bread and butter

Dreamy carrot soup

2006-12-12T13:34:00.000+02:00

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.

10 000 Dream Interpretations, by Gustavus Hindman Miller

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.

Apple salad with beet

2006-09-28T12:18:00.000+03:00

"The beet is the most intense of vegetables. The radish, admittedly, is more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent, not of passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there runs through tomatoes an undercurrent of frivolity. Beets are deadly serious."
Tom Robbins

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.

Comfort me with apples

2006-09-10T14:29:00.000+03:00

“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".

Haloumi and grape salad

2006-08-05T08:45:00.000+03:00

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 for beginners: Dakos salad

2006-07-05T08:44:00.000+03:00

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.

A watermelon sun

2006-07-05T08:42:00.000+03:00

"Watermelon -- it's a good fruit. You eat, you drink, you wash your face."
Enrico Caruso

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.

Just eat it, don't make me repeat it

2006-07-05T08:40:00.000+03:00

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 poem

2006-05-25T09:01:00.000+03:00

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.

Eating on Mountain Pilion

2006-05-25T09:00:00.000+03:00

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.

The central Makrinitsa square

They had stocked the fridge with the most amazing cheeses which we devoured along with the best wines one can find in Greece.

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.

Potato salad and a yummy leek pie we had at Theofilos cafe

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.

Ravioli with asparagus

2006-04-21T03:46:00.000+03:00

"Olive oil? Asparagus? If your mother wasn't so fancy, we could shop at the gas station like normal people." Homer Simpson

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.

Portobellos stuffed with cracked wheat

2006-04-21T03:45:00.000+03:00

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.

Aubergine thin crust pizza

2006-04-21T03:43:00.000+03:00

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore

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

The Princess and the Pea

2006-04-21T03:41:00.000+03:00

“Now they knew that she was a real princess because she had felt the pea right through the twenty mattresses and the twenty eider-down beds.
Nobody but a real princess could be as sensitive as that.” Hans Christian Andersen – The Princess and the Pea

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

Zucchini and tomato tart

2006-04-05T09:01:00.000+03:00

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.

Νο bake Chocolate Cheesecake

2006-03-21T03:22:00.000+02:00

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.

Mushroom tartelettes

2006-03-21T03:20:00.000+02:00

This recipe happened only because I had a spare pastry sheet in the fridge. But it was a success so it might become a classic. Where classic means, the food I prepare when I feel insecure and doubt my abilities and want to make something secure.

It takes no time at all, although the pious are going to want to make their own pastry, which I am all for, but we’ll discuss it some other time.

For 6-8 people as a starter

2 eggs

160 gr crumbled feta cheese

400 gr sliced button mushrooms

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

1 sheet puff pastry (if you like puffy things) or 1 sheet shortcrust pastry (if you want less air, more food)

3 spring onions, chopped

Some butter for the baking dish

Salt and pepper

Whisk the eggs and add the feta.
Heat olive oil in a skillet and sautee onions. Add mushrooms and when they are cooked but still al dente, combine in a bowl with the eggs and feta. Sprinkle with pepper. If your feta is very salty don’t add any more salt.
Butter a 12 cup muffin pan (if you have a larger one, you’ll need more pastry and more of everything else) and roll out the pastry. We don’t want the pastry to have holes, so carefully, we press it inside the cups. When we are done, we separate the pastry with a knife, so that each cup is individually lined.
Fill with the mushroom mixture and arrange the extra pastry around, so that it encloses but doesn’t cover the filling. Don’t be too religious about it (as the photo testifies, I wasn’t).
Bake in preheated oven at 180 C/ 350 F/ Gas mark 4 until the pastry looks golden and the filling has set.

Pasta Power

2006-03-21T03:13:00.000+02:00

“Life is a combination of magic and pasta."

Federico Fellini

My favourite scene from my favourite movie Lost in Translation, is the one where Bob (Bill Murray) realizes that the situation with his wife is rather irreversible and tries to tell her so on the phone, while he is soaking in the jacuzzi of the Japanese hotel. So he starts by telling her that something has to change but then chickens out and ends up saying “I don't know. I just want to get healthy. I would like to start taking better care of myself. I'd like to start eating healthier - I don't want all that pasta. I would like to start eating like Japanese food.”
Yes, blame it on the pasta Bob.
When I am stressed or worn out, I want to eat pasta. The ideal would be to make my own pasta (although, not penne, that would be a miracle in itself) but when I am tired, the last thing I want to do is make dough. Or maybe not. It might turn out to be soothing.

