Okra (Bamyes)

Bamyes is one of the classics of the Greek summertime vegetarian dishes.
It is cooked in a deep pan with sauted onion and garlic, parsley, chopped tomatoes, potatoes, a lot of olive oil, salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar. You can find recipes on the internet for more details (look it up as "bamies").

Patsavouropita

Patsavouropita is one of the many variations of the Greek cheese pie. What is special about Patsavouropita? Its moist rich souffle texture!
My friend Eleni has taught me this recipe.

Ingredients: 500 gr fillo pastry, 1/4 cup of olive oil or butter, 300 gr feta cheese, 250 gr. kefalograviera cheese (you can substitute it with 150 gr. parmesan & 100 gr cheddar), 3 eggs, 600 gr. milk.

1. Grease a baking pan (approx. 20 x 40 cm) and line with 3 sheets of pastry, having greased them all separately with a small brush. Do not cut the edges, you'll need the m later on.
2. The next sheet of pastry, ungreased, you place it in the pan in a ripply way (it should resemble a carelessly thrown away dishcloth). Do not leave any edges out of the pan. Grate the feta cheese an sprinkle the rippled sheet with a handful of it.
3. Continue with the next sheet, ungeased, rippled, and sprinkle with some grated kefalograviera.
4. Repeat from step 2 (rippled sheet and cheese) until the cheese is over and you're left with only two sheets.
5. Grease them and line them tight above the rest. Now it is time to fold in all the edges.
6. Prong the pie with a fork in different places. This will enable it to absorb the milk mixture in the following stage.
7. Beat the eggs, blend in the milk and pour the mixture over the pie. It will look "flooded" for a while but do not worry, it will get absorbed.
8. Preheat the oven at 200 C and bake it for 45-50 min. It will rise significantly while baking but it will sink again when out of the oven.
   

Kolokythoboureko

This is a "Kolokythoboureko", a dish from the island of Crete. It is vegetarian, light and delicious! Why? Because its main ingredients are courgettes and potatoes!

Recipe
(makes 4 portions, time of preparation 1 1/2 hour)

Ingredients: 3 courgettes, 2 medium potatoes, 200g mizithra cheese or feta cheese, dried mint, salt, pepper, 1/2 litre bechamel sauce, 100g parmesan cheese.
(You can find easily on the interent the recipe for a bechamel sauce, but be careful to use as flavourings only a pinch of nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste).

Bakes in: 20 x 20 cm glass baking pan (at least 5 cm deep)

1. Cut into 2mm slices the courgettes and potatoes, sprinkle with salt and let them rest in a colander for at least 1 hour. This will allow them to release their water.
2. Preheat the oven at 200 C.
3. Grease the bottom of the pan with a little bit of olive oil or butter. Grate/mash the feta cheese.
4. Cover the bottom of the pan with a layer of potato slices, sprinkle with some feta cheese, mint and pepper.
5. Cover with a layer of courgette slices, sprinkle with feta, mint, pepper.
6. Repeat from step 4 till the slices are over.
7. At last cover with the bechamel sauce and put to the oven.
8. Bake for 1 hour. Switch off the oven. Sprinkle the bechamel sauce with grated parmesan cheese and place again the pan in the oven. Let it rest in the diminishing heat for half an hour.

Best served when cooled. Kali oreksi!

Gluten-free chocolate heaven

I found the recipe for this amazing dessert on this website: http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/596879.

I have taken it yesterday to the market, but I've not sold one portion of it. Apparently the foil packaging didn't do it justice, and people thought it was a small portion for its price. You only have to taste it to understand you can't eat a lot of it: it is so filling, it is pure chocolate, eggs, cream and sugar!
Its texture, so soft, melting in your mouth has a such consoling effect...
Just try it and you'll understand what I mean...

Some months later...I have discovered that this dessert is nothing less than a chocolate soufflé!
Why on earth isn't it called by its name on the website???

Pastitsio

Pastitsio. What a wonderful sight for hungry eyes, isn't it?

I cannot say I have completely mastered the art of making it yet, and this is the reason I did not take it to the market today.
What I did wrong: I cooked a big quantity in a casserole smaller than it should be, the oil started dripping on the bottom of the oven, the oil burnt and and the sauce has absorbed smoke from the burning oil. So I took it out prematurily: the bechamel sauce was not yet fully baked. I had to clean the oven and by that time the food's temperature had already fallen. I'll have to consume it at home and warm it up on the grill so that the sauce can reach the right colour.

Lessons to be learnt: 1. pastitsio needs a deep roaster/casserole to be cooked in, so that there is still space between the level of the food and the rim. 2. Maybe the mince mix needs a little bit less oil.

Saragli

"Saragli" is a vegetarian Greek dessert. It belongs to the wider family of desserts called "baking tray desserts". This category covers all desserts which contain fillo pastry, nuts and syrup and which are baked in the oven.

Here is the recipe (found in www.sintagespareas.gr, adjusted and translated by me).

Saragli (Rolled baklava)
(Filling ingredients: 1/2 kg fillo pastry, 1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1/2 cup margarine, 600 gr. coarsely ground walnuts, 2 tsp. cinammon powder, 1/2 tsp. clove powder.
Syrup ingredients: 3 cups of sugar, 1 1/2 cup of water, 2 tbsp. lemon juice.

1. Mix in a bowl the walnuts, the cinammon powder and clove powder.
2. Melt butter and margarine together.
3. Lay 3 sheets of fillo pastry on a worktop, each well rushed with the butter-margarine mixture, and sprinkle the sheet on top with enough nut mixture to cover it.
4. Roll it on its short side (the one that will make more turns).
5. Cut the roll in pieces of 3 cm.
6. Grease a baking tin and place the pieces close together, their cut surface facing down.
7. Repeat from step 3 untill nut mixture and pastry are over.
8. Bake in a preheated oven at 200 C for 30 min. approximately (untill they are light brown in colour).
9. Boil the syrup ingredients for 5-8 min. Poor the hot syrup on the baking tin as soon as you take it out of the oven.
10. Let the dessert absorb all the syrup and cool completely before serving (vanilla ice-cream is a good accompaniment to it).

Tip: while preparing one roll keep the rest of the fillo pastry covered with a damp cloth in order to prevent it from drying up. Each time take from under the cloth only the sheets you will use.

Yemista

"Yemista", vegetables stuffed with a rice mixture, is one of the top Greek vegeterian dishes.
I have cooked it last week but I have not been able to bring it to the Country Market. The Market's regulation prohibits the display of any item containing whole grains of rice. The explanation is that "Bacillus cereus is very difficult to kill and could cause serious illness".
So I had to take the chance and consume it all at home.
I do not regret it at all!!!