woman to eat them, denotes that she will contract an early marriage and be the mother of several hardy children.

One of the main reasons I love autumn is because I can serve soup, especially carrot soup, and not be given the crazy/angry/disapproving glance. Because people in Greece only eat soup when they are sick. Or in funerals. What I love about Britain is that if you are in a hurry, you go to the supermarket and grab a fresh soup and just heat it and it usually tastes very good (the ones I had from Waitrose at least). Many times when I have been thinking with friends about future business ventures, the conversation leads us to soup in cartons, but half a minute later one of us says "who is going to eat soup?" and we sulk in our corners, sipping the soup that apparently nobody else would. So, yes, carrot soup. Clean your plates. 4-6 Servings

• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 big onion, peeled and chopped
• 1kg carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1400 ml vegetable stock
• rind and juice of 1 large orange
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the butter in a large pan, add the onions, leave them for 2 - 3 minutes. Add carrots and the stock to the pan, bring to the boil and simmer for 25-30 minutes or until the carrots are tender. Do not throw the stock away. Liquidise all the ingredients and add the puree in the stock. Reheat gently for a couple of minutes. Season to taste. Before you serve, add the orange juice. Grate the orange rind and garnish the individual bowls.I think this soup needs a good crunchy bread, preferably wholemeal.

Why is it that when people see beets turn the other way? They are meaty and have this earthy flavour, not to mention this ruby colour that shouts out "I am alive". I have been trying to make the little person in the house eat beets, not very successfully. When I ask why he would not even try them, he says "I don’t eat red things". Maybe because he is a kid and as Tom Robbins said, they are deadly serious?

For 6 servings

• 4 medium beets, cooked and cut in medium strips
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (you might want it oilier, in that case make it ½ cup)
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons shredded orange peel
• 2 tbsp orange juice
• 1 medium red onion chopped
• a handful of non salted cashew nuts
• 2 tablespoons fresh mint or 2 teaspoons dried mint
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 1 tsp pink pepper berries
• 4 cups torn romaine lettuce
• 2 medium green apples chopped

Make the dressing by combining oil, vinegar, orange peel, orange juice, onion, mint, pink pepper and honey in jar. Cover firmly and shake well. Combine beet, romaine lettuce, cashews and chopped apple in a bowl. Add the dressing, mix everything very well and serve.

“If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.” Dr. Carl Sagan 

I found the basis for this easy, yum and all round nice recipe in Cooking Light. I’ve had a difficult week both on the work as well as on the insomnia front, so I wasn’t going to make my own pastry, obviously. I changed it a little –the original asks you to microwave honey at full power, and that makes honey lose all its beneficial qualities. Think of it like a very quick way to accompany your coffee with something sweet that is not going to end up on your thighs (well, not 100% of it at least), and as a way to use your apples. Quick and Thin Apple Tart 6 servings

• ½ package refrigerated pie dough
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 800 gr. Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
• 2 1/2 tablespoons honey

Preheat oven to 280 K, 425 F. Place dough on a lightly floured surface, roll into a circle. Place on a tart dish. Combine sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon sugar mixture over dough. Arrange apple slices in a circle moving towards the centre. Sprinkle apple slices with remaining sugar mixture. Bake at 280 K, 425° F for 30 minutes. In a little cup, thin honey with one teaspoon of water. Brush honey over warm tart. This pie was baked while listening to the Smashing Pumpkins’ song "Appels and Oranjes".

It is boiling hot in Athens. I cannot bear to be in the kitchen, at least not too far from the fridge where it is cool. So, no cooking. We have to make do with salads and fruit and cheese. Really, I have never asked you: Do you like mixing fruit and vegetables? Or are you strict purists? I do not like all combinations, my absolute worst is watermelon and feta cheese, which totally kills off the freshness of the watermelon. So, what is your favourite fruit and vegetable combination? (erm, wine and a green salad don’t count).

For 3 servings

• 200 gr shredded lettuce leaves or other salad greens
• 150 gr seedless grapes
• 250 gr haloumi cheese
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts
• 3 tablespoons chopped parsley

For the dressing

• 3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• Salt – pepper

Toss walnuts and grapes with mixed salad greens or lettuce. Add pine nuts, parsley, and the cheese. Dress the salad with olive oil and lemon juice. Season to taste. Serve cold.

Greek salads do not come any easier or simpler than this one. And to be honest this is a Cretan salad, and you do know that the people of Crete are among the healthiest on the planet. Their secret is lots and lots of extra virgin olive oil.

This is my version of dakos and I only diverted from the original because I had run out of feta cheese. So I used greek yogurt -full fat, unflavoured, no sugar, of course- and a sprinkle of parmesan for texture.

It is a bit like a bruschetta but it is much bigger and a meal in itself. Some people add onion but I think it detracts from the freshness of the salad. You can also add some cucumber. Do not put lots of different vegetables though. The idea is to taste the olive oil and the tomato.

For 2 servings if it is a salad or 1 serving as a main meal

• A barley rusk
• Some water
• One tomato
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese (or in this case 2 spoonfuls of greek yogurt and a sprinkle of parmesan)
• A sprinkle of oregano (optional)

Take a barley rusk. Wet it a bit. Just a bit, maybe 3-4 tablespoons of water. You don’t need to skin off the tomato as the skin is going to come off when you grate it. So, yes, grate the tomato. Do not put it into a food processor, it will turn to water and we don’t want it to be runny. Place the tomato on top of the rusk. Pour 2 spoons of olive oil on the tomato. Chop the bell pepper and arrange it on the tomato. Put some crumbled feta cheese or as I have done here –and this is just my version, real dakos is with feta or mizithra cheese- two spoonfuls of greek yogurt and a sprinkle of cheese. If you do my version with the yogurt skip the water in the beginning. Sprinkle with oregano or some olives if you have them and serve.