Baked penne with spinach and cheese

4-5 servings

1 packet penne

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 spring onions, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

3 tablespoons chopped fennel

500 gr chopped spinach

230 gr gruyere cheese, grated

300 ml single cream

120 gr feta cheese, crumbled

10-15 green olives sliced

Cook pasta in salted, boiling water. In a pan, heat olive oil and sauté onions and garlic. Add spinach and fennel and cook until the vegetables are tender.
In a baking dish, combine penne and spinach. Add gruyere cheese and crumbled feta. Mix everything very well together.
Bake in 180 C/350 F/Gas Mark 4 until all cheeses have melted and the food has a nice golden colour. Sprinkle each dish with sliced olives and serve hot.

Vegetarian burgers with tzatziki

2006-03-01T03:37:00.000+02:00

There are countless ways to make veggie burgers, and every vegetarian / vegan knows that. I just take a look in the cupboards to see what there is available and start from there. This time it was lentils and soya, next time it might be mushrooms or chickpeas.

You'll need:

100 gr lentils

100 gr soya mince

2-3 tbsps oregano

Approximately 1 litre vegetable stock

2-3 tbsps flour and 2-3 tbsps oil / or 2 eggs

Salt

Cook lentils and soya mince in vegetable stock. Drain very well and put it aside to cool down.
Puree mince and lentils in blender.
Mix puree with 2 eggs and stir very well. If you don’t want eggs, substitute with oil and a little flour. Stir in oregano and salt.
Shape into burgers and place on paper parchment.
Bake at 350 F/180 C for about 20 minutes or until done. Serve with tzatziki.

My Tzatziki

1 ½ cup full fat yogurt

1 big cucumber

1 aubergine

4-5 garlic cloves

3-4 tbsps olive oil

1 tsp vinegar

Salt

3-4 tbsps olive oil for the aubergine

1 cup Vegetable stock for the aubergine

First, slice aubergine and fry in olive oil. We want it to be really tender, so pour some vegetable stock and let it absorb it. Once it is tender, strain very well and puree in blender.
Grate the cucumber. You shouldn’t process it in a blender as that would make it watery. We want it to have some texture. Strain the cucumber very well.
Chop garlic.
In a bowl, combine aubergine, cucumber, yogurt, garlic, vinegar, oil, salt to taste. Stir very well. Tzatziki is served cold. It is delicious with these vegetarian burgers but you can also eat it with dolmades (stuffed vine leaves) or as a dip.

I’m red but not embarrassed

2006-03-01T03:35:00.000+02:00

Only the pure at heart can make a good soup.
Ludwig van Beethoven

People are at variance on the point of red food. Some say red food is not real food. I talked about it to my friend Steve and he said real food cannot be red. Not even tomatoes, “the devil’s food”.
But this red soup is made of beetroot, not tomatoes. Just two beetroots and other vegetables too, which being of a more inoffensive colour, disappear in the soup.
However, it is a very tasty soup, not to mention invigorative too. Beets are a very good source of potassium that regulates blood pressure, and vitamin C an antioxidant that works against free roots, against cholesterol, heart disease and other evil things.
If you stll think red food is not food, thin it with some cream or soy milk or yogurt. That way it’ll turn pink. Pink is good.

Try eating it while listening to Beth Orton’s “Comfort of Strangers”.

You'll need:

2 beetroots scrubbed

2 potatoes scrubbed

3 carrots scrubbed

6 walnuts, finely processed

2 tbs oil

1 tsp nutmeg

Vegetable stock

Salt – pepper

Boil vegetables until tender. Peel them and cut in halves. Puree in blender. You might have to do that in batches unless you have a really big blender.

Heat olive oil, add nutmeg, vegetable puree (it’s red!) and a glass of vegetable stock and let it simmer for 5 minutes so that everything is combined. Adding more stock depends on how thick or thin you want your soup. Alternatively, you can thin it with some yogurt or milk or soy milk. Sprinkle with some walnuts.

Penny’s pie

2006-03-01T03:24:00.000+02:00

Penny is my sister and this is her cheese pie. She makes her own pastry. Truly, it takes less time that waiting for the ready made to defrost.

