Vegan Tahini Muffins

In Orthodox religion during the 48 days of Lent, which is the fasting period, no animal products are allowed to be eaten.    Fasting doesn’t have to be boring or a torture, so I am always trying to create something out of the usual.

I was inspired to make these tahini muffins last fall, when Chef Jeena posted a recipe for Wholemeal Muffins.  Those muffins looked so good that I wanted to recreate them immediately but unfortunately they had eggs and milk in them.   I made Jeena’s recipe but instead of adding milk and eggs I added tahini and orange juice in the mixture.  I filled them with a prune jam I had made and although they tasted great, I didn’t like their texture as they were kind of sticky and the muffins were flat.  I never posted about these muffins because I wanted to perfect them first.

I discussed this with Jeena and she told me to replace the eggs with flaxseeds.  Now that was new to me!!  I had never used flaxseeds before nor did I know anything about them.

I made a thorough google search to learn about these seeds and I was amazed to see that they are high in Omega 3 fatty acids and rich in fiber.  In antiquity they were used as medicine.  You can read all about flaxseeds here.

I had forgotten all about these muffins and flaxseeds until this morning when I read Joumana’s Tahini Brownies, so as I had all the ingredients  I needed at home, except the jam, I made them a few hours ago.

I don’t usually post my recipes immediately as I have lots of older recipes which are waiting patiently for me to post them, but I was so excited that I had to share these with you.

In Greece we can get plain tahini but there is also a tahini mixed with honey.  If you can’t get the sweet tahini, just mix enough honey until it is sweet.  I made some of the muffins with only tahini and in some I mixed some pecans and dried cranberries.  I must say that both were perfect.

Vegan Tahini Muffins

Preparation time: 25 minutes

Baking time: 20 – 25 minutes

Makes: 18 muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• (total flour:  460 grams)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ cup pecans
• ½ cup craisins
• 2 tablespoons flaxseeds
• 4 tablespoons hot water
• 150 grams margarine
• 1 cup orange juice, freshly squeezed
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• (about 100 grams tahini mixed with honey) 1 teaspoon for each muffin

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven at 350F/180C.
2. Sift flour, mix with baking powder and set aside.
3. Grease or line your muffin tins with muffin cases.
4. In a spice grinder/food processor blend the flax seeds until powdered and mix with water until it is nice and frothy.
5. Whisk margarine with sugar until fluffy. To this, add the orange juice and orange zest and mix well. At this point the mixture will look like it has curdled but don’t worry about that. Add the flaxseed mixture which will now look gelatinous.
6. Finally add the flour and baking powder and mix until incorporated.
7. Place a tablespoon of batter in the muffin tins. Add a teaspoon of tahini and cover with more batter. The muffin tins should be filled by ¾.
8. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
9. Move the muffin tin to a cooling rack and let it cool for just 5 minutes. Then remove the muffins from the pan and cool it completely on a wire rack.

Kopiaste and Kali Orexi,

Tags: Muffins, nistisima, Tahini, Vegan

I feel embarrassed that I have never posted this dish before.  Although this is a staple dish in all Greek households and I cook it very often, I have somehow forgotten to post about it.

Fasolia (phaseolus lunatus) gigantes, meaning “giant” are similar to elephant beans, lima beans or butter beans, but if you can find Greek beans from Kozani they are the best Greek variety.

This vegetarian dish is baked in a delicious tomato sauce until the beans absorb all the juices and flavour.  It can be cooked in advanced and it only improves with time.  Leftovers can be served as an appetizer.

If you ever visit Greece, this is a dish you should not miss as you can easily find it in most restaurants.

When I found out about the event Kopiaste to AWED: Greek, hosted by Experiments, Emotions, Experiences with food, and created by DK of Chef in You,  I took a look at the recipes I have not posted yet and I thought this is the most characteristic Greek dish I could participate at this event.

