Mushroom and Herb Tart

I am finding it quite difficult to write nice things about tarts, without making it sound rude or cheesy (there, I did it again!). Anyway, I ll have a go. I like tarts! A lot! It is my first choice for lunch when I go to a cafe. I can usually tell by the look if I am going to like it or not. Firstly I prefer veggie tarts, as I find them lighter. I also like them warm or room temperature - not cold. Finally I like crispy pastry, I mean who likes a soggy bottom?!

I have avoided making tarts for many years, because I was always daunted by making pastry and making sure the filling would set etc. I started making tarts and quiche around 5-6 years ago, but with bought pastry. That way I was eliminating the one issue I was worries about. A few years ago my husband started making pastry (his flaky pastry is delicious!), so then I was still avoiding the pastry making, but was getting better results, due to my husband's expert pastry making skills. Then I got more experience and confidence making pastry and tarts at The Dish and The Spoon.

This specific recipe is a half improvisation trying to use up tarragon and mushrooms. I like using creme fraiche in the filling, because it makes it fluffier and richer in my opinion. I am sure you can change the actual flavouring ingredients to what you like - just keep the creme and egg quantities as they are. Enjoy with some side salad and a cold glass of white wine.

For the pastry:
300g flour
150g cold butter
cold water

For the filling:
3 medium eggs
200ml double cream
200ml creme fraiche
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
8-10 cup mushrooms, sliced
2 tbs finely chopped parsley
1 tbs finely chopped tarragon
salt
pepper

To make the pastry, sift the flour into a bowl and add the cold butter, in cubes. Rub between your fingers, until you have a crumb mixture (don't work the mixture too hard). Add some cold water (about half a glass), slowly, until the mixture comes together nicely, but not too wet and sticky. Wrap in cling film and cool in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Turn the oven on at 160 fan oven. Roll out the pastry to fit a 25cm loose bottomed tart dish. Allow to rest for a further 30 minutes in the fridge. Take out of the fridge and prick lightly with a fork. Lay some greaseproof paper on top and cover with baking beans. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Once a light crust has formed on the bottom of the pastry, remove from the oven. Remove the beans and egg-wash. Return to the oven for 15 minutes, until lightly coloured.

In the meantime, fry off the onions and the mushrooms in butter. Fry lightly, so not to colour and then drain off any excess liquid. Beat the 3 eggs and mix with the cream and creme fraiche. Add the tarragon and parsley to the cream mixture and season well with salt and pepper.

Once the pastry has coloured remove from the oven. You can trim the excess pastry at this stage (or you could trim the pastry when you first put it in the dish, but it may shrink and the filling can overflow). Place the mushroom and onion mixture evenly on the bottom of the pastry and then pour the cream mixture on top. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, or until nicely coloured and set.

Allow to cool for 5 minutes, before serving.

The Best Souvlaki?

I just spent the last week or so in Greece and specifically in Lixouri - one of my favourite places in the world. It is definitely a sentimental thing, as its not really the prettiest town since it was struck by an earthquake in 1953... I usually go to Lixouri in late July/August, but this year the whole family descended there earlier for a lovely event; my brothers wedding!

The wedding itself was beautiful and there was plenty of food and drink to be had. It was actually my first 'proper' Greek wedding as an adult (my wedding was definitely not very Greek at all!). The setting was amazing, by the sea at dusk and the occasion made all the nicer.

The first dance - and what a dance!

Of course being in Lixouri also meant that I could pig-out on one of my favourite meals ever; Souvlaki at Adonis! In my opinion (and also my husband's, my younger brother's and a variety of other friends' and relatives') this is the best souvlaki to be had! I was in Kefalonia for 5.5 days and had souvlaki from Adonis 3 times...

First of all, they make their own pita! You don't get that in many places, so that alone makes it special. In fact, every time I order souvlaki, I also ask for a few plain pita's to go too. They are generous with the tzatziki, which adds moisture to the whole thing. And you will find a good helping of parsley in the souvlaki too, just to make it that bit fresher.