The fact that my sister is on diet all the time, won’t stop her from making cheese sauce and adding it to the pie which she later gives to unsuspecting relatives.
But because the pie is so delicious, I allow myself one piece for breakfast, from time to time. Then I watch buttons break loose.

We’ll need

For the pastry

5 cups all purpose flour

½ cup water

½ cup olive oil

A bit of salt

For the filling

300 gr. Feta cheese, crumbled

200 gr. Gruyere cheese, grated

2 eggs

Pepper

Dill

2 cups cheese sauce

For the cheese sauce

2 tbsps quality butter

2 heaped tbsps flour

½ lt milk

2 eggs

200 gr. grated gruyere cheese

To coat the pie

Some milk
a beaten egg

Mix all pastry ingredients and knead well. Make two balls. Leave it for half in hour to rest, in a bowl covered with a clean piece of cloth.
Meanwhile prepare cheese sauce (see below).
Mix all the filling ingredients in a bowl (don’t forget the cheese sauce!).
Roll the pastry in two sheets. Roll one pastry sheet in a well oiled baking tin. Pour the filling on pastry. Cover with the other pastry sheet.
In a small bowl beat some milk and an egg together. Coat the pie with this and bake in a preheated oven until golden at 180 C/350 F/Gas Mark 4. This usually takes 50-60 minutes.

Cheese sauce
Melt butter in a pan. Add flour, stirring all the time with wooden spoon. Pour the milk (must be lukewarm) and cheese and keep stirring constantly over low heat, until thickened and smooth. The sauce is ready. Before you add it to the pie, sprinkle with grated cheese to make it crunchier.

Garlicky aubergine salad

2006-03-01T03:10:00.000+02:00

Αubergine salad is very common in Greece and there are numerous versions of it. This doesn’t mean there is no room for one more version: mine.
Blame it for losing your friends if you want, but you can’t blame it for being tasteless. I think it’s a great sandwich spread too, especially combined with mozzarella. Just stay at home, alone and contemplate for a couple of hours after you have had it.
Please, before you serve it ask people if they are allergic to walnuts. Many people are, and it just never crosses our minds to ask. But we could kill them with the walnuts before we had a chance to kill them with our garlic breath.

You’ll need

2 aubergines

2-3 chopped garlic cloves

Olive oil

One yellow capsicum pepper (red or orange is fine too)

One tablespoon balsamic vinegar

10-15 walnuts

Cut the aubergines in squares. Heat olive oil and sauté 2 garlic cloves, then add aubergines and cook until they are tender. If you see that you are running out of liquid in the pan, add some water.

Purée the aubergines in a blender. Add one more garlic clove, 1 tablespoon olive oil, ½ tablespoon balsamic vinegar in the blender bowl. Also, add the capsicum, the walnuts, salt and pepper. Puree again and add more salt, pepper or balsamic vinegar if you want.

Serve cold with some finely chopped walnuts on top.

Lazy mille feuilles with pesto sauce

2006-03-01T03:07:00.000+02:00

I don't think necessity is the mother of invention - invention, in my opinion, arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness. To save oneself trouble.

(Agatha Christie)

I thought I could make this recipe when I have people over and am too bored to cook properly for some reason (what reason?). It looks impressive although it’s very easy to make and it is very tasty, with all the vegetables of the good lord in it. And with some white wine it goes down very well indeed.

4 servings

For the Mille Feuilles

700 gr puff pastry
300 gr.mushrooms (different kinds are okay) sliced or chopped
2 red or orange bell peppers sliced
2 zucchinis sliced
300 gr . pecorino peeled or grated
1/2 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
100 ml white wine
salt - pepper

Cut the each pastry sheet in 6 oblong pieces (round are okay too). Pierce them with a fork (we don’t want them to get too puffy), place them on a baking sheet and bake them for 20 minutes or until golden, at 220°C.

In the meantime, heat half the oil and sauté the garlic and mushrooms until tender but not too tender. Add the wine, cover and let it simmer for 3 minutes.

In a frying pan pour the rest of the oil, the peppers and the zucchini and fry until tender. Mix mushrooms, peppers and zucchini and taste for seasoning.

Now the pastry is ready. On a piece of pastry layer the vegetables and sprinkle with the cheese. Top with another pastry square and again, add a layer of vegetables and cheese. Top with a third pastry square and sprinkle with cheese.

Repeat with the remaining pastry squares.

Bake the Mille Feuilles for about 5 minutes or until the cheeses have melted and serve hot with a spoonful of pesto sauce on the side.

