Paleochora Recipes

As I write this we are in the middle of carnival weekend. It’s big event here in Greece leading into Lent and is a time for a good deal of celebration. Following the main carnival weekend we have Kathari Deftera or ‘Clean Monday’ which is the official start of lent. On this day there are specific foods that it is traditional to eat and most Greeks head out to a local taverna and order a table load. In fact, for the devout, it will pretty much form their diet until Easter in 40 days time. Lets run through the staples of a Clean Monday menu and find out how to prepare some of these simple dishes.

Lagana. Photo © Jim Stanfield

All food served today will be accompanied by a special bread called Lagana. This was once unleavened but over the years the recipe has started to include a little yeast. It comes in the form of a large rectangle covered in sesame seeds and is most wonderful but very expensive to buy (bakers make a killing on Clean Monday!).

The types of foods eaten on clean Monday are generally vegetable or seafood based. Even the normally ubiquitous feta cheese is absent. Here is a list of what you would typically find on the menu:

Taramasalata (a dip made with cod’s roe), Skordalia (a dip made with garlic and potatoes), marinated octopus, calamari (squid), fava dip, bean salad, and lettuce salad.

There are other dishes, like whitebait, prawns and cuttlefish for example, that may show up here and there as well. But here we will concentrate on the staple dishes.

1.Taramasalata. You will need 100g red salted cod roe, 300g boiled potatoes, 1 cup of olive oil, 1 small onion finely grated and the juice of 2 lemons. Simply mash the fish roe, onion and the potato together and drizzle in the olive oil and lemon juice gradually. Don’t worry if you can’t find the fish roe where you live, you will no doubt find that there are commercially made versions of this salad available to buy.
2.Skordalia. You will need: a head of garlic, 200g boiled potatoes, half a cup of olive oil, a couple of teaspoons of vinegar and a pinch of salt. Mash the garlic first then add the potato and vinegar. Continue mashing to a purée whilst dribbling in the olive oil a bit at a time.
3.Fava Dip. For this you will need 500g fava beans (split red peas), 2 medium onions (1 quartered and 1 finely chopped), half a cup of olive oil, the juice of a lemon and salt & pepper. Wash & boil the fava beans, skimming off any scum that forms on the top. Add the quartered onion, salt & pepper and half of the oil. Continue to simmer until the fava had broken down to a porridge-like consistency. Put the mixture through a food mill of processor to form puree . Sir in the rest of the lemon juice and serve topped with the raw finely chopped onion.
4.Lettuce Salad. Quick & simple. Just finely shred a couple of lettuces and toss with an olive oil and lemon juice dressing (two-thirds oil, one third juice)
5.Bean Salad Another simple one. 500g of dried white beans, soaked and boiled or – better still – 2 cans of white beans drained, 1 medium onion finely chopped, oil & lemon dressing as described in the lettuce salad, a couple of tablespoons of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley and salt. Simply mix the ingredients together in a bowl and add the dressing.
6.Calamari. Cut the squid into rings (use the tentacles too) and dip into milk. Squeeze of excess milk and toss in flour. Shake off excess flour in a sieve and deep fry until golden. Throw on some salt and serve immediately while piping hot with wedges of lemon.

Fried Calamari. Photo by T. Young

7.Marinated Octopus. Not as difficult as it may seem, this one. Firstly, a word about octopi. Don’t fret about trying to find a fresh one in February. 99.99999% of Greeks will use a frozen one. Octopus does not lose any quality through freezing. In fact, many would say that the freezing process helps to tenderise the flesh. Anyway, find a frozen one and, if you can, find one from Morocco as they are the best.