Pita with chicken and a side of fries and a pork kalamaki

I always order their pita with chicken gyro and the full works - 'gyro kotopoulo ap'ola, parakalo'! Adonis does pork gyro, but he doesn't actually do chicken gyro. Which means that what he does do instead is a grilled piece of chicken, chopped up finely. Just the thought of in is making me want to book a flight out. The full works in Kefalonia - every area has their own version - is pita, tzatziki, onions, tomatoes, meat (only pork or chicken, NOT lamb!) and fries.

When I was a teenager, before Adonis took over and it was called Sotiris, I used to order and eat 3 of these... I can now just about manage one and a bit. Shameful, but I am working on expanding my stomach just to be able to eat at least two of these in one go next summer! I know that many people with disagree with my opinion on the best souvlaki declaration- fair enough, really. But you should only do so if you have actually tried Adonis' souvlaki!

Briam - Greek Vegetable Bake

I have to say that as a family we are guilty of not eating enough vegetables. My daughter eats a fair amount, although fruit goes down much better. She loves fruit, which makes my life easier too, as it means there is less cooking and prepping involved; peel the banana/pear and we are done! This, in turn, means that I don't make that much of an effort to cook vegetables for us either.

There are some days though, when I really feel like eating veg. Not just a salad, but a 'meal' of vegetables. That's when my Greek roots really come in handy. Greek food is mostly known for its meat (lamb to be precise), but vegetarian food is just as popular in the daily diet, if not more so. Greek seasonal vegetable dishes are a fantastic and untapped resource for vegetarians worldwide.

In the comments of my 'Lahanorizo' post, Cathy asked me about Briam. This recipe is a summer dish, as it uses vegetables such as courgettes and aubergines. At home it was always served with a load of bread and big chunks of feta cheese. Obviously a fresh salad on the side is also recommended if you want to get it as Greek as you can!

Serves 4

1/2 kilo of potatoes, peeled and cut in 2.5cm thick chunks or cubes
1/2 kilo of courgettes in 2.5cm chunks
1 or 2 aubergines, in 2.5cm chunks
1 or 2 green peppers, cut into squares
1 large onion, in chunks
500ml of passata, tinned chopped tomatoes or fresh chopped tomatoes
100ml of olive oil
2-3 tbs fresh parsley, chopped

Cut all the vegetables and add them to a large baking dish. Pour the olive oil and tomatoes over the vegetables and add the parsley. Mix it all in the baking dish, along with some salt and pepper. Bake in a preheated oven at 150 C (fan oven) for 1.5 hours. Do not cover the dish, but check it and mix it every 20 minutes and add some water if it dries out. Kali orexi!

Lemonato

My favourite way of deciding what to cook/eat is by going to markets or shops and seeing what looks nice on the day. Last weekend we went to Brockley Market. I really like it there, though it can get quite busy. We tend to go a little earlier and that way we skip the queueing. Missy also gets to roam fairly freely, chase after the dogs and help herself to the bread and cheese samples. Or maybe that's me - I shouldn't blame everything on my daughter, should I?

I should do a separate post for Brockley market with pictures and all, as it is very deserving of one! There is great produce there for sale, but also fantastic food - like burgers, burritos, pastries etc. One stall that caught our eye was a meat stall and the beef looked fantastic. So we bought some - chuck steak for braising. Initially the plan was to make beef Carbonade, but a few hours later I felt like having rice with it, and it is a fact that Carbonade has to be eaten with fries. So we changed the plan to Lemonato, a fairly simple, yet delicious Greek pot-roast. Traditionally it is made with either chicken on the bone or a nice joint of beef. I had cubed braising beef. The usual story really.

Greek food is fairly simple really. The complexity in cooking it often comes from trying to make simple ingredients shine or go a longer way. The secret to good Greek cooking, as to all cooking really, is good ingredients. I 'm not saying you should go out and buy organic oregano, but make sure that your main ingredient is of good quality. Free range or organic meat, where the animals have been treated well, really does make a difference. 

Serves 4 - 6

1 whole chicken in pieces or 1kg rolled joint of braising beef or (simpler yet) 1kg cubed braising beef
2 large onions, halved
2 carrots, whole
4 garlic cloves
4 tbs olive oil
200ml dry white wine
3 tbs lemon juice

3 tsp Dijon mustard
4 cloves
1 bay leaf
salt
pepper

Season the mustard with salt and pepper (or just pepper in our household), and make a few narrow slits into the meat (if using the cubed braising beef, don't worry about the slits). Add a clove and some of the mustard in each slit (if using the cubed beef, just add the mustard and the garlic cloves into the pan after you brown the meat). Season the meat with salt and pepper.