For the pesto sauce:

3 tablespoons of pine nuts (slightly roasted)
1 ½ garlic clove, chopped
2 ½ cups fresh basil, chopped
120 gr. grated parmesan
120 gr. grated pecorino
1 cup good olive oil
Salt and pepper

Put the garlic and basil into a pestle and mortar and pound. We add the pine nuts and pound again. Turn out the mixture in a bowl and add parmesan and pecorino and stir. If you want you can omit the pecorino and replace with parmesan. I do this for this recipe only, so that it isn’t too salty. Add oil, little by little, and go on stirring, until it becomes a wet paste. All the time taste for seasoning. We can do it in a blender but with the pestle, I think the flavours really come out.

Magiritsa with oyster mushrooms

2006-03-01T03:06:00.000+02:00

Magiritsa is a traditional Greek Easter soup. In fact it is the very soup that Greeks break their 40 day fast with, after they have returned from the midnight mass on Easter Saturday. This soup is traditionally made with lambs' innards and avgolemono, an egg and lemon sauce. Some people also add rice but I don’t think it’s necessary.

I know that Easter is in April but I have already made my magiritsa for the magazine which is always a month ahead at least. So I am used to cooking Christmas food in late October and Easter food in early March.
Still, my version of the soup is fine for Lent too since it has neither innards nor eggs. It is made with oyster mushrooms -so it retains some of the texture of the traditional thing- and all the usual vegetables and herbs like dill and spring onions. It is very very tasty, a fact admitted by sworn carnivores too.

For four servings

350 gr chopped oyster mushrooms (you can use scissors to cut them more easily)
4 artichokes, cut and peeled
2 onions, chopped
2 spring onions, chopped
½ cup of chopped dill
1 ½ lt vegetable stock
olive oil
2 tablespoons corn flour
juice of one lemon

Sautee the onions (not the spring onions) and oyster mushrooms.
Chop the artichokes and put in a large pan along with vegetable stock. Bring to the boil and then reduce heat and boil for about 30 minutes.
In a bowl add ¼ cup water, corn flour, lemon juice, spring onions and dill. Stir well and add the mixture to the pan with the vegetables. Cook for another 5 minutes in moderate heat. Season to taste and add more lemon juice if you want to.

Stuffed artichokes

2006-03-01T02:53:00.000+02:00

"After all the trouble you go to, you get about as much actual food out of eating an artichoke as you would from licking 30 or 40 postage stamps." Miss Piggy

Artichokes are rich in magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, iron, calcium and have antioxidant properties. All these wouldn’t be of interest though, if they weren’t yummy.
If we don’t give a fig about calories, we can replace cottage cheese with feta.

For 2-3 servings (we need 3-4 rather large artichokes for each person)

8-10 artichokes
300 gr. Cottage cheese
1 big potato, boiled and mashed
1 cup grated parmesan
10 sun dried tomatoes
2 onions chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
2-3 tbsp. olive oil
3 tbsp wholemeal breadcrumbs
½ cup chopped basil (dry is okay too)
1-2 tbsp butter

Cut the artichoke stalks so that the artichoke can stand on its back, cut the top leaves, pull the outside leaves off until you find the tender ones. With a spoon remove the inside of the artichoke. Put them in a bowl with water and lemon juice for about 15-20 minutes. This prevents them from going brown.
Leave them to dry and then put them in a pan with boiling water with some lemon juice in it and a tbs of butter and some salt.
We want them to be tender but not too tender. They must be strong enough to hold the stuffing. When they are done we let them dry.
Melt the cheese in a bowl and stir in the mashed potato. If this is too thick, add one or two tbsps of milk.
Heat the oil and add onion and garlic. Sautee for a while and then pour this into the bowl with the cheeses. Blend everything together.
Grease an ovenproof dish with some butter and arrange the artichokes neatly in. Sprinkle them with some oil. Stuff them with the cheese-onions mixture and sprinkle with the parmesan and then breadcrumbs.
If there is any cheese left, pour it among the artichokes.
Bake in moderate oven for 15 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and they look golden.
Serve with a sun dried tomato on each artichoke and chopped basil.

“Whatever I found in the fridge” salad

2006-03-01T02:38:00.000+02:00

In essence, this salad is made with whatever vegetables you may find in the fridge. The only thing to follow is to prepare a green base of -let’s say- spinach or rocket and add other vegetables that may be in season. I could add beets or even baked aubergine. What we cannot add is cabbage, cucumber and other vegetables with lots of water because they are just going to weaken the taste.

