The team in Atalanti, Greece, went about finding out what actually does happen nowadays to get wine juice. This is effectively the process before one starts wine making. A lot of people in Greece with their own grapes will just take them to a patitiri (the place where the grapes are literally ‘stepped on’) to get wine juice. They then take the wine juice and make their own wine at home.

We made a little video in Greek (see below) but here are the pics too.

Our friend Giorgos with his grapes. Once a year he gathers friends to do the vine harvest. Everyone helps out and there is a little barbecue afterwards to celebrate.

Giorgos with my step-sister Elina who helped out with the harvest (and obviously the Digital Scullery pics and video) this year.

Grapes ready to transfer.

The grapes waiting at the patitiri to be put through the process.

Vassilis puts the grapes in this nifty little machine. It separates the grapes from the stalks and slightly crushes them.

The leftovers.

The lightly crushed grapes are sucked and transferred to another machine.

This machine has a giant wheel that crushes the grapes further. The juice accumulates in this drawer below.

The wine juice is then transferred in huge vats, ready to be processed further.

Here is Vassilis filling a vat with red juice (I bet loads of people would like to stick their mouth there eh?)

From then on people either just grab the juice to make their own wine (or use in all sorts of recipes) or the juice is used in wine making at the patitiri.

Who knew?

Daphne

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!

I made these chocolate truffles for the third year in a row to just give a kerasma to my colleagues for my brithday. The great thing about the recipe is that I can do one part one day and the next the next day.

I found the original recipe on TasteFULL (leads to Greek post) and just changed it a bit.

Let’s get a move on:

You’ll need

• 250gr. dark chocolate (sweet rather than bitter)
• 100 ml single cream (and a bit more if you omit the alcohol)
• 25gr. butter
• 40ml. of alcohol you like or a bit of coffee for the smell
• cocoa powder for after (even better if it’s fair trade)

Method:

Chop the chocolate into pieces and put in a bain-marie to make the process faster. While the chocolate is being heated up, put the cream in another saucepan to warm it up too.

A heartbeat before the cream boils take it off the heat and pour over the chocolate.

Stir gently. Initially it will look wrong but keep on stirring until the chocolate if fully incorporated. You’ll see that the mixture will become lovely.

Now it’s time to throw in the butter. Stir, stir, stir until it’s all incorporated. Add your flavour (alcohol or coffee) and take off the heat.

If everything was done right (it will have been, it’s super easy) your mixture is going to be shiny. This is the part where you can add anything you want like dried fruit.

After, you can just let it set in the bowl, then take a bit and create little chocolate bowls. I did this the first time around and it takes forever. Also if it’s a bit warm the mixture melts. So here’s the easy way to do it.

Grab a little tray and cover it with some cling film. Leave the mixture aside for a while so that it is not really warm and then pour it in the tray. Spread it with a spatula so that it is even, cover with some cling film and put it in the fridge. Leave it of 2 hours at least or overnight. The mixture has to be hard enough to work by hand.

Final hurdle!
Take the tray out of the fridge and turn over on some non stick paper. It will have the tray shape so your chocolate truffles will be rectangular.

Put some cocoa powder in a bowl. Grab a big knife, wear some gloves if you want to avoid getting chocolate all over your hands.

Cut the chocolate in to strips and then into little rectangular pieces and put them in the bowl with the cocoa. Not all together, some at a time. Move then around a bit so that they are fully covered by cocoa.

That’s it! They are really tasty, they have a velvety texture and a slight bitterness from the cocoa coating. Depending on the pan you use you will end up with more or less, thinner or thicker, but more or less around 30 pieces. This is a recipe that you can vary and experiment with a lot so you can change it according to what you like.

Not a lot of time required, not a lot of money and you have a handmade kerasma (which I always consider best)

Good luck!

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WHO COOKED:
Daphne(deadendmind)
posterous * twitter

When I got the e-mail for a moussaka making experience from the lovely Megan I thought exactly that. However, I’m always learning so I really wanted to see this staple of the Greek family table done from a professional chef. Secondly, I had completely stopped going to The Real Greek three years ago so I was super curious.