Fasolia Gigantes Plaki sto Fourno (Giant Baked Beans)

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour 30 mnts boiling / 1 hour 15 mnts in the oven

Serves: 4 - 5

Ingredients:

• 300 grams Kozani gigantes beans
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 spring onions, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/3 cup of olive oil
• 6 ripe tomatoes, peeled and blended or 1 can of whole tomatoes (500 grams)
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/3 cup white dry wine
• 1 cup of parsley, finely chopped
• 1 -2 stalks celery ribs, finely chopped
• 3 big carrots, grated
• 2 tablespoons fresh oregano, finely chopped
• A few sprigs of dill, finely chopped (optional)
• 1 tablespoon salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon thyme honey
• ½ teaspoon of thyme
• ½ teaspoon of chilli pepper (optional)
• 2 cups water

Directions:

1. Soak beans in plenty of water, overnight.
2. Drain and add fresh water and bring to a boil and remove any froth with a slotted ladle. Drain them again and add fresh water and bay leaves and bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer until almost cooked (about 1 hour and 30 minutes) and then drain and discard the bay leaves.
3. Preheat oven at 180^o C 350^o F.
4. Heat olive oil in a sautéing pan and sauté onions and garlic until translucent.
5. Add chopped celery, carrots, parsley, fresh oregano and beans and mix.
6. Add wine, honey, tomato, salt and pepper and water and mix.
7. Cover the sautéing pan or cook in a casserole dish in the oven for about 1 hour and 15 minutes until the beans are soft and the sauce is thick, mixing at regular intervals.

Have a lovely weekend and Kali Orexi!

Tags: beans, fasolia, gigantes, Greek, lenten, Nistisimo, Vegetarian

This is an old recipe I made a couple of years ago but I prepared it a little bit different this time. First of all I have sliced the chicken in a different way and then I tied it with kitchen string. I bought filleted chicken breasts so they were without the skin and bones and as I did not have any chicken stock at home, I prepared the sauce with wine and a vegetable bouillon.

I also cooked it quite differently from the previous time and the chicken was very juicy inside. The only thing I regret is that I did not have any mushrooms to make the sauce with but still it was very flavourful.

Braised Chicken breasts stuffed with spinach, graviera and bacon

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves: 7

Ingredients:

• 7 slices cooked bacon
• 200 grams of spinach
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 7 chicken breasts, each cut in the middle without separating
• Seasoning: a pinch of salt, pepper, tarragon
• 7 slices graviera
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ vegetable bouillon
• 1 cups water
• ½ cup white dry wine
• 3 – 4 tablespoons flour
• Salt and white pepper

Directions:

1. Cut each chicken breast in the middle, so that it opens flat. Season with salt, pepper, and tarragon and set aside.
2. Wash the spinach and place it in a pot without any water. Bring to a boil until it wilts and remove from heat and drain excess water.
3. In a non stick frying pan brown the bacon on both sides. Discard the fat and add 1 tablespoon olive oil. Sauté the garlic and onion until translucent and then add the spinach and mix. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
4. Add a slice of bacon and cheese and a spoonful of spinach on each chicken breast, fold and secure with a toothpick. Then with a kitchen string tie the chicken breast and remove the toothpick.
5. Heat 1 cup of water and dissolve the vegetable bouillon and set aside.
6. In a non stick frying pan heat the remaining oil and sauté the chicken breasts on all sides. Place them in a pyrex. Add the wine and  the vegetable bouillon and bake in a preheated oven at 180o C for ten minutes. Turn on the other side and bake for another ten minutes.
7. Remove chicken to a platter and remove the string.
8. In the frying pan heat the oil again, add the flour and make a roux until it begins to brown. Add as much pan juice needed to make the sauce.  Taste and season with a pinch of salt and a pinch of white pepper and mix until the sauce is ready.

Serve with a rice pilaf.

Kali Orexi!

Tags: Chicken, Greek cheese, Poultry, spinach

I have received a couple of awards from my fellow bloggers and I wish to apologize if sometimes, I am late to acknowledge them, but I always do.

I’d like to thank Alison, at Alison’s trails, who is from Romania and although she blogs in her language, the language is not a barrier to create new friendships.   Thank you Alison!

Cheryl, of Rice, Beans and pastichio is an American living in Thessaloniki married to a Greek and blogs about her everyday life and her wonderful family.  Cheryl has given me the Happy 101 Award.  Thanks very much Cheryl.

