Good morning and wishing you a happy weekend and a wonderful summer!
The farmers’ market in Nafplion is twice a week, every Wednesday and Saturday. Now that we are just the two of us living here in Assini, we don’t really need to visit the farmers’ market twice a week but I enjoy visiting Nafplion and wandering in the old town, as often as I can.
Seeing all the fresh fruit and vegetables makes me want to buy everything. Some times I get carried away and end up buying more than we need but I can assure you that it never gets wasted.
Today’s post has 5 new recipes featuring peaches and apricots. Although I cook a lot of new savory recipes and my intention was to post one today, I don’t know how I end up posting mostly desserts. Since I posted a Peach and Apricot Jam in my other blog, I decided to post these recipes as well, as these fruit are in season and I don’t have to make detailed posts as this is a rather an easy post adding mostly a description and some links and pictures.
Recipe 1:
Recipe 2:
If you do not want to make a jam, a very easy way is to make a fruit sauce to use it in desserts, on top of ice cream, yoghurt, waffles, crepes etc. Instead of peaches, you may make it with apricots, plums, etc., or a combination of fruit.
Homemade Peach sauce
In a non stick frying pan add 4 peeled and stoned peaches. Add 1/2 cup sugar, any flavour you like, such as vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cardamon, fragrant geraniums, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tbsp rose or blossom water (or just plain water or brandy or liqueur of your preference). Put on the heat and mix with a spoon. Cook for about 10 minutes or until the fruit has the consistency of thick sauce.
Store in the refrigerator for 3 – 4 days.
Recipe 3:
How about a refreshing Iced Green Tea with Peach and Apricot flavour?
I have posted a similar recipe of Lemon and Mint Ice Tea. The procedure of this recipe is the same, the only difference is that I also added three lemon cubes (or about 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice). You can use whatever green tea you like and the amount of mint, cinnamon or cloves will depend on which aroma you prefer to prevail.
In order to flavour the iced tea I used about i cup of the Peach and Apricot jam I made. I avoided adding the chunks of fruit, which were used in another recipe you will find below, but just the thick syrup. I mixed it in the tea, tasted it until I got the desired sweetness. If you have any other homemade jam (or even store bought one, which you like) such as cherry, strawberry, quince etc. try it and tell me what you think about it. I am thinking next time to use my Mandarin Marmalade.
Strain and bottle the ice tea before refrigerating. It can be kept in the refrigerator for many days, at least I have kept it up to a week.
Recipe 4:
Apricot & Peach Kourabiedes Crumble Pudding
This recipe was intended to become a Peach and Apricot Crumble.
Since I have posted many similar recipes and did not plan to post one more, I did not bother to take any step by step photos of the crumble.
To make the crumble I used regular butter and leftover ewe’s butter from Easter and it tasted just like kourabiedes. You can use any recipe from the links given below. I mixed the fruit with petimezi (grape molasses) and corn flour.
However, the filling turned out to be tart because of the peaches and my husband and I did not like it at all. We tried adding some icing sugar on top of the crumble but it still tasted tart. I tried it with some honey but again nothing changed. There was no way to serve this dessert to friends but it would also be a pity to throw it away. I tried thinking of ways to salvage it and here is what I did:
I removed most of the crumble and added (about half cup) honey. I mixed it with the cooked fruit, tasted it and added more until I liked the sweetness. Then I prepared a lemon scented pastry cream (1 dose) adding 2 more tbsp sugar.
I used a new pyrex and added a layer of cream, the fruit in the middle, the remaining cream on top and finally I crumbled the crumble again on top. So thanks to the tart fruit I created this delicious dessert.
Recipe 5:
The last recipe is a combination of two previous recipes of mine, which you will find below: The cake with Caramelized Ppeppermint Apricots and the Marbled Arbaroriza Cake with an apricot glaze.
I made a Sponge Cake. I used free range eggs and that’s why the sponge looks so yellow. I cut it in the middle and placed the ring around the cake. I emptied 200 grams of cream cheese in a bowl and added about 1/2 cup Peach and Apricot Jam. I mixed it with a hand mixer until combined, tasted it until it reached the taste I liked. You can add more or less jam depending how you prefer it.