So, this is the story about how I changed my mind and a few handy notes on moussaka.

Moussaka can be considered the Greek lasagne even though that does not do it justice. It is a layered bake effectively with Bechamel sauce, mince meat, potatoes and aubergines. It is exceedingly yummy and definitely a Sunday dish because it takes a while to prepare.

On Wednesday evening I made my way to the open kitchen at the Westfield Stratford Great Eastern Market. The lovely Megan and Tom were there, with chef Alan (he rocks), Christos who is the Head of Operations at The Real Greek (and gracious host) and Monika (so efficient and polite). On the bloggers’ front I met Fiona (of London Unattached) and Giulia  (of Mondo Mulia).

We watched (OK, we helped a bit and asked a thousand questions) as chef Alan made moussaka, a beetroot salad (super yummy) and tarama salad (which I don’t eat but my partner simply loves so that’s going to come in handy).

Just before we started I couldn’t keep my big mouth shut – classic Greek gal  that I am – and politely (I hope) told Christos that I had stopped visiting or recommending The Real Greek as I was so disappointed with their souvlaki. What I had tasted – more than once – was not souvlaki nor real Greek for that matter. Smiling his nice smile he just took us for dinner at The Real Greek upstairs after the cooking workshop and we tasted some of the meze and various types of souvlaki.  (BTW there are a number of restaurants and coffee shops in Westfield Stratford - check em out. I particularly like The Grind, their coffee is really good)

Right. If you had been disappointed by The Real Greek in the past – I was, big time - I would recommend giving them another try now. You know I’m not a food snob and if I wasn’t sincere I wouldn’t be writing this post. So, you may like to drop in again. Christos joined the company lately and brought his experience from Greek restaurants. Not only that but he also brought his dad (oh yeah) who has been cooking Greek professionally all this life to work with chef Alan and his team to improve the menu. And improve it they did.

The meze are lovely. They serve a mean tzatziki, very authentic, and a Htipiti with a kick. It’s rare to find those two made in a way that a Greek likes them but like them I did. They also serve Gigantes (butter beans in tomato sauce) the right way (that is, COLD, thank you very much). I would have liked the melitzanosalata a bit more smoked but the texture is right, chunky, not yucky smooth paste.

The revelation of course is their souvlaki. They have completely changed the way they make it, from the pitta (the real Greek pitta, not that abomination marked “Greek pitta” in super markets), the filling and the meat. I had the pork souvlaki and it was good. No more huge chunks of dry pork. Just tender meat with the right amount of fat. Ask them how they make it. If you’re Greek you’ll find the idea a bit weird so I’m not sharing. Try it first, ask them after.

Christos’ philosophy is “simple food, done the traditional Greek way“. And that philosophy has permeated the new menu and new way of doing things apparently.

Case in point, their moussaka recipe. I don’t know who spread the rumor that Greeks use minced lamb but we don’t. We just don’t. Lamb is for roasting whole (remember the Greek Easter post?) or for the oven. It’s not for mincing and spreading over your moussaka. It makes the dish incredibly smelly. So you can imagine that I was watching chef Alan like a hawk (poor man). When he said the magic words (“mince beef”) I knew the moussaka would be good.

He also gave some excellent pointers on the bechamel sauce. It took me YEARS to do a good bechamel sauce for moussaka and pastitsio (another lasagne-like dish). I’ve found that one of the key tricks is that you should never EVER stop stirring. Chef Alan must be exceedingly strong as he kept it up with a huge quantity of bechamel. Well done that man.

Another good trick is that you add the eggs in the bechamel after you’ve left it to cool somewhat. I’ve been doing it wrong for years – which shows you how little we think about recipes we’ve learned in our family kitchen.