Heat the oil in the pan and brown of the halved onions and the meat - in batches if you need to. Once browned add the white wine, carrots, bay leaf and lemon juice (if using the cubed beef, add the garlic and mustard at this stage).

Cover and simmer on a gentle heat. If cooking the chicken cook for around 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked though. For the beef, whether cooking the joint or the cubes, cook for at least 2-3 hours on a very low heat. The meat should be nice and tender.

Once cooked, remove the meat from the pan - this is a little more time consuming if using the cubed beef. Remove the bay leaf and blend the carrots and onions into the sauce to thicken it. Carve the join of beef or serve the chicken/ beef cubes on a large plate and pour the sauce over. Serve with mash or long grain rice and a little grated Parmesan.

Cooking - once again

I have some pretty exciting news; I 'm going to be cooking much more come May! I am going to be cooking alongside Jassy Davis of Gin and Crumpets in a local new cafe - The Dish and the Spoon, in Nunhead. Did I say that I 'm very excited? No? Well, I am!

I am really looking forward to enjoying cooking again. I won't have to worry about making too much noise while cooking, nor will I have to worry about tripping over a little pickle (to be clear, I mean my daughter, and not a stray gherkin), while trying to reach for the herbs. I will, once again, be cooking proper food for people to eat and, hopefully, enjoy!

The whole project is really quite exciting. Shona Chambers, the owner of The Dish and the Spoon, decided to open a family friendly cafe in Nunhead, at 61 Cheltenham Road. She is a local mother herself, and felt that there was a need for a family friendly cafe in the area, with good food and, crucially for parents and morning commuters, good coffee.

The coffee will be provided by Dark Fluid, to my husband's excitement, and the tea from Tregothnan. The menu is currently being developed by Jassy, based around British produce. The plan is to have a variety of delicious salads, tarts, soups and lots of cakes. Mmmm cake. I might end up eating all the cake! Only kidding...

Well, I thought I should let you know of my future plans in food. I, for one, am very happy about it all. I look forward to seeing some of you at the cafe and I'm sure I will keep the rest of you informed, if you can't make it to Nunhead for some reason. You can always follow me on Twitter @hungry_sylvia too for more updates!

Lahanorizo - Cabbage with rice

This week is building up to Greek Orthodox Easter. Even less-religious Greeks tend to follow lent this week, meaning that they eat a vegan diet. I made this dish last night and didn't even realise it was vegan until today - vegan food is fairly normal in our weekly diet, lent or no lent. Don't get me wrong, I am currently munching on a slice of bread covered in butter. I am not following lent this year. It is hard enough doing it in Greece, let alone a county where even bread seems to be egg or milk washed in some shops!

This dish is a cheap one, probably originating from using up left over and cheap ingredients and bulking them out into a meal. Traditionally you can either get lahanorizo (translating as cabbage-rice) or spanakorizo (spinach-rice). Personally I prefer spanakorizo, I find it more comforting because of its soft, mushy texture.(I will get the recipe off my mother asap!) But I was trying to use up cabbage, hence making lahanorizo. It is also traditionally made with white cabbage, but I had red cabbage... you get the idea!

Serves 2 (plus leftovers for lunch)

2/3 cabbage, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 can chopped tomatoes
3 cups of water
1 cup of rice
generous handful of sultanas
generous handful (or two) of pine nuts
pinch of ground cinnamon
salt and pepper

Sweat the onions in the olive oil for a few minutes, until softened. Add the cabbage and continue to sweat for a few minutes, until the cabbage is beginning to soften too. Add the tomatoes and the water and bring to the boil, then add the rest of the ingredients. Cover and simmer over a low heat for 15 minutes, or until the rice has absorbed the liquid. Give it a stir and serve with a few pine nuts sprinkled on top. It is a great side dish, but as I mentioned, can be enjoyed as a main dish too. Kalo Pasxa - Happy Easter!