I added the cream on the sponge and added some of the chunks of fruit I had previously removed from the jam and covered it with the other half of the sponge.
In the same bowl in which I made the cream I added 1/2 cup jam, 1 tbsp rose water and icing sugar to make the glaze. I started with about half cup sugar which I added gradually and mixed it. If needed, add it all or more till it reaches the consistency you like and glaze the cake. If you like you can add 1 tbsp butter as well but I skipped the butter.
Refrigerate for an hour before serving.
It’s Saturday again and I am now off to the Farmers” Market again. Let’s see what’s in the cards to make this week!
Other Relevant Recipes:
Cobbler, Crisp, Crumble, Grunt, etc.
Fig, Honey and Fragrant Geranium Crumble
Cake with Caramelized Peppermint Apricots
Marbled Arbaroriza Cake with Fragrant Geranium and Apricot Glaze
Kopiaste and Kali Orexi,
Tags: Apricot Sponge Cake, Apricots, fruit preserves, fruit sauces, Iced Green Tea, Nafplion farmers' market, Peach and Apricot Jam, peach and apricot kourabiedes crumble, Peach Sauce, peaches
As I have said in a previous post, Galaktoboureko or galaktomboureko is one of my favourite Greek desserts.
There is a place in Southern Attica, specifically in Vari, called Vlahika, where galaktoboureko is famous because it is made with ewe’s milk and ewe’s butter. A few decades ago, this area was full of sheep. As Vari is near the seaside it became a popular summer resort and fields where sheep grazed became holiday houses. A lot of tavernas opened in the area serving only lamb and there you could buy full fat Greek yoghurt made with ewe’s milk and confectioneries selling desserts made with ewe’s milk. Galaktoboureko was one the most prized desserts. The Athenians would visit there (and I use past tense as with the price of petrol and the economic crisis it’s no longer feasible) for their Sunday afternoon drive, just to eat galaktoboureko or in the evenings to enjoy food in their tavernas.
My recipe today is a twist to the classic recipe. Sometimes we see a small addition in a recipe and think «why didn” I think of that»? It’s these small ideas which add your signature to a classic recipe, especially if it something even better. I have lots of creative ideas and after making something new, I usually google search to see if someone else has made it before me but usually, most of what I search already exists. In this case, however, I am very happy to see that I was the first one to think of making this luscious dessert, even more decadent by adding lemon curd in the cream and more lemon in the syrup. If you love lemon flavour, you will love this one! The taste is just amazing!!
Ivy’s Lemony Galaktoboureko, recipe adapted from my cookbook «Mint, Cinnamon & Blossom Water»
Ingredients:
- 12 halved phyllo sheets
- 2 heaped tbsp ewe’s butter
Lemon Curd Semolina Cream:
- 4 cups full fat milk (preferably ewe’s milk)3 eggs
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 cup fine semolina
- ½ tsp vanilla essence
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 1 cup lemon curd
Syrup:
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 1 ¼ cups water
- ¼ cup homemade lemonade
- 1 small stick cinnamon
- 3- 4 cloves
- 1 lemon peel
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
Directions:
- Begin by preparing the syrup first so that it is not too hot when galaktoboureko is baked. Put the sugar, water, lemon peel, cinnamon stick and cloves in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Mix in the lemonade and lemon juice and remove from the heat.
- In a bowl whisk sugar and eggs until creamy. Add lemon zest and vanilla and mix.
- Heat the milk until tepid. Add beaten egg mixture and stir until incorporated. Add semolina and mix. Put on the heat and mix continuously with a balloon whisk, until the cream is thick. Remove from the heat and mix in the lemon curd.
- In a small pot melt the butter.
- Grease a baking pan 32 x 23 x 6 cm or 12.5 x 9 x 2.5 inches, with butter.
- Cut the phyllos in the middle. Fold the remaining half and set aside for another use. Brush each phyllo with the butter and place alternating from horizontally to vertically, part of it covering the sides of the baking tin. Brush each new addition of phyllo with butter. After adding half of the phyllos add the cream. Start folding the protruding edges, one layer at a time, adding another phyllo on top and brushing with butter. Continue adding the protruding phyllos, brush with butter, add a phyllo and continue until all have been added.
