thefroth.com

The gypsies would drive from neighbourhood to neighbourhood in their open trucks and sell watermelons, just a few years ago in Athens. I think they still do it in rural areas. And in the early afternoon, you’d hear their voices through the loudspeakers in their cars, shouting “karpouziaaaaaaa”, because karpouzi is what we call a watermelon in Greece. If you wanted to, they would carve it open for you so you could testify to the freshness of the fruit. Today I buy my watermelons from the supermarket, or the open market, every Wednesday in my area. But I still miss the gypsies. I found this recipe in Veggie Life , the printed version. I adapted a bit and here it is. I have never found the magazine in Greece, but my good friend Gina, sent it to me from the US. So this recipe is for her. I wish we could have some of it together Gina.

For 6 servings

• 5 cups watermelon chunks (try to seed the chunks as much as you can)
• 6 tablespoons non fat milk
• 1-1 ½ tablespoon sugar

In a food processor combine ingredients and liquefy. Place a sieve over a bowl and strain out remaining seeds. Press with a spoon so as to get as much pulp through the sieve as possible. Discard seeds and excess pulp. Put liquid into ice cube trays and freeze. When ready, whirl cubes in a blender or food processor, to make it look like a sherbet. Serve in glasses. You are a happy person.

 I can live on salads, fruit and juices for the whole duration of summer. In Greece, that’s about 5 months. Sometimes, I consider myself lucky that as a vegetarian, I live in a Mediterranean country where there are lots of vegetables and fruit, but when I am in a bad mood, I just miss the variety I could find at british supermarkets. Being a vegetarian is so much easier in Britain. There is no convenience food for vegetarians in Greece. Veggie burgers are really difficult to find, and I haven’t even mentioned the lack of soya milk or tofu. I am not vegan, but if I were, I don’t know how I’d manage. You can’t always rely on health food shops to buy basic things like tofu. Not only are they sparse, they are ridiculously expensive too. So I am constantly trying to find tasty things that can be made quickly. This salad is one of them because couscous is so versatile and you just need to boil some water to make it. And then, you just chop the vegetables. You could sauté them, I prefer to roast them when I have time.

Couscous, cherry tomatoes and roast vegetables salad

For 6 servings

* 1 medium sized onion, finely chopped

* 15 cherry tomatoes

* 2 courgettes, sliced in 3

* 1 aubergine, sliced in 3

* 1 red bell pepper, in strips

* 5-6 garlic cloves (don’t peel them)

* 4 tablespoons olive oil plus some more (about ¼ cup)

* 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

* 6 tablespoons herbs: -2 tablespoons thyme, chopped -2 tablespoons rosemary, chopped -2 tablespoons oregano, chopped

* 2 ½ cups water

* 1 teaspoon salt

* 300 gr. couscous

* 1 cup pitted olives, cut in two

* 4 tablespoons caper

* 6 tablespoons lemon juice

* 4 tablespoons chopped basil

Preheat grill or oven at 200 C. Prepare vegetables, except tomatoes and onion. Place them on a baking tin and drizzle them with 4 tablespoons olive oil, herbs, garlic, salt, pepper. They should become tender but not too much. Make sure they are evenly roasted from both sides. Remove garlic cloves and we leave vegetables to cool. Boil the water. Place the couscous in a big bowl and pour boiling water over it. Let it absorb the water for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, chop the roasted vegetables to pieces that should be the size of a mouthful. When the couscous is ready, add the vegetables, the tomatoes, the onion. Add the olives and caper. Next come the olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice and basil. Toss the salad and serve. If you want the salad to be served cold, refrigerate it for a while, but in that case you should add the tomatoes at the last minute before serving. They really don’t behave well in the fridge.