You may sprinkle sesame seeds if you like because it becomes crunchier.
You will notice this salad tastes better if you eat it while listening to The Time is Now, by Moloko.

For 2-3 servings

2 cups spinach, chopped
1 cup rocket, chopped
2 cups red bell peppers, or orange or yellow or green
3-4 sun dried tomatoes chopped
2 spring onions chopped
2 tbsps dill, chopped
2 tbsps parsley, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
some sesame seeds (one handful)

For the dressing

4 tbsps olive oil
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
½ garlic clove, pounded
Salt, pepper

Mix all the vegetables together in a big salad bowl. Mix all the dressing ingredients together in another bowl. Just before serving, pour the dressing on the salad.

Soya kebabs with vegetables

2006-03-01T02:35:00.000+02:00

These are really yummy and very easy to make. If you want to tease kids into eating soya try them, preferably with some rice or if you are really bold, some chips on the side.

There are three secrets you have to know:
-Don’t over boil them because then, they won’t be able to absorb all the nice spices you are going to season them with.
-They do need lots of spices and you may experiment with them. You can try cumin or curry (but not at the same time) and serve them with basmati rice or oregano and garlic like I did.
-Don’t tell anyone these are substitutes for meat. They might look like meat but they taste nothing like it.

For six (depending on how hungry they are)

For the kebabs

1 bag of soya kebabs (about 250 gr/8 oz)

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

half cup of oil

1 tablespoon grated ginger

1 tablespoon coriander

at least 3 glasses of vegetable broth (if you use ready made don’t add salt)

salt-pepper

skewers for the kebabs

2 big red peppers deseeded and cut in squares (well not real squares!)

2 big yellow peppers as above

500-600 gr. button mushrooms or any other kind you like

For the marinade

Mix together:

2 cups olive oil

juice of two lemons

2 garlic cloves finely chopped

2 tablespoons oregano

1 tablespoon mustard

In a big and deep frying pan, heat half a cup of olive oil and add garlic, ginger and coriander. Add the kebabs and stir continuously for a couple of minutes, so that they absorb the flavours of the spices. Add a glass of vegetable broth and bring to the boil. Add more broth as needed. Keep an eye on the kebabs the way we do with risotto. When the kebabs are tender remove from the heat.

In another pan heat some oil and add peppers and mushrooms. Stir fry them until they become tender. Now we thread the kebabs, peppers and mushrooms on to wooden skewers (or metal ones). That’s the difficult part, so ask for help at this point. It is not really difficult, it’s just that it takes a lot of time to thread all of these kebabs.

To make the marinade, we mix together oil, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, mustard, and spoon the marinade over the kebabs.

I served these with some spinach salad with guacamole and they were great. And you can eat hundreds of them because they are much lighter than meat kebabs.

Savoury “Pancakes” with cheese

2006-03-01T02:33:00.000+02:00

Mix a pancake,
Stir a pancake,
Pop it in the pan.
Fry the pancake,
Toss the pancake,
Catch it if you can.

Christina Rossetti

My English, Australian, Canadian and American friends talked to me about Pancake Tuesday, or Shrove Tuesday. Apparently they eat lots of pancakes on that day which is a wonderful custom to observe, if you ask me. And they say they even eat crepes, which are really pancakes in disguise. So, I listened to that song, Pancake, by Tori Amos and made those savoury pancakes for breakfast.

For 6-7 pancakes

2-3 eggs

500 gr all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tbs butter

oil (for frying)

2 cups grated (or crumbled) cheese: feta, parmesan, whatever we like but preferably a salty cheese
milk

1 tbs parsley or oregano especially if your cheese is feta

Mix butter, flour, eggs, parlsey, salt. Knead with a little warm milk as much as you need for the dough to not be too hard. Make dough balls (as big as a Satsuma) and flatten them down with your hand (about ½ cm thick).
Fry them one by one in hot oil until they are golden. Place them on kitchen paper to get rid of the oil.
Serve warm with cheese and parsley.
You can really top it with whatever suits your fancy. You can even break it and add it to salads instead of croutons.