Octopus Salad. Photo by Nadia Arai

Here’s what you will need:  A 1.5 kilo octopus (thawed), 3 cloves of garlic mashed or v. finely chopped, a teaspoon of dried oregano, a cup of olive oil and half a cup of red wine vinegar, a sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper.
Wash the octopus inside and out (it will already be prepared if you buy a frozen one) and put into a large stockpot or saucepan. Many people say do not add water, but I put a just little in the bottom just to protect the pan in the early stages of cooking. You could put a little white wine in if you wish…not much, a couple glugs, that’s all. Then cook the octopus in its own juice over a low heat until it is tender to the point of a knife. Remove the octopus from the water and, when it has cooled, chop it into small pieces. Take all of the other ingredients and put into a jar, put the lid on (do remember this) and shake vigorously. Use this dressing to pour over the octopus. This will keep well for several days in the fridge and tastes much nicer the day after it has been made, once all of the flavours have got to know one another.

Other vegetable dishes would include a shredded white cabbage and carrot salad dressed with oil & lemon, vine leaved stuffed with a rice mixture and horta (boiled mixed wild greens)

For a dessert, Greeks would favour ‘Halva’ a sweet made with semolina and nuts which is available in many different varieties.

Until next time, Kalí Sarrakostí! (or have a good lent).

Tags: recipes, recipe, Greek, Hania, Chania, Food, , Paleochora, Crete

This is a nice recipe for baking fish fillets. Psari Plaki as it could be called. This goes beyond the general recipe that you find cooked here which mainly is fish fillets, potatoes, tomatoes & olive oil.

We used to do something similar at Calypso, using capers, lemon juice and parsley. This looks really good though. I personally would add more tomatoes but there you are.

Tags: Crete, Hania, , recipes, Chania, Paleochora, Food, Greek, recipe

Hi everyone!

This month I have been busy putting together a how-to guide for making sausages at home.  So this will be in lieu of a recipe this month.

You can find the guide here: www.sausages-sausages.com

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Tags: Greek, Chania, recipes, Food, Hania, Paleochora, Crete, , recipe

This month, it’s a really quick, easy recipe. Many Greek dishes take quite a bit of preparation so many people just don’t bother. If you are living a busy life, the thought of getting in from work and creating a moussaka or something puts most off (and I am talking about Greek people too - the younger ones living away from the family home especially).

So heres something that takes just a few minutes to sort out and the oven does the rest while you relax with a glass or three of retsina while watching ‘The Strictly Pro Celebrity Get Me Out Of here I Am A Pop Idol Factor Final‘ on TV.

Roast Lemon Chicken

Quantities will obviously vary according to how many you are cooking for. So you will need;

Some chicken pieces, breasts or leg joints preferably on the bone.

Medium potatoes - allow one per person

Olive oil

Juice of a lemon or two

Dried oregano

Salt & pepper.

After you have put the oven on at 180 centigrade, the first thing to do is peel and chop the potatoes. You can do them like in the photo or in wedges but don’t make them too big and don’t make them too small either. Look at the photo for a guide. Then plonk them in some cold, salted water and bring them to the boil. Then, when the have been boiling for 5 mins, drain them as they should be just par-cooked and not properly cooked through.

While the potatoes were doing their thing on the hob, you will have been sorting out the chicken.

Get a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil. Wash the chicken, pad dry with kitchen towel and place the chicken pieces in the tray with some space between them. Sprinkle with just a pinch of salt & pepper.

Mix the lemon juice with olive oil - in a 1:3 proportion.  So a third lemon juice to 2 thirds olive oil. Add a tablespoon of oregano and salt & pepper and mix thouroughly with a fork so it becomes opaque.

Place the drained potatoes around the chicken and drizzle your oil & lemon mixture over all, chicken and potatoes. You can also throw in the squeezed lemon halves if you wish.

Cover with foil and bake in the oven for an hour and a quarter (if you are using small pieces of chicken or chicken fillets  then this time can be reduced to 50 minutes- 1 hour). Then, take off the foil and cook for a further 15 minutes until the chicken and potatoes have coloured nicely.

There you are! Serve with a side salad or cook some green beans, Greek style, to go with it.