The aubergine libertine in his green limousine

A libertine’s green limousine was lately seen in Saint Vereen. The libertine wore aubergine. In Saint Vereen they’re not so keen on aubergine. The party scene in Saint Vereen is all crepe-de-chine and gabardine, beauty queens and Charlie Sheen. The libertine in aubergine moves between these beauty queens: his feet careen from scene to scene, taking in the magazines, the tall Marines, the jumping beans, the snarling face of Charlie Sheen. The libertine leaves Saint Vereen. Saint Vereen is not his scene–he likes a scene that’s more serene. Vals-en-Deen is just that scene. He sights the sheen of Vals-en-Deen. Its woods are green; are tourmaline. With carabine, he’ll hunt that green, the libertine in aubergine. The birds that preen in Vals-en-Deen are not quite serene when there’s been seen in their woodsy green the libertine in aubergine. His carabine for them spells "fin." But when libertines in limousines leave Vals-en-Deen for Saint Vereen, those birds that preen are quite serene. Though the birds may vent their spleen, the libertine in aubergine suffers only improved mien when Vals-en-Deen is dimly seen from the dark windscreen of his limousine. Then, our heroic libertine, rid at last of Charlie Sheen, of magazines, of beauty queens, of crepe-de-chine and gabardine, bounces like a jumping bean, a jumping bean on too much caffeine, decked out in cloth of aubergine.

About two years ago there was a meme going around in blogs, the aubergine meme. The goal was to end a poem with the word “aubergine”, a task as difficult as rhyming the word “orange” (try it). So I found this delightful poem in this awesome blog and I think, you’ll agree it’s the best aubergine poem ever. Three cheers to Reen for creating it. Another aubergine poem (okay, not really) is the recipe that follows. It’s the easiest thing to do with aubergines, far easier than writing a poem, not as elegant though. Feta cheese is never elegant, damn it.

Aubergine rolls

For 8 rolls

• 2 aubergines, cut into 4 slices lengthways
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 100g feta
• 2 tbsps fresh chives, chopped
• 2 tbsps fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 2 tbsps pine nuts
• 1 big garlic clove, peeled, crushed

1. Preheat oven to 250C 2. Heat olive in a big frying pan. 3. Brush the slices of aubergine with the oil before placing the slices in the pan. Turn the slices of aubergine, to cook both sides. 4. Remove the pan from the heat, let aubergines cool a little. 5. Put feta, parsley, chives, pine nuts and garlic in a small bowl and stir. 6. Take a slice of aubergine and place a tablespoon of the feta mixture in the centre of the slice. 7. Carefully roll the aubergine upwards. Place the aubergine roll on a baking tray before repeating the process with the 3 other aubergine slices. If it doesn’t remain sealed, secure it with a toothpick. 8. Place aubergine rolls in the oven for 5 minutes. Serve hot or cold. If you want you can make some simple tomato sauce and serve a spoonful on the side.

I have been neglecting this blog and neglecting cooking in general, but I haven’t neglected eating. I had my Easter Holiday on Mount. Pilion, in Makrinitsa village and the food our hosts -Kostas and Elena- prepared for us was delicious.

So a big thank you to our friends. Please invite us back, next time we’ll behave.

I want to confess I have a problem with most people who run taverns in Greek villages. Why can’t I find mushrooms, almost anywhere?

Greece is full of mushrooms and some of them are rare and delicious. But somehow, they haven’t made it into the kitchens of professionals. I don’t know the reason to that, except maybe that people don’t like to experiment, and that they are content with a good old steak.

Another thing that bothers me in Greek villages is the lack of homemade, lovely, savoury pies (not in Makrinitsa though, because we had a very nice leek pie in Theofilos café). Really, people are lazy.

I want to find a village where people bake bread, make pies and cook mushrooms. And that’s not because I want to validate my village life stereotypes, but because that is what I look for in cities too. Real food, that sometimes takes more time and effort. Theofilos cafe is one such place in Makrinitsa, where you can taste delicious food that a.is fresh and cooked with skill b.doesn’t cost a fortune.

