GREEK
RECIPES
Cuisine of Greece
For anyone visiting Greece for the first time,
the colors, sights, sounds, smells and most of all the delicious
flavors of Greek food are a revelation. The Greek cuisine is
significant for its honesty, its healthy indifference to food fads
or trends and its ability to promote a feeling of well-being to
everyone around the table. Apart from the weather, the food you eat
on holiday is a major factor in how much you have enjoyed the
experience.
On this page I would like to share some of the wonderful Greek
recipes I have come upon, from family members, from neighbors, from
friends and some which I have tried/adapted for myself. I would also
like you, the reader, to add your favorite recipes with some
comments about them. I hope, that for those of you who spend their
holidays in Greece, it will bring back the flavor of the country to
you!
For those who have never had visited but would like to experience
the true flavor of Greece I hope that these recipes will encourage
you to visit and see for yourself. Greece is a sea-faring country
with charming mountain ranges and small fertile plains. The smell of
the sea blends with the smell or rigani (Greek oregano, much
stronger and more pungent that the Italian variety) and thyme from
the mountains. A mountainous range lies across a large part of
mainland Greece and much of the terrain is barren. This is the case
on many of the islands as well. Hence there is very little good
grazing land which makes it difficult to raise cattle. Consequently,
in Greece beef is not traditionally eaten very much and olive oil
replaces butter. Sheep and goats are more easily raised and so lamb
is the most popular meat and the milk of sheep and goats are turned
into a plethora of delicious cheeses.
Poultry is also abundant and pigs are bred in most parts of Greece.
Eggs are common and are particularly used to thicken sauces
and soups - a speciality being the egg and lemon sauce (avgolemono).
Fruit and vegetables grow in abundance and can be bought cheaply at
local markets on the mainland or from the farms and and small vans
that go around many of the islands selling their fresh produce.
Furthermore, herbs and fruit growing wild on the mountains and in
the countryside can be freely picked and fish can be pulled from the
sea with a simple line and hook. With very little effort you can
really eat extremely cheaply and healthily. The people of Greece are
warm, generous and hospitable. Food has always been a part of this
hospitality and you couldn't visit a Greek home without being
offered something to eat and drink. It would be rude not to offer
something to a guest and equally discourteous to refuse.
The
Greek lifestyle and the seasonal availability of ingredients are
reflected in their national cuisine. If you should ever be invited
to an authentic Greek table you would have great difficulty
overcoming the surprise brought about from the bombardment of
sensations and tastes. Most importantly, however, eating in Greece
is a social occasion.
In the Marketplace:
It is early morning and still pleasantly cool when the first trucks
arrive. Athens market is
preparing for another hectic working day. Someone, somewhere is throwing a
bucket of water onto the concrete and brushing away the remains of the
previous day's garbage. By now, you can hear the clanking of crates being
stacked on top of each other and the first morning greetings being
exchanged along with good wishes for the day. The trick of the Market when
the customers appear is to attract their attention by acclaiming the goods
in a loud voice.
Tomatoes. Through
the tomato (lycopersicon) is now so widespread, the Greeks were quite late
in discovering it for use in their cuisine. The original tropical plant
from the Peruvian and Ecuadorian Andes was already being cultivated by the
Aztecs in Mexico. Columbus brought it back to Europe from his second
journey to America, but until about 1820, it was still though of as a
purely decorative plant. Since then the tomato has developed into one of
the most important vegetables all over the world and is grown principally
in Europe and America. With its versatility, delicate flavor and bright
red color, the tomato has long been established in Greece too. There is
good reason for the Country salad (Greek salad) to be considered the king
of Greek salads. The Greek tomato industry is in third place in world
production after the American and Italian industries. As the tomato plant
has very few natural enemies, it copes very well without chemical
assistance and still grows rapidly.
Eggplant. Not very
long ago, it was considered an exotic vegetable in mush of Europe. By
contrast, in India, where it originated and in China, eggplant has been
one of the favorite vegetables for thousands of years and has a firm place
in many national dishes. The Arabs brought it to Europe in the 13th
century and until recently it was only cultivated in the very warm and
sunny areas around the Mediterranean. It has been grown in Italy since
about 1550, a little later in the neighboring countries. The plant,
related to tomatoes and nightshades and thanks to modern methods including
greenhouses, has found its way as far as the Scandinavia.
Potatoes are an
essential part of Greek cuisine and are just as popular an appetizer as
they are a main dish, whether fried, baked, or boiled. However, when this food was first introduced about 150 years
ago, it caused such controversy that Ioannes Antonios Capodistrias (1776 -
1831), the first government chef of the young Greek state, allegedly had
to resort to a cunning ploy to get his extremely suspicious countrymen to
accept this unknown food. So, instead of handing potatoes out freely, as
he had intended, he ordered his soldiers to appear to guard them. This
immediately aroused the curiosity of the farmers, who promptly stole them!
Bay or Laurel leaves.
Legend has it that Apollo fell in love with the nymph, Daphne, who
however, rejected his advances. Chased through the woods by the stubborn
god, who refused to be rejected. Daphne sought the help of Gaea, the
goddess of the earth, who turned the nymph into a laurel or bay tree (the
Greek word for such a tree being dafni). All Apollo could
then do was to break off a branch, which he wore in his hair from that
moment on. Therefore laurel groves were planted in shrines to Apollo,
Apollo's muses wore laurel branches and Pythia, the chief priestess who
ascended the laurel-bedecked seat of the oracle of Apollo at Delphi,
chewed bay leaves. In both musical and athletic competitions held at
shrines to Apollo, the victors received laurel wreaths, the use of laurel
being a token of victory and honor.
 Squid & Octopus are
both mollusks of the cephalopod family ( Cephalopoda). They owe their name
to the fact their tentacles grow directly out their head. In classical
times, they were not only a popular and common source of food, but were
also one of the best studied creatures in classical zoology. Their
ability to change color as a means of camouflage was a source of great
fascination. Cephalopods have an ink sac from which they can eject a
dark ink-like liquid to "screen" themselves from
predators.
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