1. Simple everyday things that sometimes we take for granted such as watching a sunrise, a rainbow, listening to birds chirping,

2. Spending time talking to family and friends.

3. Traveling/Experiencing new things: culture, food, new places, philosophies, music, people.

4. Cooking and seeing everybody happy with what they have eaten.

5. Creating new recipes.

6. Discovering new talents.

7. Blogging and communicating with all of you.

8. Making a difference with what I do/ who I am.

9. Seeing other people happy.

10. Just being healthy and alive.

The task of passing on the awards is always difficut as so many good friend deserve them, so I am passing these awards to all of you leaving a comment at this post and please accept both awards and have some fun sharing 10 things that make you happy.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Tags: Awards

I’ve been cooking lots of healthy Mediterranean dishes lately and fish is in out diet at least once a week.    This dish is so easy to make with few ingredients but still it’s so delicious.

One of my favourite salads I love pairing with fish, is one my mom used to make with beetroots, potato, eggs, tomato and cucumber and a simple vinaigrette.

I boiled more beetroots and used the leaves as well to make another salad which I paired with a Caper Vinaigrette which matched perfect both with the fish and the beetroots.

Tsipoura Sti Ladokolla (Sea Bream)

Serves: 4 -5 Preparation time: 10 mins - Cooking time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

3 Gilthead Sea Breams about 400 grams each

1 lemon cut into slices

Oregano

Tarragon

Salt and freshly ground Black pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:

Ask you fish monger to scale and gut the fish then wash and drain.

Cut a big piece of parchment paper and put it in your baking tin and put the fish on the paper and season with salt, pepper, oregano, tarragon on both sides as well as inside and put two slices of lemon in the cavity. Sprinkle with a drop of olive oil on top and cover with the parchment paper.

Bake at a preheated oven at 150o C for 15 minutes and then turn on the other side for another 15 minutes.

Caper Vinaigrette

Serves: 4 -5 Preparation time: 5 mins

2 tablespoons capers

5 small gherkins

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon wine vinegar

1 small clove garlic

A pinch of salt, pepper, oregano & tarragon

Put all the ingredients in the food processor and mix until it is creamy.

Beetroot Salad

Serves: 4 -5 Preparation time: 10 mins - Cooking time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

3 medium sized boiled beetroots

3 medium sized potatoes

3 eggs, hard boiled

1 tomato, peeled and sliced

1 cucumber, peeled and sliced

Salt

Olive oil

Vinegar

Directions:

Place the beetroots in the pressure cooked with water. Wash the potatoes with skin on, put the basket on top and cook them for about 20 minutes.

Boil eggs separately for five minutes from boiling point and then put them in cold water.

Peel and cut everything into small pieces, add olive oil, vinegar and salt and mix well.

Refrigerate for an hour before serving.

Kali Orexi!

Tags: Fish, healthy, Mediterranean, Salads, Sauces, sea bream, Seafood, tsipoura, Vinaigrette

I was going through some of my older posts and came across these éclairs I made a long time ago and I thought that these would be a perfect Valentine’s Day dessert.

I was really afraid to make éclairs as I used to think that they would be very complicated to make but they are really very easy to make. I watched this video in order to understand how they are made and I filled them with a pastry cream I have been doing for years. The chocolate icing I made was not enough so in the recipe I have doubled the amount.

Chocolate Éclairs for Valentine’s Day

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 35 minutes

Makes: 15

Ingredients:

For choux pastry

• 115 grams butter (1 stick)
• 235 ml water
• 125 grams/4.40oz all-purpose flour
• A pinch of salt
• 4 eggs

For the pastry cream

• 4 cups of fresh milk
• 2 tablespoons of flour and 4 corn flour
• 6 tablespoons of sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 75 grams/2.65oz couverture chocolate