Slow Cooked Beef Shortribs

Ribs, ribs, ribs! There aren't many people in the world who don't like eating ribs - whether they are pork ribs, beef or any other kind there might be! Its delicious, often sticky, meat on the bone.

We decided to order some beef from the East London Steak Co., as my husband had been going on about it for long enough. We were having guest over for dinner - a rare enough occasions these days - and thought it would be nice to get something a little more interesting. Meat on the bone is always a crowd pleaser.

We ordered 2 kilos of beef short ribs, as well as some onglet for ourselves. The meat arrived at the agreed time and with an amusing text to warn us of the pending delivery. We researched a few recipes and decided to use one of Mark Hix's as a template, subject to ingredients and our own creative input...

We cooked the ribs the night before and then reheated all the components for the actual night. I recommend doing it this way, as it allows for the fat to settle at the top of the dish and can be skimmed off easily. It worked out really well and tasted absolutely great. And I can say this, without seeming smug, as it was my husband who cooked this time. 

Serves 4-6

2kg beef short ribs
2 tbs flour
2 onions, roughly chopped
2 celery sticks, roughly chopped
2 carrots, roughly chopped
1 tsp tomato puree
1 bottle of Innis and Gunn beer
500ml beef stock
1.5L water
1 bay leaf
few sprigs of fresh(!) thyme
3 garlic cloves
a few whole peppercorns

For the gremolata:
2 tbs chopped parsley
1 clove of garlic, very finely chopped or crushed
zest of half a lemon
salt to season

 Preheat the oven at 200 (fan oven). Season the beef with some salt, pepper and cover with half the flour. Layer them on top of the chopped onions, carrots and celery, in a roasting tray. Place in the oven for 30-40 minutes and turn them every so often, until browned. After 40 minutes, remove the meat and veg from the dish and set aside.  Set the oven to 130 (fan oven).

Put the roasting tray with the fat and juices over a low heat and add the remaining flour and the tomato puree. Stir for a couple of minutes and then gradually add the beer, the stock and the water (make sure the roasting tray is big enough for all the liquid!). Stir well to avoid any lumps and bring to the boil.

Return the vegetables and meat to the pan and add the bay leaf, thyme, garlic and peppercorns. Cover the roasting tray with foil very tightly (a few layers of foil, tightly folded over the side of the roasting dish). Leave in the oven for 2-3 hours.

Once cooked, remove the ribs from the dish (carefully, as they are very tender and can break up) and set them aside. Strain the sauce into a saucepan through a sieve, making sure you press all the juices out of the vegetables. Set the saucepan aside (on the counter or in the fridge overnight, or as long as you can). Once the sauce has cooled, remove any fat that has set on the top.

Before serving, heat the sauce and reduce by half (add a little cornflour if you want to thicken more, but we found it was thick enough). Heat the ribs in the oven at 130 for 40 minutes (covered so they don't dry out).

In the meantime, mix the parsley, lemon zest, garlic and salt for the gremolata. Boil some green beans and mix with the gremolata. Serve the ribs with the beans and the gravy and some nice mash on the side. Enjoy!

The ribs, after serving for portions!

Breakfast at the Lido Cafe

Last Sunday, was a good day. Missy woke up at reasonable hour, the sun was shining and everyone was in a good mood - including myself! We decided that the good weather warranted a proper outing, as opposed to just our local park. I had heard of the Lido Cafe at Brockwell Lido from various people/magazines and decided this would be a good opportunity to try it out, along with a walk in the sun.

We left the house fairly promptly, so that we could fit it all in before the tiredness tantrums kicked in. We got to the park at 11ish and thought we would go in the cafe to reserve a table for a little later. It was packed! Absolutely full with families, young professionals, older professionals, dogs... You name it. We asked about a table and were told, very politely, that the reservations for the day had been taken, but that we could have a table in a few minutes if we wanted. We decided the food looked to good to risk not getting any, so we went to wait at the sofa for a table. My daughter was keen to explore, so I took her outside while my husband waited. It was delightfully warm outside, with the view of the Lido being painted! 'Maybe we should just ask for a table outside', I asked my husband. There were dogs there too, which meant that my daughter would be entertained for a little longer too - I really should get more organised and take more books for her when we go out!