- Brush the last one with butter and score lightly until the knife reaches the level of the cream.
- Wet your hands with water and sprinkle a few drops on top. Repeat once more.
- Bake in a preheated oven to 180οC / 350oF for about 45 minutes (I baked it in a fan-forced oven to 170οC / 338oF for about 35 minutes) or until golden on top.
- Remove galaktoboureko from the oven and add the syrup graduallywith a spoon to wet it. It may seem that the syrup is too much but it will soon be absorbed.
- Set aside, until it cools and then refrigerate. Do not cover it, when still hot, so that the top remains crispy.
Kopiaste and Kali Orexi,
Tags: galaktoboureko, galaktomboureko, galaktompoureko, Greek recipes, lemon curd, syrup desserts, with phyllo
Mothers Day Poem
A girl writes a tribute to her Mom in honor of Mother’s Day.
Mom
The light in my sun.
I can’t thank you enough for all you have done.
You make me smile when I am sad.
You are the best mother a child could ever have.
You console me deeply when something’s wrong.
You know when something’s happened or something’s going on.
I appreciate the love you bring in.
You cheer me up when I lose.
You make me laugh when I win.
You turn my moon into a sun.
You’ve done too much though my life has just begun.
You give me a shelter and food to eat.
You are the soles in my shoes
The bones in my feet.
You support me and hold me tall.
You stand me high and don’t let me fall.
You make my life easier in every way.
That’s why I want to say Happy Mother’s Day!
In case you have forgotten, tomorrow, 12 May is Mother’s Day. If you think you don’t have enough time left to honour her, you still have time to get Mom a great gift by offering her my Cookbook, at the price of a card or by baking something special for her.
As a tribute to my deceased Mother, I am offering this one-day special offer of my Cookbook Mint, Cinnamon & Blossom Water, with 260 of the best traditional Greek Cypriot recipes at the price of only 6 Euros.
When sending her the e-book (in pdf format) she will receive it immediately and you can also write a message of note which will be conveyed to her together with the e-book.
On the other hand, if you want to make something really special for your mother, here is a decadent dessert she will surely love, if she likes lemons. The other day my neighbour gave me tons of lemons and check out what I made.
Lemon Curd Éclairs, recipe by Ivy
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes
Makes: 15
Ingredients:
For choux pastry (pâte à choux):
- 115 grams butter (1 stick)
- 235 ml water
- 125 grams/4.40oz all-purpose flour
- A pinch of salt
- 4 eggs
How to make Lemon Curd
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Makes: about 2 cups
Ingredients:
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup fresh lemon juice (about 5 – 6 juicy lemons)
- 2 tbsps grated lemon zest
- 1 heaped tbsp corn flour (starch)
- 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter (1 stick butter), cut into 1/8-in slices
Lemon Cream Filling:
- Half of the Lemon curd
- 125 ml heavy cream
For the Chocolate glazing:
- 125 grams couverture chocolate
- 125 grams heavy cream
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 tbsp butter
Directions:
- For the Choux Pastry: Preheat oven to 200o C / to 400 o F.
- Line a baking tin with parchment paper.
- 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.
- 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.
- Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven, then reduce heat to 180o C / to 350 o and bake about 20 minutes or until golden.
- Pierce lengthwise the side of each one to let out the steam escape and then cool them on a wire rack.
-
For the Lemon Curds: Zest the lemons with a box grater or a peeler and then juice the lemons.
-
Put the eggs, sugar, corn flour and lemon peels or zest in a food processor and mix to combine.
-
Heat the lemon juice and mix in the mixture using a balloon whisk mixing continuously until it sets.
-
Set aside until it becomes lukewarm (about 5 minutes).
-
Cut the butter into smaller pieces and mix in to combine.
-
Refrigerate and use whenever you need it.
- For the Lemon cream: To fill the éclairs use half of the curd mixed with 125 grams whipped cream.