For the chocolate icing

• 200 grams/8oz caster sugar
• 200ml/7oz water
• 250 grams/4oz dark chocolate
• 50grams/2oz unsalted butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a baking tin with parchment paper.
2. In a saucepan, combine butter and water. Bring to a boil, stirring until butter melts completely. Reduce heat to low, and add flour and salt. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until mixture leaves the sides of the pan and begins to form a stiff ball. Remove from heat and place in your mixer bowl and attach the dough hook. At medium speed, add eggs, one at a time, until incorporated completely after each addition.
3. With a spoon or a pastry bag fitted with a large tip, spoon or pipe dough onto parchment sheet leaving about an inch in between.
4. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven, then reduce heat to 180^o C to 350 ^o degrees F) and bake about 20 minutes more. Cool completely on a wire rack.
5. For the filling, heat milk keeping a few tablespoons cold milk to dissolve the dry ingredients.
6. In another sauce pan add the flour and corn flour (starch) mixture, the egg yolks, sugar, vanilla and the cold milk and stir well with an egg beater.
7. When the milk is hot, pour to mixture stirring constantly. Put on the heat and mix until cream sets. Add butter and couverture chocolate and mix until they melt and are incorporated.
8. Slice lengthwise each choux with a sharp knife and pipe in the pastry cream or fill with a spoon.
9. For the icing, place the sugar and water in a small saucepan over low heat and bring to boil mixing to dissolve sugar. Lower heat and boil for 3 minutes to make a syrup. Remove from the heat and wait for a few minutes and when the syrup is still warm but not hot add the chocolate and butter. Stir until both have melted and blended to a smooth, sauce.
10. Leave to cool, stirring occasionally. When the sauce starts to thicken, it’s ready to ice the éclairs.

Hope you all have a lovely Valentine’s Day.

Tags: Chocolates, Eclairs, French, Valentine's

If you can get fresh anchovies, called gavros in Greek, forget those canned, salty ones and you must definitely try this dish.

Gavros is one of my favourite small fishes because it is not only cheap but it also tastes good and of course a good source of heart-healthy Omega 3 fatty oil acids which prevent cardiovascular diseases.   We all know that Omega 3 acids do not increase cholesterol levels and help lower triglycerids.  Combined with olive oil (monosaturated fats and vitamin E) tomatoes (lycopene), garlic (allisin), parsley (vitamin C) makes this dish full of antioxidant nutrients which protect the heart vessels.

Gavros Ladorigani (baked anchovies)

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Baking time: 40 minutes

Serves: 4

• 1 kilo gavros
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 cup Olive oil (reserve a few tablespoons for the end)
• Oregano
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1- 2 cloves garlic
• 6 tomatoes, cut into slices

Directions:

1. Wash gavros and remove the head and the guts. Wash again and drain.
2. Marinate gavros with the olive oil, lemon juice and herbs and spices for at least 30 minutes.
3. Cut tomatoes into slices and place a layer on your baking dish.  Then neatly arrange a layer of gavros on top of the tomatoes, as well as all the marinade ingredients.
4. Finally, add the tomato slices on top and sprinkle some salt, freshly ground black pepper, oregano and the remaining olive oil.
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C for 30 minutes. When the tomatoes are almost cooked, mix the fish carefully not to break it and cook for another 10 minutes.

This dish can be served as a mezes (appetizer) but also as a main course accompanied by a filling, healthy and tasty potato salad, which I made, avoiding mayonnaise but using olive oil.   If you do not have a microwave, wrap the potato in aluminum foil and bake in the oven for about an hour.

Patatosalata (healthy potato salad) – Recipe by Ivy

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Baking time: 10 minutes (in microwave)

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 4 medium potatoes
• 2 spring onions
• 4 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
• 5 gherkins
• 2 tablespoons capers
• Oregano

Salad dressing:

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 clove garlic

Directions:

1. Wash potatoes and bake them with skin on.
2. Add all the salad dressing ingredients in a food processor and process.
3. Peel potatoes and cut into small pieces. Pour the salad dressing on top while the potatoes are still hot.
4. Add the remaining ingredients and mix.
5. Sprinkle some freshly ground black pepper on top and a pinch of oregano.

The winner of the giveaway in my previous post is Jeannie Reeves.   Congratulations Jeannie and please contact me with your full address.

Tags: Gavros, Potatoes, Salads, Seafood

1st February today and “Kalo Mina” as we Greeks wish each other at the beginning of each month, which is a wish to have a great month.