He also sprinkles a little bit of cinnamon over the bechamel sauce which I found a bit weird. Don’t get me wrong I ate my portion and it was lovely but I’m unaccustomed to cinnamon on moussaka – even though I use it liberally in my cooking. I usually sprinkle some Parmesan cheese over mine but he said that effectively that overpowers the bechamel. He might be right.

All in all I’m chalking this one up as a #win. I loved the pointers on moussaka (you can never stop learning) and I am glad I had to re-think my opinion of The Real Greek.

Oh, by the way. For any Greeks in London (I know your pain) apparently they have FRAPPE on the menu. (Stampede ensues). Check out the frappe video recipe if you don’t know what I’m talking about.

Without further ado, here is The Real Greek moussaka recipe.  I’ll try and do a video in English at some point in the future.

More pics (and my customary disclosure statement) below the recipe.

The Real Greek moussaka recipe

Ingredients:

• 1.5kg mince beef
• 500ml extra virgin olive oil (veg or rapeseed oil is an option they say but I disagree. ALWAYS go for extra virgin olive oil)
• 1kg peeled potatoes (maris piper – half inch slices) (chef’s tip: Other types of potatoes are too floury for this dish)
• 1.7kg aubergines (half inch slices)
• 15g tomato puree
• 80ml red wine
• 2g cloves (remove after mince mix is ready)
• 8g cinnamon (half in mince mix half at the end)
• 400g plum tomatoes (tinned or fresh)
• 350g red onion (chopped)
• 15g Salt
• 5g Ground black pepper

Method:

For the moussaka:

1. In a medium sized saucepan add 50mls of your oil and fry off your red onion on medium heat until soft.
2. Then add your beef mince and mix until mince becomes brown.
3. Then add your tomato puree, tinned tomato, red wine cloves and cinnamon and mix well.
4. Let this cook dawn for 45 mins then add salt pepper and leave to the side to cool.
5. In a larger saucepan add the rest of your oil and bring to medium to high heat.
6. Add your potatoes to the oil and fry until golden brown or soft and fluffy in the middle.
7. When this is done place onto a clean cloth or kitchen roll to remove excess oil.
8. Follow the same procedure as potatoes but aubergine will only take 10mins to fry. It is important to remember that your potatoes and aubergine are covered with the oil.

For the Bechamel sauce:

1. Meanwhile in another saucepan add 2 litrs of milk and heat until warm.
2. Take another pan and add 250g of butter on a low heat until all butter is melted.
3. When all the butter is melted add 250g plain flour and mix together over a medium to low heat
4. You should end up with a golden sandy textured mixture.
5. To this mixture start to slowly adding your warm milk, ladel by ladel, mixing with a spoon or use a whisk if you prefer.
6. When the milk is finished, keep whisking, and let it cook out for about 10 mins.
7. Remove from heat and leave to cool for 15 mins
8. Add 2 whole eggs to your finished béchamel sauce and whisk in.

Finish the moussaka:

1. In a medium sized oven dish lay out your potatoes followed by a layer of aubergine followed by a layer of all your mince, then add 1 more layer of aubergine.
2. To finish pour your béchamel over the top and spread evenly, sprinkle the remaining cinnamon on top of your béchamel.
3. To cook place in oven middle shelf and cook for 45 mins @160 degrees.

Christos, the really gracious host

Chef Alan and Monika

Chef Alan, Giulia and myself being a bit cheeky with the chef

Giving the souvlaki a try

Making the sauce

Yummy beetroot salad

Proper Greek pitta

Great kaimaki ice cream (try it. if you only try one thing, this should be it)

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Full disclosure: This was an event I was invited to. This is not a paid-for post but the workshop and dinner were free. The agency and the restaurant had no prior view of the post.  

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.

I would advise you NOT to go around gardens and fields looking for wild greens (you never know). However, you may find them in Turkish, Cypriot or Green shops. Ask for the sweet variety as the bitter variety is really bitter.

I’ve got the recipe below and some pics from the garden. From what I hear about the weather in London I hope that the photographs will be a breath of fresh air.