- For the chocolate glazing: In a bain Mari (double boiler), add about 1 – 2 cm water in the pot and add a metallic bowl on top. Bring to boil, reduce heat and stir chocolate until it melts. Add the remaining ingredients and mix. Allow to cool, mixing regularly until it becomes lukewarm and pour over the eclairs.
- Refrigerate before serving.
Other Relevant Recipes:
Kopiaste and Kali Orexi,
Tags: chocolate glazing, Eclairs, lemon curd, Mint Cinnamon & Blossom Water Flavours of Cyprus Kopiaste!, Mother's day, My cookbook, special offer, what to make with lemons
We had a wonderful time during Easter. Our children came to Assini from Athens and spent Easter day with our neighbours.
We roasted a lamb on the spit, kokoretsi and sheftalia.
We Greeks, love offals and cook them in many ways. One of the best ways to try them is grilled over charcoal but a gas grill will do as well. I know that many of you may be grossed, just by hearing the word «offals» but trust me you should try them. The taste is amazing!
You can’t even say that this is a recipe because it is so simple to make. You only need some lamb or goat liver, lungs, sweetbreads, etc., and caulfat. All you have to do is season them with salt, pepper and oregano, wrap them in caulfat and then grill them.
As the leftover caulfat from Easter grilling was not enough, we just skewered the remaining offals. These were also delicious but the other ones were even tastier as the fat melts through the offals, adding extra taste.
Tourkakia, literally mean little Turks. This is a meze dish we learned in Sparta. Although I asked some of the locals who introduced us to this wonderful dish, they didn’t know why they are called so. I searched the internet to see if I could find a similar recipe with information but unfortunately, I did not find either. The only recipe I found with the name Tourkakia were some fiery cured little peppers.
There is an expression in Greek «ginomai Tourkos» which means I become a Turk, when someone becomes angry and fiery, usually, out of anger. I am not sure of their origin but my presumption is that may be the original recipe was fiery.
In any case, these are so finger licking delicious!
We grilled some on Easter Monday. Although, we still had some leftover lamb and kokoretsi from Sunday, it was our son’s name day and made some as a supplement to what was leftover.
Tourkakia
- Lamb liver, lungs, sweetbread etc
- Lamb caulfat
- Vinegar or lemon juice
- Salt and Pepper
- Oregano
- Lemon Juice
- Parsley
Directions:
- Place the offals in a pot with hot water,add some vinegar or lemon juice and allow them to soak for ten minutes. Drain and refill the pot with fresh cold water. Rince and drain.
- Cut them in small pieces and add salt, pepper and oregano and mix.
- Put a little bit of everything on the caulfat and wrap them once to enclose the offals. Cut the caulfat and continue.
- Pre-heat your gas or charcoal grill. When the charcoal is ready, put them on the grill and cook on all sides until, golden and crispy.
- Serve with some lemon juice and parsley on top.
Kopiaste and Kali Orexi,
Tags: barbecued offals, Easter, Grilled, grilled liver, grilled sweetbreads, Liver, lungs, Offals, Sparta, spleen, sweetbreads, Tourkakia
Christos Anesti to all the Orthodox readers of my blog and Chronia Polla to George or Georgia celebrating their name day today.
Today is the name day of my eldest son, George and to celebrate, I made this American Cheesecake, which I have been making for many years.
As I like making something different each time I make a few changes to the original recipe. This time I have addded Greek Yoghurt and heavy cream. I also decorated it with Mars Chocolate Whipped Cream and with this delicious Fig spoon sweet (preserve) which I made last week.
This time, I had some difficulties making it, as I can’t get used to my fan-forced oven. I covered it with aluminium foil but I did not bake it in a water bath as all my bigger baking tins were used for something else.
It needs several hours until it is ready to be served, so it’s better to make it early in the morning or from the previous day.
Despite all the difficulties it turned out to be very delicious!!
