Beans
One thing I forgot to mention in my post for Nafplion was about Psorokostena, which is a disparaging noun Greeks use to label Greece’s perceived socio-economic limitations. During the Ottoman occupancy, the Greeks were very poor but also after the Independence people lived in poverty for many years. One day in 1826 they gathered at [...]
Continue reading about Psorokostena and Fassolada sti Gastra
The white giant beans called «gigantes or elephantes» have been cultivated in Northern Greece (Kastoria, Florina, and Drama etc.,) for centuries and are recognized by the European Union as products of Protected Geographic Indication (PGI). These black giant beans are a new Greek variety and are not widely known in Greek cooking yet. They are [...]
Continue reading about Gigantes me spanaki kai Makaronaki (Black giant beans with spinach and pasta)
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 [...]
Continue reading about Gigantes Plaki sto Fourno (Baked Giant Beans)
I really loved the last pesto I made recently with fresh cardamom and rocket and as I had some leftover, I did not want any to be wasted. As I already said in other posts, I am using the word leftover a lot lately. I try and cook dried legumes as often as I can [...]
Beans are considered to be the national food of the Greeks. I do not know the story behind this, maybe it is because they used to eat them a lot, but according to food historians, fassolia and fassolada has been around since ancient Greek times. However, years back they used to call beans “the meat [...]
From all the dried legumes, in Greece, fassolada (and NOT fassoulada, which is the way the peasants used to call it), is a hearty navy beans stew (or soup if you like) and is considered to be the national food of the Greeks. In the stew (or soup) various vegetables such as carrots, potato [...]