We were shown to a table outside and ordered pretty promptly after that. I ordered the eggs Florentine, my husband the Full English with extra black pudding and my daughter the mushrooms on toast with roasted tomatoes. I also ordered an apple, banana and berry smoothie and a coffee for my husband. It all arrived pretty promptly, though the little one had already started getting a little impatient. As you can see, the pictures were a definite afterthought - we were all too eager to tuck in!

My eggs were absolutely delicious; perfectly cooked and nice and runny in the middle. The hollandaise sauce was gorgeously rich and everything on the plate was perfectly portioned. My husbands Full English was really good too, though I didn't get to eat much of it! What was outstanding was the Black Pudding - it was full of spices and herbs and melted in the mouth. The mushrooms were great too, and my daughter ate a surprising amount of them, considering there was also bread on her plate!

It was an extremely successful meal out, with excellent food and fantastic service (despite the fact it was so busy). We thoroughly enjoyed it - obviously helped by the weather and would go back anytime. I would like to go back and try their lunch and dinner menu too, by the way!

The Lido Cafe

Dulwich Road
Brockwell Lido
London
SE24 0PA
020 7737 8183

Tasting Menu at The Sportsman

Last Friday had finally arrived; my day off with my husband to drive down to the Sportsman in Kent and enjoy their famous tasting menu! We had been to the Sportsman a few years ago for my birthday, but could only go on a Saturday, when they don't actually serve the tasting menu. So they did their best to give us a few little samples along with the A la Carte, but it wasn't the full tasting menu. The A la Carte meal there was fantastic - if a little overwhelmingly filling! So we decided to go back on a weekday and try the tasting menu to compare!

The Sportsman is located on the North coast of Kent, near Whitstable, in Seasalter. We got there early, which is a rarity in itself, so we decided to go for a walk on the beach to work up an appetite. Walking back towards the Sportsman and looking at the building from the outside you think nothing of it - it looks like your average countryside pub in need of a new coat of paint. Once you walk in, through the conservatory, though, you know you have arrived somewhere special. Not because of the decor or anything - it still looks like a pub inside, though a nice pub at that. But the service is immediately warm and welcoming. The menu is written on a blackboard at the side of the bar, but we didn't even need to look at it, because we had already asked for the tasting menu when booking. They asked us if we wanted to see our menu, or if we wanted it to be a surprise. A surprise, of course! Much more exciting and intriguing!

We were shown to our table and could hardly contain our excitement - like a couple of fat kids in a cake shop! We had read about previous tasting menus here online, but it changes daily, so what would we get? Once we settled in, we were brought two gorgeous savoury cheddar cheese shortbreads with parmesan filled with tomato cream. The shortbread was rich and crumbly and the filling slightly acidic from the tomato. A good start, we thought.

The next thing to arrive at the table was their home pickled herring with apple jelly on rye and the most amazing pork scratchings you will ever taste, served warm with a generous helping of apple and mustard sauce. The herring was perfectly pleasant, though not memorable, but the scratchings were like little warm clouds of crunchy delicious pork. They were heavenly!

Next to arrive was the native oyster with apple and their home curred ham. Both my husband and I found it a little underwhelming. The oyster had a very strong flavour, and I don't know if I didn't eat it 'properly', but I didn't get any apple or ham flavour over the oyster. After that, though, followed one of my favourite things; An oyster again, but served in a beurre blanc and topped with caviar. This one I left in my mouth for a few seconds, before chewing and the flavour was just sublime! Unfortunately it was so exciting, there was only a picture of the empty oyster shell to show!

Ah, the next item to arrive at the table was their selection of home made breads with the home churned salted butter. There isn't much I can say about this, other than that I would have happily just eaten that bread slathered in butter for the rest of the day! I started with the onion and rosemary foccacia, thinking I wouldn't enjoy it as much as the sourdough or the rye (I think they said rye, though it tasted more like pumpernickel). I then tasted the other two as well and just couldn't decide which one I should keep for my last mouthful... It was the foccacia in the end! Best foccacia I have ever tasted, both in flavour and texture and all! The butter was deliciously rich and creamy too.