New York Cheesecake with Mars Chocolates and Fig Preserve, recipe by Ivy
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Baking time: about 1 hour
Serves: 12 or more
Baking tin: 26 cm
For the crust:
- 250 grams digestive biscuits , made into fine crumbs
- 130 grams butter
- 70 grams almonds, skin on
For the filling:
- 3 x 200 grams pack Philadelphia cream cheese , or other full-fat soft cheese
- 300 grams Greek yoghurt
- 250 ml heavy cream
- 145 grams brown sugar
- 75 grams citrus blossom flowers honey
- 50 grams all purpose flour
- 1½ tsp vanilla extract (or 2 vanillins)
- 4 eggs (60 grams each)
Decoration on top:
- 1 heavy cream 35%
- 3 Mars chocolate bars
- 6 fig spoon sweets
Directions:
- Position an oven shelf in the middle of the oven.
- Preheat the oven to fan 160o C.
- Grind the almonds in a food processor. Put them in a bowl.
- Put a few of the biscuits with some butter in a food processor and mix to powder. Continue until all biscuits and butter are used.
- Mix with the almonds and spread the mixture on your baking tin. Press them with your fingers, to cover the base of the baking tin and bake the base for 10 minutes.
- Beat the cream cheese with yogurt. Add the heavy cream, vanilla and flour and beat to combine. Finally add the eggs one at a time and beat well until fluffy.
- Remove the crust from the oven and after five minutes pour the cream on top. Cover the pan with foil.
- Bake for about 1 hour and then remove the foil. Contiue baking it uncovered, until golden on top and the cream has set.
- Let it cool and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
- In a bain marie (double boiler), melt the chocolates. Pour a few tablespoons of heavy cream and stir until the chocolate is runny.
- Whisk the remaining heavy cream until peaks form and refrigerate until the chocolate becomes lukewarm.
- Pour a little a chocolate in the whipped cream and mix with the hand mixer. Reserve some warm, melted chocolate keeping it warm in the water bath.
- Spread the whipped cream on the cheesecake and then pour over the melted chocolate with a spoon, making some designs.
- Decorate with halved fig spoon sweets and a whole one in the middle.
- Unmold the cheesecake and when serving it, add some syrup from the fig preserve on top.
Other similar recipes:
Orange Chocolate New York Cheesecake
Kopiaste and Kali Orexi,
Tags: Cheesecake, fig spoon preserve, figs, Mars chocolates, New York Cheesecake
I was craving something sweet today but was really busy after coming back from the farmers” market and shopping. I had already bought these beautiful strawberries and since I had a bar of chocolate, I prepared this delectable, but so simple, dessert in no time.
It took 5 minutes to melt the chocolate and 10 minutes to dip them in it.
By the time we had lunch, they had cooled and were ready to be devoured:)
I love the combination of black pepper and chocolate, without it being hot but just giving a bit of a tingle on the tongue.
The addition of salt enhances all the flavours.
If you do not have petimezi, you can substitute it with carob syrup or maple syrup and for those who are not vegan you can add honey.
Vegan Choco-Strawberries, recipe by Ivy
Ingredients:
- 400 grams strawberries
- 125 grams vegan couverture chocolate
- 1/4 cup petimezi (grape molasses)
- 1 tbsp vegan margarine
- A pinch of coarse sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
- Wash and drain strawberries.
- Line a baking tin or a tray with parchment paper and place a rack on top, for chocolate to drip in.
- In a double boiler melt the chocolate. When it starts melting, add remaining ingredients and mix until the chocolate is smooth and glossy.
- Dip each strawberry into the chocolate and place on the rack.
- Allow to cool and refrigerate before serving.
Kopiaste and Kali Orexi,
Tags: chocolate, epsima, grape molasses, nistisimes syntages, petimezi, Strawberries, Vegan
Although no animal products, including fish, are not allowed to be eaten during Lent, except for Palm Sunday and Auunciation day, all cephalopods are allowed, as they do not contain blood.
The octopus was quite large. I prepared the first step with the whole octopus and part of it was marinated in vinegar and olive oil, which is preserved for many days and can be served with some oregano, as part of our meze dishes.
Note: This is an older recipe and was not made during Lent. Hilopites contain eggs so it” s not a Lenten dish but can easily be substituted with spaghetti.