Wild greens the Greek way

Ingredients:

• 1 to 1 1/2 kilo of sweet wild greens
• extra virgin olive oil
• juice of one lemon
• salt

Method:

(see pics of the greens and my mum’s garden below)

1. Cut off the tough stems
2. Wash the greens really well, at least thrice. For the fourth time fill your tub with cold water, add a splash of vinegar and leave the greens in there for about 15 minutes. Wash them well once again.
3. Boil water in a large pan
4. When it comes to the boil put in your greens and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes
5. Empty the greens in cold water (this is to help them stay green in stead of going black) and then empty the water.
6. Serve in aplate pouring on top olive oil, lemon and salt
7. Mix well and eat

Mama Despoina gathering the greens

Cutting off the tought stems

Mama Despoina and my sister Theodora

My step dad Alexandros in his green house

A bit of background. By far the most commonly known pie in Greece is the feta pie. I think spinach pie would come second. This thing that the British do with meat pies, kidney pies and the like is incredibly shocking let me tell you. For the Greeks the savoury and traditional pie will have feta, spinach or both. Sure we do ZILLIONS of pies but these are the most common. Anyhow we do the feta pie with filo, or with what we call village pastry or in all sorts of ways. However, the way that I am writing about today is new and amazingly yummy.

The feta pie in a cake tin is a recipe that Mrs. Eleni of Atalanti, Greece created after having seen something similar from some nieces of hers. She saw it, tasted it, changed it, added a bit of her magic and voila! It’s the most amazing pie for kids to make as well, they will surely have loads of fund with turning the filo into hand-held fans. The result is an incredibly impressive feta pie in a cake tin, bouncy, soft and yummy.

There is a video on the Greek side of the blog and at the end of that (about here) Mrs. Eleni sings a Greek folk song called Σ’αγαπώ γιατί είσαι ωραία (S’agapo giati ise orea – I love you because you are beautiful). It’s a really lovely lovely song and she sang it for all the people who are living abroad, with all her love.

Σ’ αγαπώ, σ’ αγαπώ γιατί είσαι ωραία, σ’ αγαπώ γιατί είσαι ωραία, σ’ αγαπώ γιατί είσαι εσύ

Αγαπώ, αγαπώ κι όλο τον κόσμο, αγαπώ κι όλο τον κόσμο, γιατί ζεις κι εσύ μαζί

S’agapo, s’agapo giati ise orea, s’agapo giati ise orea, s’agapo giati ise esi

Agapo, agapo ki olo ton kosmo, agapo ki olo ton kosmo, giati zis ki esi mazi

I love you, I love you because you are beautiful, I love you because you are beautiful, I love you because you are you

I love, I love everyone too, I love everyone too, because you live with them

Isn’t she something?

Without further ado, here goes the photo recipe for those who are not into trying to suss out what all the Greek yammering is all about.

Feta pie in a cake tin by Mrs. Eleni

Ingredients:

• 10 filo pastry sheets (one box usually has 10)
• 200 grams. feta cheese cubed or just crushed between your fingers
• 200 grams  soft anthotyros (OK, you may not find this abroad. Any soft, unsalted white cheese will do. Try mozzarella, it’s what I use in the UK)
• 2 bell peppers cut in little squares
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1/2 glass of fine semolina
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 glass of milk
• 1/2 glass of olive oil (as always, insist on extra virgin olive oil)
• 1/2 glass of white wine (any will do, don’t be fussy)
• 1/2 glass of soda water
• a bit of butter for your cake tin

Method:

(see below for all the method photographs)

