Seeing that it’s Easter I’ve been painting eggs. However, before painting them I need to boil a whole lot of them without them breaking.
Here’s the trick.
Boil a lot of eggs without breaking them
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Category Archives: PHOTO RECIPES
Greek Christmas Honey Cakes | Melomakarona
So this is one of those Greek words that means you will probably end up with tongue injury: Melomakarona
The word should not concern you however – just call them Christmas Honey Cakes or some such. The taste is a LOT more important.
Basically, unless there are melomakarona or kourabiedes (don’t ask) somewhere about the house, it’s probably not Christmas.
The recipe is by Katerina and I did a video of it – I know, it’s all Greek to you. I’ve translated the recipe below and added some comments that should help you out. Do try making them – they are absolutely divine and go down a treat with tea or some Greek/ Turkish coffee.
Chocolate truffles by Daphne
Daphne (deadendmind) sent me a step by step photo recipe for yummy chocolate truffles.
Here’s a note on culture. When it’s our name day or our birthday we traditionally do a kerasma in Greece. It means to offer a bit of food or dessert at work or to friends and family to celebrate. So this is Daphne’s favourite kerasma recipe.
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When we are celebrating or its our birthday we usually offer some dessert to colleagues. However, in the middle of the economic crises this can be a bit of drain on resources, especially if one wants to offer nibbles to 30 people. What could be better than just making something yourself? However, we are not all be professionals nor have a lot of time. So, here is an easy recipe which yields a lot of chocolate pieces and everyone likes!
A recipe for Greek wild greens and pics from my mum’s garden
These days my sister and I are at my mum’s and my stepdad’s house in Atalanti Greece. You can imagine the mayhem.
On Friday we had amazing weather so we went out in the garden to gather wild greens. They are called χόρτα (chorta – wild greens) in Greek and we gather them from gardens and fields. I imagine that in an English garden some of those yummy wonders are killed off as weeds. They are boiled and then served hot or cold with olive oil and lemon. They go amazingly well with fish, but I love them any old way.
Magiritsa – the Greek Easter soup with intestines
Greek Orthodox Easter is near and I thought I should write about Magiritsa (aka Magheritsa, Mageiritsa, Mayeritsa, Mayiritsa), the soup we eat after midnight, after the Resurrection.
This is the tradional Greek recipe so it has intestines (Sofia wrote an explanatory post as this might seem a bit yucky). However, if you can’t get intestines where you are (or if you just find them disgusting) just omit them.
Purple sprouting broccoli with sesame and honey
Since we started getting an organic fruit and veg box delivery each week I have been trying out all sorts of new things. It’s so exciting to be getting vegetables every week that you’ve never tried. It makes you look for information, learn and do new stuff. Sort of brilliant.
Especially since we are going through Lent (and the Greek version is a bit weird as I was saying the other day) it’s great to be doing different things with veggies.
Lagana bread recipe for Clean Monday
Lent for the Greek Orhodox people starts on a Monday. Much neater that way, don’t you think?
I already posted the other day on Tsiknopempti, our BBQ Thursday. Then there is the Sunday of Apokreo – very similar to Halloween, but probably a bit more Dionysian in nature – when we dress up, eat, drink, dance and generally go a bit crazy.
The next day is Clean Monday, the start of the Great Lent, 40 days of no animal products whatsoever. Supposedly. Most Greeks don’t fast during Lent anymore. However, I’ve heard it’s quite good for detox to abstain from animal products now and again.
Saffron squash & carrot soup with youvarlakia (tiny meatballs)
There is something about London in November that just makes me ache for hearty soups and curling up on the sofa with thick socks. It’s not so much the cold – it gets worse over December and January. It is all about the sharp smell of the cold to come in the air. Sort of like the promise of winter right around the corner.
I was looking for something seasonal to do this week and I stumbled upon some lovely ambercup squash the other day. They look so lovely, don’t they? Small, round, tough, they are like a toy vegetable I think. In the past I never cooked with squash and pumpkin, for some reason my family is not very big on them. My mum has now started growing them in her garden, too late for me as I have flown the nest and my memories of what we eat “at home” are pretty much set. So using squash and pumpkin is very much a London thing for me.