Ah, there’s a thought for next months recipe!

Tags: Chania, Crete, Greek, Hania, recipe, , Food, Paleochora, recipes

I am a big fan of meatballs. They come in so many interesting varieties, from small Swedish ones to huge burgers in the USA. About my favourite, however, are soutsoukakia; the sausage-shaped meatballs found in Greece and, especially, here on Crete.

Here's some I made earlier

Now soutsoukakia recipes are a little like belly-buttons in as much as everyone has got one of their own. To my mind what makes them unique is the addition of mint & cumin but I was surprised recently while chatting with a chef from northern Greece  to hear he would dream of putting mint in them.  The point I’m making is that it has always been my belief that recipes should be guidelines rather than absolutes. If you don’t like mint, put parsley in. Jazz the sauce up with a couple of chillis if  you want, The food police will not come round and arrest you!

Here’s my recipe. As usual, don’t worry too much about the grams. If you want to test the seasoning, fry a small patty and taste it before making all of the meatballs up.

You will need:

For the meatballs;

1kg Lean minced pork

A good tablespoon of salt (or more to your taste)

Half a tablepoon of ground cumin

A handful of chopped fresh mint

Juice of a lemon

Teaspoon or black pepper

1 Very finely chopped onion

2 or 3 Cloves of garlic, very finely chopped

A couple of handfuls of fine white breadcrumbs (fresh or manufactured)

Ok The fun bit: Roll up your sleeves and get in there mixing it together completely. It’s great to get your hands on your food (clean them first) to feel the textures and get the aromas as you squeeze all of the ingredients into each other.  It’s also important as you are checking the texture of the meatballs. Too ‘wet’ and they will dissolve in the pan, too ‘dry’ and they will crack and fall apart when baked.  You are after a moist but sticky consistency. Adjust by adding either a drop more lemon juice or some more breadcrumbs.

Before making up all the meatballs, make a small ‘burger’ and fry it up to check the seasoning is as you want it.

Then start to roll into balls a tad larger than a golf ball. When you have done this roll the ball between your hands to create a shortened, fat sausage shape. When you have done this heat some olive oil in a non-stick frying pan or skillet. roll the meatballs in a little flour and knock off excess then add to the oil and brown them. When they are browned, put them into a baking tray.

Time to put the oven on at 170 degrees celcius.

Now the sauce:

1 Onion chopped

Couple cloves of garlic, chopped

A handful of chopped flatleaf parsley

2 x 800g Tins chopped tomatoes

Eh..that’s it. Apart from a pinch of salt and a glug or two of olive oil.

Slowly saute the onion & garlic in the oil until just translucent. Add the parsley, fry for a couple more minutes, then add the tomatoes. Simmer for about 15 minutes, adding a bit of water if its too dry.

Pour the sauce over the meatballs, cover with foil and chuck it in the oven for an hour.

Phew. Time for a glass of wine or a cold beer. This will make enough for quite a few portions. As its a bit of a clat, why not cook double and freeze some for future suppers?

Serve them with rice or roast some potato wedges with oregano in some olive oil  in the oven. Mmmm. Now I’m hungry!

Tags: Paleochora, Greek, recipe, , Chania, Hania, Crete, recipes, Food

This month it’s the veggies’ turn for a recipe! Chania Boureki, essentially a potato, courgette & cheese pie, is a wonderful vegetarian dish which, if a taverna has it on offer, I find it hard to resist. Sadly, again, too few tavernas in Paleochora seem to make it on a regular basis probably as it takes a bit of time & effort to do properly but the time and effort are amply rewarded.

This is our recipe which doesn’t vary much from ‘traditional’ recipes I have seen latterly (as usual, I dissected the tastes with jenny and we made it up from there). I do confess to nicking the photo below (which I have given appropriate credits for) from a recipe book simply as I forgot to take my own photo the last time I made the dish. If anyone has a problem, I will remove the photo and add my own later.