1. Put the feta, anthotyros (or other white cheese) and the peppers in a bowl. Mix together.
2. In another bowl mix the baking powder with the semolina and then mix the the cheeses and peppers.
3. Grease your cake tin.
4. Grab one sheet of filo pastry. Don’t butter it or oil it or anything. Use as it. Spread some of yoru cheese mixture on is, quite thinly (see the photographs below)
5. Gather up the filo in a little hand held fan shape (again look at the photographs)
6. Place carefully in your cake tin. TIP: Don’t bash it. Gently place
7. Repeat until you’ve used all ten of your filo sheets. Place them one on one side and one on the other.
8. Preheat your over between 180 to 200 Celsius (go for lower if you oven is a pit from Hell)
9. Mix the eggs and then add the milk, olive oil and club soda. Mix again and with a ladle fill the cake tin. It looks a lot but do it slowly and the filo will drinks all of this lovely liquid.
10. Bang it in the oven, close the oven door and make the sign of the cross (Mrs. Eleni insists that you have to do this to get a great pie and I’m not going to risk messing up the recipe so there). Leave it in there for half an hour. Check it early and cover loosely with a fit of tin foil if you think it might burn. It’s ready when it’s not stuck to the sides.

Enjoy!

So, now that we are left with the brave folks here goes the story.

Mama Despoina (also my mum – she simply rocks) blogged the recipe for Magiritsa the other day, the Greek traditional soup eaten after the Resurrection. It’s incredibly yummy even though I know it sounds weird.

The other day I also described the Greek Orthodox Lent and you will remember that traditionally we go without any animal products for a bit more than 40 days. However, on Easter Sunday we actually roast a whole lamb. Here is an adequately scary picture to illustrate the point.

So here’s what leads up to the Magiritsa.

All through the last week of Lent – called the Great Week – the fasting becomes even more oppressive for those who choose to fast that way (no olive oil! seriously, for a Greek that’s like no water). These are great big Church going days, traditionally very loved by Greeks (the Byzantine hymns are lovely).

Great Saturday is the day of the Resurrection of Christ. We go to church around 10 at night and at about midnight the priests will utter the Χριστός Ανέστη (Christos Anesti – Christ has risen).

Χριστός ανέστη εκ νεκρών, θανάτω θάνατον πατήσας, και τοις εν τοις μνήμασι ζωήν χαρισάμενος.

Christos Anesti ek nekron, thanato thanaton patisas, kai tis en tis mnimasi zoin harisamenos.

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by his death, and to those in the tombs, granted life.

Here’s the hymn, I dare you not to get goosebumps.

After this the idea is that you stay put for the rest of the liturgy which goes on until the wee hours of the morning. Fat chance of that of course, especially in Greece. There’s fireworks aplenty and you’ll see people exchanging kisses and wishes (quite loudly). And then there is the great stampede to get to the Resurrection spread back home. Ahem. Yes, we do eat after midnight, I am aware of that.

On a typical Greek Resurrection table you’ll find painted eggs, tsoureki (a sweet bread reminiscent of cholla), cheese and the Magiritsa soup.

Especially if you’ve read the Magiritsa recipe you’ll see that stuff on that table are little bits of food that you were not allowed to eat for the last 40 days (at least). There’s eggs, cheese, liver and all that jazz.

I wish I had thought to ask a nutritionist but I think you could say that a soup with liver and intestines is a light enough meal for after midnight (for a Greek) and it can ease you back into meat-eating. Because the next day its time for the utter debauchery of the roast lamb.

However, there is a practical explanation and I subscribe to this one a lot more. A lamb has offal you can’t roast over an open fire, i.e. all of its inside bits. In the tough times of the past I think it would have been unimaginable to slaughter an animal and not to eat all  of it. Additionally, the liver, heart, lung and intestines are the ones that will go bad sooner than the rest. So, you stick it in a soup.

Nowadays of course lots of people don’t like the intestines in their soup, so we leave it out. I actually love them so I truly enjoy it when I’m back in Greece for Easter and can have my Magiritsa there. Needless to say, while in London there is no chance of getting intestines. I think the butcher would probably banish me if I asked for them.

My London Magiritsa has lamb’s liver, heart and pig’s kidney. Still unbelievably yummy. Just follow Mama Despoina’s recipe and use what I use or any offal you like (lamb works best of course for an authentic taste).  Give it a try.