How to make the Dukan galette
It seems that the Dukan diet is sweeping the whole world , not just the nation (please get the media to stop with Carole Middleton and how she got her figure!). It does have some weird and interesting recipes (mainly with oat bran admittedly) and I mentioned that I wanted to make the muffins on our Facebook page. However, the Greek friends on there shouted out in despair about the galette. It seems people find it impossible!
All the chums on facebook (and twitter) are saying that this galette comes out horrible, gets stuck, it’s really hard. So, did my research and here I am with my photos.
A taste of the US of A: Burger and home-made buns
Dear children, I know I’ve been truant and do not write often, but I’m back now that the temperature will drop and it is again time for meats, sausages, etc.
Today’s culinary hell, takes us to the much berated US of A, and its capitalist burgers. Most people love a burger, but unfortunately it’s irrevocably connected in their mind with the disgusting plastic versions in the fast food joints or even the less disgusting plastic versions of more upmarket burger places. For the latter I will admit that they serve burgers more reminiscent of normal meat than the type served in the haunts of alienated youths the world over.
Peppery marmalade (or maybe chutney) by Athena
It was a hot afternoon in August. Athena (@athensbynite) mentioned on twitter that she was eating some toast with cheese and red pepper marmalade. Or chutney. Or whatever. Read on and decide.
Opa, I thought. Is there a recipe like that and I don’t know it? What the hell? I asked Athena and hey presto she sent me the recipe in 3 tweets all together. It’s that easy!
The proof is right here. I made the marmalade, I tried it, I loved it.
Bachelor’s Tortellini
Today a nice little step by step recipe that single people up and down the country will love. It is one of those easy but impressive recipes.
Making kokkinisto (Greek beef stew) in a pressure cooker
Kokkinisto literally means ‘reddened‘ in Greek. It’s basically a stew which you can make with all sorts of meat – even though each cut and animal have their littler secrets. It’s a bit different than your normal stew – it comes up with a spicy and cinnamon-y taste. Come to think of it that’s very common in my kitchen.
Anyway. Kokkinisto was the first recipe I really wanted to learn and it took quite a while. I’ve had to get rid of whole pots crying (even though it was better than what I had to deal with when I was learning to bake a cake).
Easy green salad with shrimps and sour dressing
This is an easy salad that I kinda created during dieting times (it’s all the cakes, you see, they add up)
INGREDIENTS:
For the salad:
- Green bits (anything you like but I prefer various types of lettuce)
- 2 medium sized tomatoes
- 3-4 medium sized mushrooms
- Shrimps (this is an easy salad so ready-to-eat shrimps. I hear they are anathema to the foodies but hey ho)
You can also add anything else you like – e.g. cubed courgette, fresh peppers etc.
For the dressing:
This is an amazing dressing a la Auntie Sofia. It is GREAT with chicken or sausages where you just bathe the meat in it and then cook it. It’s also really nice for a salad.
- Olive oil
- Mustard (same amount as olive oil)
- Lemon juice (same amount as olive oil)
- Pinch of salt
- Oregano
METHOD:
Chop up all the ingredients. Actually it’s better if you just tear the green leaves with your hands. It saves time and looks better.
Use your green leaves as a basis and then add the tomato.
Add your mushrooms. If you don’t enjoy them raw (I do), just place them in a pan with a tiny bit of water and brown them a bit.
Add all the rest of your salad ingredients.
In a big glass add all the ingredients for the dressing and shake em (use a foamer if you’ve got it or just a little handheld mixer).
That’s it!
Lamb chops and machine bread by Giannis
Here is the first food material from one of the Digital Scullery friends, Giannis Sklavos who know all about good bread and good BBQs.
For the bread:
- 400ml water
- 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil
- pinch of salt
- 2-3 grams of fast action yeast
- 150 grams of brown flour
- 450 grams strong white flour
put all of them in your bread machine and let it work its magic.
For the lamb chops:
- Here is a traditional wood oven, burning with olive tree wood.
- Lamb chops (try to get lamb chops from a young lamb)
- salt – pepper – oregano – lemon
use a fork only to cook them – you should only be eating them using your hands.
- red wine
- good friends
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Photos: All photos are by Giannis Sklavos