I have been asked by Sierra Rose to review her cookbook, “Mom’s Favorite Recipes” which is a collection of classic American recipes, like Chocolate Chip  Cookies, Southern Style Nut Fudge, Pumpkin Pie,  Candied Sweet Potatoes or Yums, Macaroni Salad, Coleslaw, Pot Roast etc.

In order to do this, I chose her Lemon Meringue Pie, lemon being one of my favourite ingredients and flavour.  Sierra uses a store bought 9 inch pie crust but as I could not get one at the supermarket I had to make one myself.

This was a very fun recipe to make, simple yet delicious. The cream is thickened with cornstarch in addition to egg yolks, and contains no milk. It reminded me something between custard and Cypriot mahalebi and was very easy to make. The cream was perfect in taste, not too sweet and the flavour of lemon was well balanced and not overwhelming and I am definitely going to use this lemon cream in the future as well.

I am sorry I have no other photos to share but soon as I made the Lemon Meringue Pie last week, my back problems kept me in bed for a few days, so the pie was eaten and I could not get any more pictures.

Tart Shell

Ingredients:

• 200 grams all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 100 grams butter 10 grams shortening (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 egg beaten

Directions:

1. Sift together the flour and salt and set aside.
2. Place the butter and shortening in your mixer and beat until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten egg, beating just until incorporated.
3. Add flour mixture and mix just until it forms a ball.
4. Flatten dough into disk, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
5. Place the dough on parchment paper and flatten with your hands. Cover with cling film and roll out the pastry to fit into your tart pan. With the parchment paper it is easy to turn the pastry round as you are rolling, it never sticks on the counter, no flour is required to be added and it is easy to flip into the tart pan.
6. Preheat oven to 180^o C (350^o F) and place rack in center of oven.
7. When you have inverted the dough in the tart pan, cut off any dough, which is in excess, cover with parchment paper and fill tart pan with pie weights, rice or beans, making sure the weights are to the top of the pan and evenly distributed over the entire surface.
8. Bake crust for 15 minutes, remove weighs and bake another 5 minutes until crust is dry and lightly golden brown.
9. Cool crust on wire rack before filling.

Lemon Meringue Pie, by Sierra Rose

Cream Ingredients:

• ¼ cup corn starch
• 1 cup sugar
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 ½ cup water
• 1 teaspoon lemon rind (optional)
• 1 tablespoon butter or margarine.
• 1 9 inch pie crust

Meringue Ingredients:

• 3 egg whites
• 6 tablespoons sugar

Directions:

1. Combine corn starch, sugar & lemon juice. Mix well.
2. Beat egg yolks, add to corn starch mixture. Add water.
3. Bring mixture just to boiling over medium heat, simmer gently for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Remove from heat, add margarine or butter & optional lemon rind. Stir until thoroughly blended.
5. Pour into baked pie shell.
6. Preheat oven to 200^o C (400^o F).
7. With electric mixer at high speed beat egg whites until soft peaks are formed, gradually adding the sugar.
8. Continue to beat at high speed to form stiff, glossy peaks. Spread over filling, sealing entire edge of pie crust to prevent shrinking.
9. Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.
10. Cool on cake rack away from draft for two hours.
11. Refrigerate, serve cold.

Sierra was kind enough to offer a copy of her cookbook for my readers, from U.S.A.  So if you would like to win just leave a comment at this post.  Only one entry per person and P.O.Box addresses are not acceptable.

The winner will be seclected by Random.Org and will be announced in a few days.

Tags: Creams, Giveaway, Lemons, Meringue, Tarts and Pies

I am sorry I haven’t been around lately but this past week I wasn’t feeling very well, so I wasn’t up to visiting, commenting, writing blog posts, or even doing much with the book, except for editing a few recipes.

I have some awards to acknowledge and today Nadjibella made my day by giving me a sunshine award.  Now that I am feeling much better, I can see the sun shining gloriously again and hope to visit all of you within the next days.

First of all Chapot, from Dans ma Coquerie, recettes de Cuisine, has passed a Happy New year Award.  Merci Chapot and I am really sorry it took me so long to acknowledge!!