My apple jam

2006-03-01T02:30:00.000+02:00

"And then she went to a secret lonely chamber, where no one was likely to come, and there she made a poisonous apple. It was beautiful to look upon, being white with red cheeks, so that any one who should see it must long for it, but whoever ate even a little bit of it must die. When the apple was ready she painted her face and clothed herself like a peasant woman, and went across the seven mountains to where the seven dwarfs lived."

Aren’t apples good looking? In fairy tales, you seldom read about oranges or pears or bananas. The tree of life is an apple tree. And what about the golden apples heroes have to steal? And remember Adam? Or even Isaac Newton? What about Chris Martin’s and Gwyneth Paltrow’s daughter? And the Big Apple? Or the apple of our eye? It’s always apples. Red, shiny, firm, not too sweet, those are my favourite to eat. But for jam, they’d better be sweet and not as firm.

My mum goes to the open market every Friday and buys tons of apples and pears and oranges. Then, when I go to see her, about once or twice a week, she gives me carrier bags with fruit enough to feed ten people for a week. So I decided to make some jam so that all this fruit wouldn’t go to waste.

Now, it is known that the best time to make apple jam is November. But I made some a few days ago and it was delicious. I didn’t add pectin. Some recipes recommend it, but I disagree, since apples are already rich in pectin. My apples were already very sweet and I even halved the sugar in the original recipe.

We need

7 cups apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced (try to include apples of the same kind)

3-4 cups sugar (depends on the apples really, my recipe asked for 6 cups of sugar but I added 3 and a half)

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 tbs cinnamon

1. Place thinly sliced apples in a large saucepan over a high heat.
2. Add the sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon while stirring continuously.
3. Let the mixture boil for about 20 minutes or half an hour until thickened, removing any scum that may rise to the surface. Don’t forget to stir continuously. Some water might be needed, again, depending on the kind of apples you are using.
4. Pour the mixture into jam jars, seal and store away. It’s delicious on toasted bread and butter, or with crepes, or cakes, or tarts.

“And what is more melancholy than the old apple-trees that linger about the spot where once stood a homestead, but where there is now only a ruined chimney rising our of a grassy and weed-grown cellar? They offer their fruit to every wayfarer--apples that are bitter-sweet with the moral of times vicissitude.”

Nathaniel Hawthorne-Mosses from an Old Manse-The Old Manse

Listen:

Apples and Oranges - Pink Floyd
Appels and Oranges - Smashing Pumpkins
Rotten Apples - Smashing Pumpkins
Little Apples- Momus

Russian Salad with homemade mayonnaise

2006-03-01T02:25:00.000+02:00

There is not just one Russian salad. We have an expression i n Greece, and use it when we want to say we made a mess of things: “It’s Russian salad”. So, maybe it means the Russian salad is everything mixed together without any particular order.
Well, the idea is that we mix together boiled vegetables and add mayonnaise. It can be found with beets, with eggs, without eggs, and even with some greens. The recipe that follows is the simplest one but is made special by the homemade mayonnaise which has nothing to do with commercial mayonnaise. Neither in colour nor in taste. Contrary to popular belief, making mayonnaise is an extreme sport and is easy to make.
I usually make this salad in the winter and have it as an appetizer. If you drink alcohol, try accompanying it with a shot of iced vodka.

We are going to need:

150 gr Peeled potatoes
150 gr. Peas
150 gr. Carrots
3 tbsps caper
3 pickled cucumbers, chopped
2 hard boiled eggs (cold)
2 tbsps chopped parsley σούπας
1-1 ½ cup mayonnaise
salt, pepper

Boil the vegetables al dente. They should retain some crunchiness. Drain well. Chop potatoes and carrots in small squares. Put in large bowl, add the caper, eggs (sliced) and cucumbers. A little before serving add the mayonnaise. Season to taste, Stir everything together but not too vigorously, so that the vegetables stay in one piece. Sprinkle with parsley.

For the mayonnaise

2 egg yolks
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon mustard powder
1/8 teaspoon sugar
1 dash of pepper (if you have white pepper, use that)
4 teaspoons lemon juice
1-1/2 cup quality olive oil (this is very important)
4 teaspoons warm water