Here are a few pics of my London Magiritsa. Enjoy.

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.

The secret with getting a good magiritsa soup is to do it slowly. The avgolemono process (explained below) has to happen after the main cooking is done and the soup has had a chance to rest.

In Greece you would normally go to Church in between so that gives the soup about an hour (or even more). This is why in this horrible picture I’m in my “home” clothes. It’s the ‘before Church’ cooking stage.

Avgolemono is a double word from avgo(egg) and lemoni (lemon). It’s a way to create a soup or sauce. (It’s also a song by So Tiri which cracks me up every time as well as every other Greek I know). Maybe I ‘ll do a video at some point of how you make it as it’s a bit tricky but it’s the ultimate soup. I’m convinced it’s the reason why the phrase “chicken soup for the soul” was invented. The person who first said it had just had avgolemono chicken soup.

From the Saffron squash & carrot soup with youvarlakia (tiny meatballs) recipe

Magiritsa by Mama Despoina

Ingredients:

• about 1 kilo of the lamb’s (the one you would roast the next day) liver, heart, kidneys and small intestine
• 2 tender lettuces
• 2 onions
• about 10 spring onions
• dil
• parsley
• half a cup of white rice (for soups or risottos)
• 2 eggs
• 2 lemons
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper

Method:

Also see all the step by step photos below

Preparation

1. Start with the small intestine in the morning. You should wash them under plenty or running water and do this for both sides. Get something to help you (like a chopstick), insert in the instestines, reach the end of the tube, turn inside out, wash and repeat.
2. Leave the intestines in a bowl of water with plenty of red wine vinegar for at least 2 hours. This will take away the smell and will whiten them.
3. Take the eggs and lemons out of the fridge.

Note: If you can’t find intestines just omit them.

Cooking

1. Put all the intestines, liver etc. in some boiling water for 10 minutes.
2. Take them out, get rid of the water and let them cool down.
3. Cut them in little cubes
4. Pour some good extra virgin olive oil in the pan and add your chopped up onion
5. Add the intestines, liver etc. cubes with salt and pepper. Keep turning them for about 3-4 minutes
6. Add the lettuces roughly cut, the spring onions finely cut, as well as the dill and parsley.
7. Add boiling water (covering everything) and simmer for about 20 minutes.
8. PAUSE – time to go to church (or just watch some telly)
9. After about half an hour to an hour turn on the heat once more. Once the soup is at boiling point add the rice and simmer for about 10 minutes (or check the instructions of your rice).
10. Start preparing the avgolemono. Beat the eggs, then add the lemon juice then go on beating.
11. Take the soup off the heat and with a ladle start adding soup to the avgolemono bowl extremely slowly. VERY slowly. This is to bring both to the same temperature (otherwise you’ll end up with boiled egg bits in your soup).
12. Once you have a lot of soup in the bowl and it feels a similar temperature, put everything back in the pan and stir vigorously.
13. You may like to put the pan on the heat, very gently for about 2-3 minutes but it’s not strictly neccessary.
14. Enjoy

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.

This past week we got some purple sprouting broccoli. I know broccoli is a bit of a British child’s nightmare but I love it. (I also like Brussels sprouts so there you go).

I looked at about 15 recipes online (wish I had kept a list) but I really needed something sweet and fragrant the day I cooked them. My eyes also fell on the large jar with the sesame seeds and the organic Greek honey my mom sent me. I’m sure there’s something similar out there but here goes my own version.