Even if January has almost passed, I am still passing this award to some friends.  I know that it is not time to wish somebody Happy New Year but if you wish to acknowledge you are free to choose one of the other two awards posted below:

The first Award goes to my Greek friends and to some friends who live in Greece.

Peter, of Kalofagas

Peter, of Souvlaki for the Soul

Marianna, of History of Greek Food

Elly, of Elly says Opa

Maria, of Kali Orexi

Liz, of The Making of Cupcakes

Niki, of Baking & Pastry

Cheryl, of Rice, Beans & Pistachios

Tobias, of Tobias Cooks

Magda, of My Little Expat Kitchen

Elena, from Bucataria Elenei, has given me a Friendship Award.  Thanks Elena!!

This Award goes to:

Rosa, of Rosa’s Yummy Yums

Natalia, of Gatti, Fili e Farina

Jen, of The Leftover Queen

Angie, of  Angie’s Recipes

Natasha, of 5-Star Foodie

Ben, of What’s Cooking

Gaye, of Laws of the Kitchen

Nadjibella, of Saveurs et Gourmandises

Heni, of Simplicity by the Sea

Marc, of No Recipes

Tina, of Choosy Beggars

Adam, of Baking with Dynamite

Nadjibella, of Saveurs et Gourmandises, has passed on to me a sunshine award.  Thank you Nadjibella, mon amie, I needed that today.

I am passing this award on to the following:

Chapot, of Dans ma Coquerie, recettes de Cuisine,

Pierre, of Le Blog de Pierre

Joumana, Tastes of Beirut

Erica, of My Colombian Recipes

Reeni, of Cinnamon & Spice

Karine, of Food Gourmand

Simona, of Briciole

Kevin, of Closet Cooking

Alison, of Alison’s Trials

Soma, of e-Curry

Teresa, of Mexican-American Border Cooking

Elena, of Bucataria Elenei

I am really sorry if I have missed some other friends out but there will surely be another time.

Have a nice week-end all of you and think of what you can do for the people of Haiti. 

Tags: Awards

During my recent trip to Cyprus we took a trip to my brother in law’s village. On our way, we passed from my mother’s village which is called Kyvides and is on the road which leads to the “krassohoria” which is the wine producing area of Limassol.

The settlement of Pano Kyvides, according to the Great Cyprus Encyclopaedia, “existed at least from the Frankish period” and is linked to the medieval family de Quevides.

De Mas Latri mentions that during the Frankish period the village belonged to the Counts of Edessa. He also adds that in 1468, Pano Kivides, as well as the villages Lysos, Peristerona and Pelathousa were given as presents from the King of Cyprus James II to his mother Marietta of Patra. Regarding this action by James II, the Great Cyprus Encyclopaedia mentions that “possibly King James had at the time acquired the village by Hector de Quevides (if the village belonged to him). Hector de Quevides, a kingdom official, had been executed by James for being a traitor a few years before (in 1461), because he had taken the side of James’ opponent, queen Charlotte.”

The old village of Kyvides was destroyed by a major earthquake and the new village Pano Kyvides was built 3 km east of the old village in 1970 because of continuous landslips.   As you may see from the collage the village has lots of new houses because it has a lovely climate and because of its proximity to Limassol, a lot of families build their summer or permanent houses there.

In the collage above, the monument of the old lady on the top left-hand side is the sculptured bust of a heroess, Aggeliki Sotiriou, known by the name Philimon, a woman fighter of Cyprus liberating fight of 1955-59, which is situated next to the medieval chapel of Stavrou (chapel of the Holy Cross), on a hill, just outside the village, picture on bottom left and the kafeneio (coffee shop) she used to own, bottom right corner of the picture.

Lemesos (Limassol) district is the center of the wine trade and wine making in Cyprus. The cultivation of the vine in Cyprus is as ancient as the roots of the people of Cyprus. The cultivation of the vine in Lemesos is also as ancient as the Kingdom of Amathus and Curium many centuries B.C.

It is a well known fact, confirmed by various historical references, that wine has been produced in Cyprus for over 4,000 years until now.