Then arrived the next course; Rockpool. I would have to ask them to describe it for you, as some of it was quite technical and influenced by Japanese cooking - which, though I adore, I don't really know that much about! Basically it was a bowl with oyster, cockles, crab and sea greens, topped with an extremely delicate broth made with seaweed, turbot bones (from the turbot in our next course) and dried mackerel, I believe. In any case, it tasted like the a delicate version of just that; a rockpool! It was all topped with dried crispy seaweed, which had an extremely sweet flavour, despite its fairly strong odour.

Next to arrive was crab with shredded carrot and hollandaise. It was exactly that, and it tasted rich, yet fresh at the same time. It also had a slight kick from the little specs of chilli I could see in the sauce. Delicious, though not something I would go out of my way to have again - unlike the next course. This one was one of the favourites for both of us. It was slip sole in seaweed butter. The fish was cooked to perfection and on the bone. It looked so simple, but the depth of flavour was fantastic. Definitely a dish worth travelling for!

After that followed the 'King of Fish'; Turbot. It was the fish from which they had used the bones to make the stock for the 'Rockpool' course. The turbot was served on broccoli with a smoked roe sauce. The turbot was, once again, cooked to perfection. The broccoli gave it the right amount of freshness to cut through the rich smoked roe sauce. I must say that the first mouthful with the sauce tasted quite overwhelming and I didn't think that the taste of the fish would be able to come through, but with every mouthful the smokey flavour subsided and allowed for the beautiful flavour of the fish to come through.

We had made it to the meat course and we still didn't feel overwhelmingly full. They had spaced all the courses extremely well and despite the fact that I had probably eaten more on that day than the 3 days previously combined, I still felt happy and comfortable. Excited, even, for the next course; Roast lamb from Monkshill farm. There was a little surprise, though! Before the actual course arrived, a slate plate was put in front of us with two pieces of belly of lamb in a mustard crumb, served with a mint sauce. It was absolutely delicious! The meat was completely soft and full of flavour, complemented by the mustard crumb and the mint sauce. The mustard crumb was a little strong on its own, but combined with the sweet mint sauce - the best I have ever tasted, by the way - it was divine!

Now it was the time for the roast lamb. We were served the rack and the shoulder with greens, a celeriac puree and gravy. The rack was perfectly pink and strong in lamby flavour. The shoulder had crispy skin and was completely soft and melt-in-the-mouth delicious. The greens cut through the richness of the meat perfectly and the sauce and the celeriac puree were both fantastic. I, in fact, kept those two for my last mouthful of the dish. The mint sauce from the previous mini-course was also left at the table, so we could drizzle it all over the perfectly cooked lamb. And at the end of the course, when everything had disappeared of the plates and only the mint sauce remained, my husband made sure not to waste any by drinking the rest of it! Yes it was that good!

It was now close to two and a half hours after our first nibble had arrived and time for desert. Vanilla junket with a mango, passion fruit and mandarin topping. Deliciously fresh from the fruit and creamy from the... cream! Best I can describe it is a panacotta topped with fruit. A perfect little cleanser.

Now, I have to prepare you for the dessert course. On paper it doesn't read very well. In fact, even on the table it didn't smell the most appetising either. But I promise you, it worked! Meringue ice cream with seabuckthorn juice and dried seaweed. The meringue ice cream was delicious and sticky. The seabuckthorn juice (seabuckthorn is a little orange fruit that grows near the sea usually and is very sour) gave it the right amount of acidity and the seaweed - which smelt like the sea and not like it should be on a dessert - tasted sweet and gave it a little crunchy texture. It actually was a perfect end to the meal.

...Or so we thought! A tray was presented to us with a few petit fours; warm chocolate mousse with salted caramel, apple sorbet with yoghurt, custard tart, fudge and shortbread. We had tasted the warm chocolate mousse the last time we had visited as a dessert and knew it was delicious, so left it for last. I started with the apple sorbet, thinking it would be underwhelming - I 'm not the biggest fan of apple sorbet. It was amazing! The apple sorbet was delicious and between the sorbet and the yoghurt was a surprising little layer of popping candy - how fun! The custard tart was also great - really thin short pastry with delicious custard and nutmeg. The fudge and the shortbread were both OK, but not the best I have had. Finally the chocolate mouse was deliciously rich and bitter and warm. I have no idea how they make warm chocolate mousse and keep it so fluffy, but I know I liked it! I also liked the liquid salted caramel I found at the bottom of the cup!