This is firiki preserve, a small but very taste apple is used to make it

What most greek villages have though, is preserves. Usually, these are fruits that have been boiled in sugar and water, so they end up very syrupy and are stored in jars. Cherry, rose petals, orange, bergamot, fig, apple, grape and quince preserves, are the most common. But you can also find tomato preserves or aubergine preserves, and these are sweets! They go by the generic name “glyka koutaliou” that means spoon sweets, because you only have a spoonful (supposedly) with coffee or a glass of water. But you can very well use them to top your ice cream or yogurt, they are perfect partners.

Another good thing you can find is tsipouro, a strong drink -that has nothing to do with ouzo- which if good, never gives you a headache.

You drink it in little shots and always with food, especially, pickled or spicy food, like this baked feta with onions and peppers. I wish I could send all of you some tsipouro (tsipouraki for friends) because it is the best thing when the sun is shining and it is even better when it is cold outside. Here you can see some of the -come on, tiny!- empty bottles on our table.

And this was just round one.

That’s a springtime classic. I should have made the ravioli myself. But I wanted this for a picnic and since it wouldn’t be served immediately and would be eaten cold, I thought “why bother”. I was inspired to make this recipe by Jamie Oliver’s asparagus recipes and by several I found on the internet. And of course by Homer.

For 4 servings you’ll need

• 1 big packet of ravioli or 2 small ones. You need about 40-50 ravioli.

• 2-3 tbsps olive oil

• 2 garlic cloves, chopped

• 5 tbsps mascarpone or other cream cheese

• 1 tbsp butter

• 1 cup vegetable stock

• About 12 asparagus

• ½ cup chopped basil or mint

• Salt- pepper

• Grated parmesan to serve

You don’t need a knife to cut asparagus. Just bend the spear until you see where it breaks naturally. Snap off there and they are ready to be cooked. Heat olive oil in a skillet and sauté garlic. Add the asparagus and sauté for 3 minutes. Stir in the butter and add the vegetable stock. Lower heat and cook the ravioli in salted, boiling water. When they float to the top they are ready. But because I never believe science, I try one. Drain ravioli and add to the asparagus sauce. Add the mascarpone, but keep 4 teaspoons aside for serving. Season to taste. Serve with some more mascarpone on top, parmesan and chopped basil or mint leaves.

 Life definitely isn’t too short too stuff a mushroom, especially if it’s a big and juicy portobello mushroom. So I bought some portobellos the other day but didn’t want to just grill them or stuff them with cheeses. I wanted to make a meal out of them, so I decided to stuff them with some bulgur, which is wholesome and delicious. If you want a richer taste, add some tomato sauce to the boiling water.

You’ll need

• 8-10 portobellos

• 150 gr spinach, chopped

• 1 big bell pepper

• 1 clove garlic, chopped

• 1 big onion, chopped

• 3-4 tbsps olive oil

• 8-10 tbsps parmesan (1 tablespoon for each mushroom)

• Salt and pepper

• 2 cups bulgur (cracked wheat in this case)

Cut the portobello stalks and carve the inside using a small spoon, reserving the flesh. Cover the portobellos with a little oil, using your hands so that the oil goes everywhere. Put them in the oven and grill them until they are almost done. Bring 6 cups of water to the boil, add one tbsp of olive oil and some salt. Add bulgur, stir to prevent sticking. Taste to see if it is cooked after about 10 minutes. Drain.

In a pan, heat some olive oil, sauté bell pepper, garlic, onion, spinach and portobello flesh. Add the bulgur and stir everything together. Salt and pepper to taste. With this mixture, stuff the portobellos, sprinkle with parmesan and bake for 5 minutes or until the cheese has melted.

This is a thin and crispy dough. It’s my favourite dough because it lets me eat more pizza as I don’t feel full after the first piece. Making the dough is neither difficult nor time consuming. And it’s a shame to just make a little quantity that is only enough for one pizza. Best to make enough for several pizzas and refrigerate them and play with all the different toppings. The quantity in this recipe is enough for 5-6 thin pizzas.