Ancient people, worshippers of nature and beauty, chose the famous wine producing island of Cyprus as the center for the adoration of Aphrodite the Goddess of fertility and love and of Dionysus the God of wine.

From the beginning almost all exports of wine and spirits were made from the port of Lemesos. Also in Lemesos there exists the region of Commandaria (in Greek Κουμανδαρία), which is a de Facto wine with an appellation of origin.  The method of making commandaria is basically the same today as it used to be many centuries ago.   Also in the Lemesos district there are the two well known vine areas for the production of the quality table wines, Krasohoria and Pitsilia.

Lemesos is commonly recognized as the wine-making town of Cyprus and every September there is a Wine Festival taking place in the Municipal Garden. In 1987 the International Office of the Vine and Wine (O.I.V.) made a suggestion to declare Lemesos as the “City of Vine and Wine”.

The same year on October 31, during the General Assembly of the International Office of the Vine and Wine, which took place at Marino in Italy, Lemesos (Limassol) was declared as the “City of Vine and Wine” and the president of the International Office of the Vine and Wine, Mr. Mario Fregoni, awarded a medal and diploma to the Mayor of Lemesos.

Commandaria,  which is one of the best Cypriot wines,  is a sweet dessert wine, produced in Cyprus for millenia, made from sundried grapes, xynisteri and mavro (black).  In fact it has been documented since the 8^th century b.C., by the Greek poet Hesiod, who named it Cypriot Manna. The name Commandaria was given much later, during the 12^th century A.D. Thus it has the distinction of being the world’s oldest named wine still in production.

The history of this wine is that during the crusades, Richard the Lionheart, on his way to the holy lands in 1191, had to stay on the island after great thunderstorm.  He and his men disembarked at the port of Limassol where he stayed and soon conquered the island. He built his castle in Colossi (my maternal grandmother was from this village) and during his wedding with Berengaria, they greatly enjoyed this local red wine. Richard the Lionheart pronounced Commandaria as the “wine of the kings and the king of the wines”.

By the end of the century, he sold the island to the Templar Knights, who then sold it to Guy de Lusignan. However, they kept a large feudal estate close to Limassol, where they would cultivate vines. This estate was referred to as “La Grande Commanderie”, to distinguish it from two other smaller estates, one close to Paphos and the other near Kyrenia. The knights learned to produce this local wine and when they started exporting it to the royal courts of Europe, it was then referred to as the wine of the Commanderie, which then became known as Commandaria and the area where it was produced is now known as the Coumadaria region.

It has been ascertained that in the 15^th century vines from Cyprus were planted in Madeira by the Portuguese, whence the Madeira wine has been produced, similar to the Cyprus “Commandaria”.  This information is also written on the bottles of Madeira wine.  Something similar is the case of the Hungarian Tokay wine which is similar to a good “Commandaria”. The Marsala wine also seems to be a copy of “Commandaria”. Thibaut IV the most renowned Count of Champagne, returning from the Crusades came to Cyprus to visit his cousin, Alice, Queen of Cyprus. In Cyprus it seems he was overwhelmed by its vineyards, its wines and its roses because it was looked upon as the most acceptable and covered present to be given, vine and roses. The vines were planted in the area of the Marne and from these grapes the world-famous Champagne was produced.

Sources:  Wikipedia, Limassol Municipality, Pano Kyvides Community, Cyprus Wine Museum, Google Maps.

Commandaria braised Pork with leeks and plum sauce

I have experimented with Commandaria a lot of times, although I have not posted many recipes.

This is a recipe I made during last summer, when I was experimenting a lot with poached fruit and wine. I cooked the pork in a sautéing pan together with leeks and spring onions and cooked it with Commandaria wine and pomegranate or cranberry juice. The plumbs were poached separately and some of them were added to the dish when it was almost cooked. After cooking the meat, it was removed from the sautéing pan and everything in the sautéing pan was pureed in a food processor. I then prepared a roux and added the pureed ingredients to make the sauce, to which I added the meat again.

I am sorry I am not posting the recipe but I have to keep some of my recipes, that will go in the cookbook, unpublished.

Tags: Commadaria, Cypriot wines, Κουμανδαρία, leeks, Pork, prunes