Purple sprouting broccoli with sesame and honey

INGREDIENTS

• A bunch of purple sprouting broccoli (let’s say about 350 grams, maybe a bit more)
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 2 heaped tablespoons of honey (organic if you can find it, none of that horrible squeeze bottle stuff)
• 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
• half a cup of sesame seeds
• 2 cloves of garlic (on the small side, 1 clove if big)

METHOD

Check out the step by step photos below

1. Wash the purple sprouting broccoli and cut off the tough stalks or any tough leaves
2. Bring salted water to the boil and throw in the broccoli
3. Boil for 2 to 3 minutes (we are going for crunchy, not dead)
4. Drain well and leave aside
5. Drizzle the olive oil in a wok or deep frying pan
6. Crush the cloves of garlic (a little rock salt helps with this) and throw them in the hot olive oil. Leave the garlic to fizzle a bit – about a minute
7. Add the sesame seeds and leave to fry a bit – about two minutes
8. Add the honey and the balsamic vinegar (you may want to lower the temperature a bit before that as the vinegar will go a bit haywire in the hot olive oil)
9. Mix it all with a wooden spatula
10. Throw in the (drained) purple sprouting broccoli and stir vigorously for one to two minutes. You want the broccoli to be drenched with the lovely sauce you just created.
11. Serve pipping hot and eat (try it with your hands. bliss)

The people at the two companies found the Greek version of Digital Scullery and my cooking videos in Greek. Apparently they liked them and they approached me. We got together to create “Πας Μαγειρεύοντας“ – the closest translation might be Cooking for Trouble – an online cooking show.

The Hellmann’s chefs created a number of recipes, using the Hellmann’s products as ingredients rather than condiments. I presented 12 of those recipes, in my usual insane manner (I hear I’m funny in Greek). It was such a great experience – especially because as a blogger you are accustomed to doing everything yourself and then suddenly it’s all about the group.

I went from doing EVERYTHING on my own to standing in a lovely kitchen with professionals around me doing their thing. Sets, sound, make up, lighting, directing, cameras… everything was there. And such lovely people! They all loved what they did, we had fun, we laughed, we changed things and worked very very hard.

The best thing about this project was that we had no script. No script whatsoever which was my own special little request. I just got the recipe and off I went. Now, that’s a leap of faith from a corporate team if I ever saw one but it went so well! I was given the freedom to be exactly the type of cook/ presenter that they chose me for in the first place. Risky strategy some might say but it really paid off.

The show run online for the whole of 2011 – the videos are on Facebook, YouTube and the Hellmann’s Greece website.

Earlier this year I received a very kind invitation from the Institute of Communications to present my experience at their 3rd Social Media Conference. That was a great opportunity to chat with marketing pros and share things from the blogger’s perspective – especially to dispel the myth of the big bad untrustworthy blogger and the other one of the easily sold out blogger. Not being a suit does not mean you can’t be professional – just saying.

Here is my presentation from the conference – translated for you lovely people.

The presentation explains pretty well where I am coming from and what sort of things (like ethics, creative freedom, professionalism) are important to me. And all those – and so much more – I found in this project. Working with people who knew what they were doing, who also listened to what I had to say and used my experience in blogging and online creativity to take the project further.

It was great to be approached by some pros at the conference who asked me a bit more about the detail, the planning, my decision making process.

It’s pretty simple really. I said yes because:

• The proposal was professional & comprehensive
• The people who knew what ‘social’ is
• They gave me plenty of creative freedom
• I could maintain the principles of Digital Scullery

And here are the four key things I’ve learned so far in cooking and in collaborations:

1) Cooking is a labour of love
However, collaborations require professionalism

2) Kneading is better done by hand
Without you having touched social media we’re not talking the same language

3) Some ingredients don’t work with everything
Each blogger and each company have their needs and priorities

4) Wine needs to breathe
All creative people need respect and freedom

I’ve heard some times that there is a bit of a distrust between the corporates and the bloggers. Some of the stories I’ve heard are pretty grim. However, I think it’s a time of great opportunity. Now, how else would I have had the opportunity to do something as professional as that with no (promotional) strings attached? With a great team? With a clear and professional planning process? It was just such a good experience and I love the result.

All in all it’s a shame there is no subtitling so that the English speaking friends of Digital Scullery could see what it was all about. So, here’s the making of video – it’s pretty representative of the craziness

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Disclosure: Obviously this was a normal/ official project/collaboration/ work. The post is not intended to advertise or promote, only to share my experience.