Whisk egg yolks, mustard, sugar, pepper and one teaspoon of lemon juice together, until everything looks pale yellow.
Add ¼ of the olive oil, little by little, whisking all the time. It is important that we don’t just pour the olive oil. Add another teaspoon of lemon juice, a bit of warm water and another ¼ cup of olive oil, again slowly but steadily. We whisk all the time. Another teaspoon of lemon juice, some water, and oil slowly but in a steady flow while whisking. Add the remaining lemon juice, water, olive oil as before. If you want it thinner, add a bit of warm water. It’s going to be good for 5 days to one week if you keep it in the fridge.
If you decide to use the blender, add yolks, salt, mustard, pepper, sugar and 3 teaspoons of lemon juice and blend everything together for 15 seconds (low speed).
With the blender always on, slowly add ¼ cup of olive oil and increase speed. It gets thicker and thicker and we add more and more oil and lemon juice (what is left of it), steadily and slowly
The mayonnaise is not going to come out right if:

We pour lots of oil at once
The kitchen is too hot
The eggs are not fresh
The oil is not of good quality

But we are not the kind of people who use second class oil and bad eggs, are we?

Thanks for breakfast

2006-03-01T02:19:00.000+02:00

I always thought that breakfast is the best meal of the day, and NOT because I usually eat it without any company. No, no, that’s not why. It’s because it is easily prepared, I can eat as much as I like and I don’t even have to talk. I can just read my newspaper or my friends’ blogs.

For a better breakfast experience I suggest
-Bach, especially the violin concertos. Louis Armstrong is great breakfast material too.
-No TV dramas, bad news and the like. Just calm weather reports.
-No talking, calling people, and all that, before 3 hours after waking up have passed. This ensures that the rest of the day is going to go smoothly since most people are cranky in the morning. I felt vindicated about my belief in this -after all the accusations that I am unsociable- when I read the following: A British reporter, Charles Wheeler, speaking of his acquaintance with spy George Blake said that he had looked really suspicious to him because “He smiled rather too much. He smiled during breakfast you know”.
-Strong coffee or tea. Although I really need to speak the truth here, to people who don’t drink coffee: Coffee smells better than it tastes. Much, much better. It’s a sweet deceit. In your mouth, it never tastes like the promise it gave to your nose.
-A nice view, maybe in a sunny room. That really wakes people up.

What’s for breakfast?
I could never eat cereal for breakfast and I have nothing but admiration for people who eat breakfast out of a box. It just doesn’t make me want to seize the day.

The best thing for me is scrambled eggs, the fluffy, creamy kind, sprinkled with chives and eaten with toast and maybe grilled mushrooms or tomatoes or all of the above. A wonderful landlady in Edinburgh used to make these for me and they were so filling, although I don’t remember that stopping me from eating some of her orange marmalade, which along with lime marmalade (“thank you” to my friend Steve at this point) are the best breakfast marmalades in my opinion since they are not too sweet.

Scrambled eggs

2-3 people (unless I am there)

This isn’t anything new of course. But the truth is not many people pursue the Ultimate Scrambled Eggs. USE happen only if whisk them maniacally. Otherwise, they won’t be fluffy. Before you pour them in the pan, they should be a bit frothy and of the same colour.

6 big eggs
6 tsp milk
salt (3 pinches)
1 tbs butter (real butter please)
pepper
1 tbs chives

Heat a non stick pan, a bit above average. Whisk eggs, milk, salt, in a bowl. Really, really whisk. Whisk like it’s the last thing you’ll ever do.
Melt the butter in the pan and pour in the eggs.
Don’t start breaking them apart and messing about. Give them some time (we are talking 30 seconds) to set. With a wooden spoon start pushing the eggs towards the center of the pan, towards an imaginary pile. This is Martha Stewart’s advice so obey.
Go on like that and when they are really setting, start ‘cutting’ them with the wooden spoon in big chunks. Leave for some seconds more (about 15 unless you want them totally done and without any creaminess)
Add salt and pepper and sprinkle with chives. Only eat them hot, I beg of you. They are best friends with

Grilled or sautéed mushrooms, especially portobellos
Grilled tomatoes
Toast
Cream cheese on toast

Breakfast soundtrack:

1. Everybody Here Wants You – Jeff Buckley
(“Twenty-nine pearls in your kiss A singing smile/Coffee smell and lilac skin /Your flame in me/
I’m only here for this moment”)

2. New Morning –NickCave and the Bad Seeds (“Thank you for giving This bright new morning/ So steeped seemed the evening In darkness and blood/There’ll be no sadness There’ll be no sorrow There’ll be no road too narrow
There’ll be a new day/ And it’s today for us”)

3. Good day Sunshine – Beatles
4. Sun hits the sky – Supergrass
5. Till Kingdom Come – Coldplay