Boureki. Photo Copyright: Icons Editions, Chania

Anyway. To business.

Before I get into the list of ingredients, you will need some pastry. I have added a traditional Greek simple pastry recipe here (without the shot of raki or red wine which many ask for) which you can use. The other options are 1) use your own pastry recipe 2) Ask your mum 3) Ask Google or 4) Save time and buy some ready-rolled frozen pastry for pies and tarts.

I use a deep rectangular baking tray internal dimensions 30cm x 22cm which gives 6 good portions. NOTE: When I make these dishes, I never really measure anything properly so how many potatoes/courgettes do I use? Difficult question as I never counted, so please don’t be cross with me if you are a potato or a bit of pastry spare at the end You could always make some kalitsounia with the pastry or even freeze it.

Pastry:

1kg All purpose flour

1 Tsp. Salt

2 Tbsp. Olive Oil

Water – add a bit at a time just enough so the dough doesn’t stick to you hands while kneading it.

Mix the ingredients and knead together until it becomes elastic and leave for 1 -2 hours covered with a clean damp tea towel.

The Pie filling.

5 or so medium sizes potatoes.

8 or so medium sized courgettes.

A handful of fresh mint finely chopped

500g of mizithra (soft Greek) cheese (250g Feta and 250g of Ricotta if you can’t get mizithra)

250g. Finely grated parmesan cheese (or kefalotiri if you can find it)

150ml Olive oil

3 eggs,

200ml Fresh milk

Salt & pepper

Sesame seeds

1kg Dried beans for blind baking

Baking paper

So….First the pastry. Roll two pieces a bit larger than the baking tray and about 5mm or less thick. Put the first piece of pastry into the baking tray which you will have already lightly oiled. Pick the pastry with a fork and then place some baking paper on top and put the beans in, spreading them evenly around

Place in the oven preheated to about 170 C for around 15 minutes. Take out, discard the paper & beans and put to one side.

Slice the potato and courgettes into 5mm thick slices. Place in a pan of boiling, salted water and blanch for 5 or 6 mins. then drain. The potato wants to be almost but not quite fully cooked.

Next place the potatoes, courgettes and mizithra cheese in layers on the pastry in the baking tray, adding a sprinkling of mint, parmesan, salt & pepper on each layer. When the pie is full, drizzle some olive oil over the layers then beat 2 of the eggs and add them to the milk and pour this mixture into the pie evenly too.

Then add the second piece of pastry as a lid. Trim it, brush it with the last beaten egg and sprinkle with loads of sesame seeds. Its a good idea now to score the pastry lid into the desired amount of portions.

Then put it back into the oven for 20 - 30 minutes or so or until the top is golden brown (keep checking it)

Carnivore’s option: If you just can’t bring yourself to eat a veggie dish (even one a lovely as this one) try this: Whisk together the juice of a lemon, some olive oil, oregano, chopped mint and a pinch of salt. Bash out 4 chicken breast fillets with your fist and marinate them for 10 mins in that marinade. Heat a ridged grill pan and grill them until done. Cut them up into strips and add as an extra layer or two n the boureki. Mmmmm….Grilled Chicken Boureki!

.

Tags: Chania, Food, , Hania, recipes, recipe, Paleochora, Greek, Crete

Here’s another Cretan classic which is often murdered in tavernas which cook it first thing in the morning and leave it the whole day in a warmed cabinet. For that reason it’s a dish best to eat at luchtime if you find it.

Yum

I have steered away slightly from absolute traditional in a couple of ways - but you will thank me.  The first is that the recipe popularly uses lambs’ heads, whereas I recommend either shoulder or boned leg. The other I will alert you to at the end.

So you will need:

About 1200g of Lamb shoulder or leg, cut into large pieces.