Octopus with mushrooms and Hilopites, recipe by Ivy
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 + 45 minutes
Serves: 3 – 4
Ingredients:
- 1300 grams fresh octopus cooked with its juices and nothing else (I used 1/3 and the remaining was pickled in vinegar and olive oil)
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp spice micxture
- 1 tsp roasted garlic
- 10 – 15 small button mushrooms
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ cup red dry wine
- 1 can of tomatoes with juice or 3-4 ripe fresh tomatoes
- 300 grams hilopites (or spaghetti)
- 1 cup water
- Salt (optional)
- Finely chopped parsleyand freshly ground black pepper to serve
Directions:
- See step by step instructions on how to clean octopus here.
- Put the saucepan on the heat until it is hot and add the octopus. Mix until it sweats out a pinkish liquid. Keep an eye on it mixing every now and then and cook it in its juices until that liquid has evaporated.
- Remove the octopus and cut it into smaller pieces.
- Add olive oil to the pot and sauté the onion until translucent. Add the spice mixture, roasted garlic and mushrooms and sauté for a couple of minutes.
- Add the octopus and then add the wine and stir for 2 -3 minutes until the alcohol evaporates.
- Add the bay leaves and the tomatoes. Bring to a boil, lower heat and cook for about 15 minutes, until the onion becomes soft. Remove the bay leaves.
- Add 1 cup of water and bring to a boil. Add the salt and pasta and lower heat. Cover and simmer for twenty minutes (if you are using store bought, according to the package instructions), stirring it regularly so as not to stick to the pot.
- Serve with finely chopped parsley and cracked pepper on top.
Other relevant recipes:
Htapodi or Moschious in tomato sauce with pasta
Κοπιάστε και Καλή Όρεξη!
Tags: cephalopods, hilopites, how to clean an octopus, Lenten Recipes, linguine, nistisimes syntages, Octopus, Pasta
One of my favourite breads is olive bread. I have lots of recipes on my blog but this time I made it quite different. Now that we are fasting, it’s perfect for any time of the day, for breakfast, as a snack but also in the evening I don’t like eating cooked food, so a slice or two of olive bread and a cup of tea is perfect for my dinner.
Last automn, after we settled down in Assini, we started planting some vegetables in our back yard, such as onions, garlic, artichokes, broad beans, peas, mint, coriander, fennel, dill, rosemary, Kafkalithres, Tordylium Apulum or small hartwor and Myronia or shepherd’s needles – (scandix pecten veneris), which are two of my favourite herbs. To see what I made with some of these vegetables, you can read the post on my other blog.
Yesterday I cooked some broad beans and was thinking of making Ladenia for dinner but last minute I changed my mind as I still had some green onions, garlic and mint I had picked earlier in the day. With the mint I made a pesto. As I had decided to make the olive bread, I had the olives pitted, the mint washed and leaves drying and the green onions and garlic, finely chopped.
Vegan Mint, Green Olives, Green onions and Fresh Garlic Pesto, recipe by Ivy
Ingredients:
- 2 cups fresh mint (only the leaves)
- 1/2 cup fresh garlic and green onions, finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic 1/2 cup pitted green olives (tsakistes)
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp wine vinegar
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
- Put the onions and garlic in a food processor with some of the olive oil and mix.
- Start adding as much mint leaves in the food processor with more olive oil and mix so that the volume of the mint will decrease and repeat adding mint and olive oil.
- With the last batch add salt, pepper and vinegar and remaining olive oil and mix.
Leftover can be stored in the refrigerator for a week.
For a longer period, store in the deep freezer.
For the dough only 500 grams flour is necessary but I made the dough with 1 kilo flour and 50 grams fresh yeast. I used half of it for the Olive Bread and with the remaining I made another bread with a sweet filling.
When the olive bread was baked, it was almost dark, so I did not manage to get a decent picture. I was planning to take on the morning but by the time I remembered that we had eaten the rest of the bread. The only thing left to take a picture of, was the last piece of the Tahini and Mandarin bread 
The second bread was made the same way but the filling was made using half cup tahini and 1/2 cup mandarin marmalade which I mixed to incorporate well and then spread the filling on top of the dough. I baked both of them in the same baking tin. 