Haloumi is a delicious cheese made in Cyprus. It is made from goat’s and sheep’s milk. It tastes heavenly when grilled and it is resistant to melting. But if you can’t find haloumi, that’s still okay, as you can go back to basics and use mozzarella instead.

For the dough

• 1000 gr bread flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 14 gr dried yeast
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 ¼ cup warm water

Combine water, yeast and sugar in a small bowl. Let it rest for a couple of minutes. Combine flour and salt in a large bowl and add the water in the centre of the bowl , pouring slowly and steadily. Stir with a fork. In a few minutes the dough is going to become too thick and we are going to need our hands to do this. Remove to a floured surface. Now it’s time for the fun part: kneading. Knead for about 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and you can stretch it with your hands.

Cover the dough with a towel and let it rest in a warm place for half an hour. Now it’s time to start the oven because it should be really hot. Preheat it to 250 C / 500 F.

Later, cut dough it into six pieces and just use one. Put the rest in the fridge after you have covered them with cling film.

Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a thin circle -about 0.5 cm thick. Pour a few drops of olive oil over the dough and bake for 5 minutes. Then, top with the sauce and bake for about 10-15 minutes, until it is crispy.

Aubergine topping for one pizza

• 2 tbsps olive oil
• A big aubergine in strips but unpeeled
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 red or orange or yellow bell pepper in strips
• 250 gr. Tomatoes grated
• 1 cup sliced haloumi cheese
• 3 tablespoons grated parmesan
• ¾ tsp marjoram
• 1 cup vegetable stock
• Salt- pepper to taste
• Some chopped mint leaves

Pour oil into a big skillet and heat it. Add the aubergine, pepper and onion and sauté. Add the vegetable stock and let it cook so that aubergines are really tender. When there is no water left in the skillet and the vegetables are ready, add tomato and marjoram and cook until the sauce thickens. Finally spoon the sauce over the pizza dough, add the cheeses (haloumi first) and bake (see instructions above).

Serve with chopped mint leaves.

My pizza soundtrack

-Malavida / Mano Negra -Once upon a time in america (cockeys song)/Ennio Morricone -Sun hits the sky - Supergrass -That’s all right mama - Elvis

Hilopittes and peas

Hilopittes are a kind of noodle. They are made with eggs and milk and are usually added to soups. They can be long flat ribbons like fettuccine, or tiny flat squares like the ones I used here. They really are great in soups, especially in tomato soups. But this time I made them with peas and spearmint and they were great. It’s such a simple recipe and so quick.

You’ll need

• 300 gr. Hilopittes or any other small pasta

• 2-3 tbsps olive oil

• 4 spring onions

• 250 gr. peas

• 1 garlic clove

• 1 tbsp spearmint

• 600 ml Vegetable stock

• 50-60 gr pine nuts

• Salt, pepper

• Parmesan for serving

Cook pasta in boiling water. Drain well. Heat 2-3 tbsps olive oil in a large pan, add chopped garlic and chopped spring onions. Stir, add peas and after a couple of minutes, pour the vegetable stock. Cook until peas are done. Add one tbsp. fresh chopped spearmint or dry if fresh isn’t available. Add pine nuts. Stir everything together and season to taste. When the peas are ready and there isn’t much liquid left, stir in the pasta and combine everything together. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and serve.

Eat while listening to: Sweet Pea, my Sweet Pea by Paul Weller

 This is a recipe that combines two or three recipes I found in the New Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas and in the BBC recipes section (sadly, I had done this a long time ago and it seems I have cooked up the exact link). I had bought the Vegetarian Epicure when I was a student and needed to cook for myself, and I remember reading it at night in bed, like a novel. Because Anna Thomas writes so beautifully. All the recipes I have tried from her book are excellent and really really work.