Sarakosti (literally means fortieth) is the 40 (or a bit more) day period of Lent, just before Easter, when we fast (among other things). The Greek Orthodox church dictates fasting at other times too, e.g. before Christmas. However, the one before Easter is the Great Lent, of great religious significance (or so I hear) and cultural as well (and this I know). Religiously(*) speaking it is a period of fasting, in the sense of abstaining from some food groups, penitence, prayer and all that jazz. Culturally speaking it is when we all tend to remember the nistisima (foods for fasting) and the food shops are brimming with little helpful tags pointing customers to the products that are allowed.

Officially the fast goes something like this:

The Great Lent begins Monday after Sunday of Cheese, the fifth week before Holy Week, and lasts through Saturday of Lazarus, and continues through Holy Week. Abstention from meat, fish and dairy products is observed, except on Palm Sunday and the Annunciation, March 25, when fish may be eaten. On Saturday and Sunday of Lent, wine, oil and shellfish may be eaten.
(via)

However, most people tend to fast differently during Lent nowadays, unless they are exceptionally dedicated. The easiest way to think about it is like this:

• No animal products are allowed 

Simple. You effectively go vegan without any animal products allowed (so no milk) and (here’s a bit of weirdness) seafood allowed. I know.

The pace of life and circumstances of today require a change in the fasting observances of the Church. (…) During all fast periods those of sound health abstain from meat, fish and all dairy products is observed, except when fish is permitted. The use of vegetable oils is permitted during fast periods, although olive oil may be consumed only on Saturdays and Sundays of Lent. Imitation foods such as margarine and vegetable products of all kinds may be classified as fast foods. Some sea foods (shrimp, oyster, lobster, crab meat, octopus) invertebrate shellfish are considered permissible fast foods.)
(via)

In my home we never used to fast. It was always quite a surprise growing up when friends told me that they couldn’t have some nice little treat because they were fasting. But, a lot of people do fast in Greece and lately I see more and more articles here and there about what a marvelous detox exercise it really is.

I started fasting – well, under the modern rules I have to say – a few years ago and I observe it every year. Not in a religious sense, but rather as an exercise in self discipline. I’ve found that it does marvelous things for my energy, my weight and – significantly – my cooking abilities. I learned to cook so many different things and got so organised in the kitchen, simply because the option of a quick steak was not available. Additionally I live in Britain where obviously there are no little helpful signs for the food stuff, bread, pies and assorted goodies that are allowed so I have had to learn how to make them. Try going 40 days without any dessert whatsoever and you quickly find the best recipe, let me tell you that!

In the process I have uncovered some amazing Greek recipes, with creative uses of vegetables and the ingredients I used to abhor as a child (like lentils and beans). There is also a good number of interesting desserts which do nothing for the waistline but are great to know (and eat). I also thought that these would be great for anyone who is lactose intolerant.

I aim to blog some of those recipes during the Great Lent this year – let me know if you’ve heard of any that you’d like me to share.

At the end of the forty days there is an ingenious traditional soup called Magiritsa – eaten straight after the Resurrection bit in church – with liver, intestines and other interesting bits of the animal which quite probably prepare the stomach for the utter debauchery of Easter.

Cause you see, on Easter day it’s time for the legendary (and a bit scary for animal lovers and non Greeks) lamb on a spit. When a lamb is really (I swear) put on a spit and roasted.

Now THAT is something to go forty days without meat for.

Small useful glossary:

• Nistia = fast
• Nistisima = food allowed during the fast
• Sarakosti = lit. fortieth. The forty days of Lent
• Pascha = Easter

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(*) For the religious bits and bobs please consider the relevant pages from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, they seem to have entered the current century – in stark contrast to other Greek Orthodox organisation – and I’m allowed to say that as a Greek Orthodox – with a comprehensive website and interesting articles on the history and development of fasting during Lent. See for example ‘Fasting from Iniquities and Foods‘ by the Rev. George Mastrantonis.