Herbed Eliopsomo (Green Olives Bread) with Pesto, recipe by Ivy
Ingredients:
- Pizza dough (500 grams all purpose flour is necessary)
Filling:
- 3 heaped tbsp Mint Pesto
- 2 spring onions, finely chopped
- 1 fresh garlic, finely chopped (from the above 1/2 cup was used to make the pesto)
- 1 cup pitted green olives
Directions:
- Prepare dough and set aside until it doubles in volume.
- Grease a baking tin with olive oil.
- Put the dough a press it with your fingers towards all directions until it is about 1 cm thick.
- Spread the pesto on the dough.
- Add the olives, spring onions and fresh garlic and mix.
- Roll th dough to enclose the filling.
- Preheat oven to 200oC / 400o F and bake for half an hour (fan forced) or according to your oven.
- Serve warm or cold.
Throumbes (θρούμπες) is a variety of Greek black olives, which mature on the tree. They are the only olives which can be eaten directly from the tree when they are ripe and they are rather wrinkled. These olives are often cured in salt. With these olives we tradionally make eliopita in Cyprus. These olives are never used to make olive oil.
Top left, throumbes olives, on the right, top and bottom green olives. Green olives are also cracked and then sold. Bottom left, Kalamata olives.
I have another Eliopsomo I made last Easter but never published it.
The procedure is almost the same as above but the dough is kneaded with fresh orange juice, instead of water.
Eliopsomo with Throumbes, Kafkalithres and Myronia, recipe by Ivy
Dough:
1000 grams flour with 50 grams fresh yeast, 1 tsp sugar, olive oil, salt and 200 ml orange juice and water if necessary. Divided in the middle and half was used to make Eliopsomo and the second was used to make something else.
For filling:
- 500 grams throumbes olives, pitted
- 1 small red onion, finely chopped
- 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
- 2 spring onions, including green leaves, finely chopped
- 1 cup myronia, kafkalithres and parsley
- 1/3 cup olive oil divided in filling and to brush phyllo
- Salt and pepper (not too much salt as olives are salty)
Directions:
- Dough is made and rolled as above.
- All the filling ingredients are mixed together.
- The bread was baked in a round baking tin.
- The bread was brushed with olive oil and some sesame seeds were sprinkled on top.
- Baked as above.
Tahini and Mandarin Bread
Kopiaste and Kali Orexi,
Tags: bread, Breads, eliopsomo, green olives, Green onions and Fresh Garlic Pesto, Mint, nistisimes syntages, Nistisimo, olive bread, olives, pesto, Tahini and Mandarin Bread, Tahini Bread with Mandarin marmalade, throumbes, Vegan
Today is my second son’s Birthday. Happy Birthday Kyriacos! Unfortunately I couldn’t make him a birthday cake as he is in Athens but his sister made one.
Yesterday I invited my neighbours to come over for a cup of coffee and as most people are fasting for the Easter period, I made this vegan cake. The cake is based on another carrot cake I made five years ago but this time I made a lot of changes. When I decided to make this cake yesterday morning, I checked in the closets to see what ingredients were leftover before leaving to Athens, so I had to adjust it with whatever was available.
To begin with, I did not have the time to weigh exact quantities used but most of it is accurate. The only ingredient which is not accurate is the amount of flour used. I added enough so that I had a batter with the right consistency of a cake batter. If you are not experienced making cakes, I cannot guarantee about its success but I believe that by 95% it will be fine but the risk is yours. Start with 650 grams flour and add more, if necessary.
The baking time differs a lot from the previous recipe. My new oven is fan forced and I was surprised to see that it was ready in 35 minutes, instead of 1 hour which was the case in my older recipe.
The cake was moist and delicious. If you like tahini the chocolate – tahini glaze on top was amazing but if you don’t like it you can still add the one I made in the older recipe.
Nistisimo Cake Karotou me Glaso Sokolatas kai Tahini (Vegan Carrot Cake with Chocolate (Lenten), recipe by Ivy
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Baking time: 35 minutes
Ingredients:
- 650 (+ 50) grams of all purpose flour
- 300 grams of grated carrots
- 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup margarine
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup orange juice
- Zest of an orange
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 1 tbsp vinegar
- 1 shot (about 30 ml) orange liqueur or other liqueur or brandy
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon of ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- ½ teaspoon of baking powder
- ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt
- 100 grams roasted walnuts
- 50 grams raisins
- 2 tbsp chocolate couverture chips
For glazing:
- 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
- 1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted
- 1 tablespoon of margarine
- 1 tsp orange zest
- A pinch of coarse sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp tahini
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 170οC / 338οF (fan forced) and place rack in the middle of the oven.