3 or 4  Ripe tomatoes skinned and roughly chopped (not too small)

A large onion finely chopped

2 or 3 Cloves of garlic finely chopped

500g Rice pasta (kritharaki)

A couple of bay leaves

A spig of rosemary

100ml. Good quality olive oil

500ml water

Salt & pepper

First score the tomatoes and put them in boiling water. While they are resting ready for peeling,  heat a heavy based frying pan with a little drizzle of olive oil and seal the lamb, adding the sprig of rosemary. Preheat the oven to 200 c.

Tip the sealed lamb into an oven tray with the juices. Add the 100ml olive oil, the bay leaves, the chopped onion,  the garlic, half a glass of water, salt & pepper. Skin the tomatoes, roughly chop them and add them to the oven dish too.

Cover this with foil and chuck it into the oven for about one and a half hours. Sit down and have a glass or two of wine.

Then add the 500ml of water and the 500g of rice pasta, stir the dish around cover and put back in the oven for 20 minutes.

Then uncover and check that the pasta is cooked. If it needs a little extra water add it now, cover again and cook a further few minutes. If it’s OK, uncover and put in the oven for a further 2 or 3 minutes to colour the top of the meat.

There you have it. Forget ‘al dente’. The pasta will seem over-cooked in a classic pasta sense but that is intentional and adds to the charm of this dish.

Oh, yes….to be completely traditional, leave out the onion, garlic, rosemary and bay leaves. But also you will be leaving out a lot of the taste.

Next recipe…a veggie one…promise!

Kali orexi

Tags: Chania, Hania, Greek, Paleochora, Food, , recipe, Crete, recipes

Here is a local Greek/Cretan dish which, sadly,  you do not often find in many tavernas. I really don’t know why as its very simple to cook and really quite delicious.

Pork & Celery

As with all Greek dishes, everybody has their own recipe passed down from one generation to the next so none of our recipes shared here could be called definitive.  Also, tradition has to be made so feel free to change/add/evolve the recipe and post your results as comments.

For this dish for 4 people you will need the following:

• 1kg. Lean pork
• 1kg  Leaf celery (this is the thin-stemmed, very green leaved celery)
• 1 Onion
• 3 Cloves garlic
• Couple tablespoons of flour
• About 500ml dry white wine
• A few glugs of olive oil
• salt & pepper

First, cut the roots off the celery and discard. Put the stalk & leaves into a sink full of cold water keeping all of the leaves on - everything.

Next, finely chop your large onion and very finely chop your garlic. Slowly sauté these in olive oil in a large saucepan.

Cut your pork into generous cubes of about 4 or 5 cm. Add it to the saucepan, turning the heat up a little to seal it. Careful not to burn the onions & garlic!

When the meat has sealed, sprinkle your flour over and stir into a claggy roux. Then, slowly pour in the white wine, stirring to avoid any lumps forming. The sauce should not be too thick by the time you have finished this.

Turn the heat right down, add some salt & pepper and let it slowly cook, stirring occasionally.

Time to wash all of the dirt from the celery and chop it into 3 or 4 cm lengths, leaves and all. Blanche the chopped celery in boiling, salted water for about 10 - 15 minutes so that the leaves are well wilted and the stalks softened.  Drain the celery, retaining the water it was cooked in.

Final step…Add the cooked celery to the pork & sauce and stir it in. If the mixture becomes too dry, add some of the celery water (you may need to do this again so keep the water for now)

This should then be cooked very slowly on the hob for as long as it takes for the pork to really tender. Maybe an hour or 2. Keep stirring every so often and adding some celery water to keep the dish from becoming too dry when necessary. Adjust the seasoning when the dish is cooked.

This can be kept in the fridge for a couple of days and freezes OK too.

Tip: If you end up with a lot of celery in the saucepan after serving, keep hold of it.  Having been cooked with the meat & the wine, its delicious. Tomorrow, add water or stock and blender it into a soup or use it as a ‘pesto’ on some penne pasta.

Tags: recipes, Hania, Paleochora, recipe, , Food, Chania, Greek, Crete