I made this for the magazine and after the shoot, we had some out in the balcony, under the sun. It is a recipe for summer lunches.

For 4-6 servings

For the shortcrust pastry

• 1 ½ cups flour
• ½ -3/4 tsp salt
• 4 oz/115 g cold butter
• 2 ½ fl oz / 70 ml ice water

For the filling

• 2 zucchinis in slices
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 400 gr potatoes, peeled, cooked and in slices
• 350 gr tomatoes in slices
• 100 gr gruyere cheese, grated
• A handful of basil leaves
• 2 eggs
• 200 ml double cream
• 4 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

Sift together flour and salt. Slice butter and drop the slices into the flour. Work the mixture until it resembles big breadcrumbs. Pour the cold water over the flour butter mixture and stir it in very quickly with a fork, until the dough gathers together. Form the dough into a ball, wrap it in foil and chill it for about two hours.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the chilled dough out into a circle about 2 ½ in/62 mm larger than your quiche or flan tin. Roll the circle of dough round the rolling pin and unroll it over the tart tin, centering it as well as possible. Press the sides in against the rim of the tin, pushing the extra dough down, to make an edge slightly thicker than the bottom. Crimp the ridge of dough neatly just above the rim of the tin. Prick the bottom of the shell all over with a fork and chill the shell for 30 minutes.

Line the inside of the shell with aluminium foil and fill it with dried beans or nuts so that the pastry won’t puff up. Bake the shell in a preheated oven at 450 F /230 C for about 8 minutes, then remove the beans and foil and bake for another 5 minutes until the bottom of the shell begins to colour. Allow the shell to cool slightly, then fill the tart shell with the filling.

Heat olive oil in a pan and sauté zucchinis. Layer potatoes, zucchinis and tomatoes in the pastry shell, season between layers and sprinkle with a little gruyere and basil leaves. Repeat, finishing with a layer of tomatoes. Beat together the eggs and cream. Season, stir in the remaining gruyere and half the parmesan. Pour this over the filling and sprinkle with the rest of the parmesan. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until golden and firm. Sprinkle with the remaining basil. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

I made this for my birthday and it was seductive and enticing.

Because it is easy to make, it doesn’t mean it is harmless. When people ask me “is it too fattening?” I simple answer “it doesn’t have any added sugar”. And it really doesn’t. What does it need sugar for? But I have another question: Who HASN’T woken up in the night to eat nutella from a jar? The winner gets a jar of pickled cucumbers.

You’ll need

• 350 gr digestive biscuits

• 200 gr butter

• 200 ml double cream

• 200 gr cheese cream

• 100 gr chocolate with 70% solids, melted (see note on how to melt it)

• 400 gr nutella or other chocolate spread

• Cocoa powder

Crumble the biscuits in a blender, put them in a bowl, add butter, whisk using a mixer until everything comes together. Line a tart mould with the biscuit-butter mixture and pat until it is uniformly spread. Refrigerate for 45 minutes. Put cheese, double cream, nutella, melted chocolate and 2-3 tablespoons of cocoa powder, in a mixer bowl and whisk everything (best with an electric whisk) until smooth. Taste the mixture to see if you want it bitterer. I usually do. The more cocoa powder you add, the bitterer it becomes. Spread it out on the tart shell and put it in the freezer for 30 minutes or until the filling looks solid. You can simply refrigerate it but it’ll take longer. But if you are going to forget it in the fridge, then do refrigerate it! Before you serve, sprinkle with some cocoa powder.

Note: How to melt the chocolate

Place pieces of chocolate in a bowl (not a plastic one). Place the bowl in a pan. Fill pan with water and place on low heat. Allow chocolate to melt and don’t cover. When most of the chocolate has melted, stir until smooth.

You can do it in the microwave oven: Place pieces of chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and microwave at medium power (50 percent) for 1 1/2 to 4 minutes, until the chocolate turns shiny. Remove the container from the microwave and stir the chocolate until completely melted.