- Beat sugar with olive oil and margarine on full speed for 5 minutes.
- Lower speed and add orange juice, liqueur, vanilla, vinegar and the grated carrot.
- Sieve flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa, cinnamon and cloves and mix in salt, orange zest, raisins and walnuts.
- Add all other dry ingredients and mix until incorporated.
- Place in a 26 cm baking tin lined with parchment paper.
- Bake until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Remove to a rack.
- In a doubl boiler add the orange juice and when warm add the cocoa powder and mix. Add zest and margarine and when it melts add the icing sugar, salt, pepper and mix until the ingredients are incorporated. Add tahini and mix to combine.
- While cake is still warm, remove it from the baking tin and gradually pour the glazing on top and let it drip without spreading it.
Kopiaste and Kali Orexi,
Tags: Cakes, carrot cake, chocolate cake, chocolate glazing, Easy recipes, nistisimes syntages, tahini glazing, vegan cakes
Today is Palm Sunday for the Greek Orthodox and just a week before Easter. Althoughit it is a fasting period, which means that for 48 days we should abstain from eating foods derived from animals, containing blood and from animal derived products such as dairy products, this year we did not fast all the period but shall start as from tomorrow. On some days olive oil and wine is also not allowed. The fasting period is almost vegan. However, cephalopods are allowed, since they do not have blood, as well as gelatin and honey.
However, on Palm Sunday fish is allowed to be eaten and although we are not fasting, we followed the tradition and today I grilled some Lavraki (European Sea Bass).
Greek fresh fish is so delicious that actually we just add a few ingredients, such as salt, pepper and oregano before grilling it. We then serve it with some ladolemono on top.
Occasionally, I make something different for a change. This time, I added some finely chopped garlic scapes, green onion and fennel fronds from our garden, that added additional taste to the flesh of the fish.
Garlic and Onions
Fennel Fronds
Ladolemono is a Greek dressing with extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and oregano. This time I added some Dijon mustard in the ladolemono and that made it extra delicious. I just added all the ingredients in a recycled jar and shaked it a couple of times until the ingredients were mixed together. Any leftover dressing can be stored in the refrigerator and be used in salads.
My new oven is fan forced and I used the grill with air. Fish does not need too much time to be cooked and since you are using the air it doesn’t need to be turned on the other side.
Lavraki me Ladolemono Moustardas (Grilled Sea Bass with Mustard Ladolemono), recipe by Ivy
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: about 20 minutes
Serves: 2 as a main dish
Ingredients:
- 2 lavrakia (sea basses)
- 1 fresh garlic, finely chopped
- 1 green onion, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp fennel fronds, finely chopped
- Coarse sea salt
- Freshly Ground Black Pepper
- Oregano
Ladolemono Moustardas (Olive Oil and Lemon Dressing with Mustard)
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp Dijon Maille Mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt
- A pinch of freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano
Directions:
- Scale and clean fish. Wash them and allow them to strain.
- Just before grilling, season them with salt, pepper, oregano (including the cavity).
- Mix garlic, onion and fennel and fill the cavity with 1 tablespoon each.
- Preheat oven to 170o C / 338o F grill + air and with rack on highest position.
- Place the fish on a rack with baking tin below for the drippings to fall in and grill for about 20 minutes, depending on your oven. (No need to turn the fish on the other side).
- Open fish and remove backbone, head,fins, tail and any visible bones.
- Serve with ladolemono moustardas on top.
Kopiaste and Kali Orexi!
Tags: Dicentrarchus labrax, Easy recipes, European Sea bass, Greek Orthodox Easter, healthy recipes, Kyriaki ton Vaion, lavraki, Mediterranean diet, Mustard Ladolemono, Palm Sunday