We don't get many days out on our own, so when they turn out to be good it really does make it seem like a treat. This was a treat; the setting, the food and the service were all great and we left feeling generously fed and ready to deal with another few months of parenthood, before the next outing...

Kathara Deytera - First day of Greek Lent

Today is a big day in Greece. It is the first day of Greek Lent after the carnival and it is also a bank holiday. Traditionally families gather together and fly kites and then sit down for a huge meal to celebrate the start of lent. This meal involves 'lagana' bread, a fairly flat bread, covered in sesame seeds, lots of taramosalata, prawns, octopus, calamari and maybe some halva for dessert. Or at least that's what I remember it being like, as I haven't spent 'Kathara Deytera' back home for 10 years now!

In Greek lent you are allowed to eat a variety of seafood (prawns, octopus, mussels, fish roe etc), as long as it is not actually fish! Something to do with containing blood, or a technicality like that. In any case, it makes for a delicious first feast in lent. Obviously no other animal products are allowed either, so it does make sticking to it for the whole lent quite tricky, especially as I love dairy so much. I think I have managed proper lent it once in my life and it really isn't easy!

Today I shall be enjoying some taramosalata with bread - no 'lagana' I'm afraid - and some prawns baked in a tomato and garlic sauce. Very simples, but that's all I could justify for my mini family of three. I hope my family in Greece is doing this day justice with some 'proper' food!

Anyway, Happy Lent to all and I 'll be blogging again soon with my meal at the Sportsman from last Friday! x

'Naked' Cheesepie - 'Avrakoti' Tyropita

So it seems this is the battle of the pies! Tyropita (cheesepie) and Spanakopita (spinachpie) are the two most popular pies in Greece. This is your chance to take sides! Personally I have always been on the Spanakopita side, but a good Tyropita can be quite a treat too!

This version isn't quite the classic Tyropita you will find in Greece. For one it has no pastry and is therefore a bit of a cheat as far as pies go. But it is one of my Nona's recipes and one of the family favourites! It is something between a cheesepie filling and a souffle. And it is a very safe fool-proof recipe in that there isn't too much that can go wrong, provided your oven works!

My brother made this recipe for my daughter's birthday party - yes I didn't do much of the cooking! - and this, too, went down a treat with adults and babies! It is possibly a little too salty for young babies, but I gave mine some as a treat, along with plenty of water!

Serves 4-6 people

500g feta, crumbled
250g of other hard cheese (gruyere, cheddar or other), grated
500g of Greek yoghurt
6 eggs
150 self raising flour
130g of butter, at room temperature
1 tsp nutmeg
pepper

Preheat the oven to 160 (fan oven). Beat the butter till soft and creamy. Beat the eggs and add gradually to the beaten butter. Add the crumbled feta and half of the cheese and the nutmeg and a few grinds of pepper to the butter and egg mixture. In a separate bowl blend the flour with the yoghurt and then add to the rest of the ingredients. Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish, sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and bake in the oven for 40 minutes, or until risen and golden brown. Enjoy with a nice fresh salad on the side.

Spanakopita - Spinach Pie

Spanakopita is always a hit in Greek households. A good friend of mine can eat a whole tapsi (baking tray) if she puts her mind to it - yes you know who you are! My future sister in law (yes, I might be trying to confuse you) cooked it for my daughters birthday and it went down a treat with all the fellow babies too.

It is a healthy and delicious dish, full of flavour if done properly. I find most versions in the UK really don't do it justice. Spanakopita should have loads of fresh herbs in it - not just feta and spinach! Its all about making it taste like a day out in the Greek fields over Spring. Don't laugh! It really should smell and taste like that!

There is also the matter of what pastry you should use for Spanakopita. At home we usually use home made short crust. It is a Greek short crust which is not as crumbly as British short crust pasty - it has a slightly doughy texture to it. In any case, I quite like to use filo - which funnily in Greek means 'pastry'.

When cooking Spanakopita you have to make sure you have at least two of the three herbs listed in the recipe in order for to be worthwhile. Also, don't be shy with the herbs - the more the better. My version of spanakopita also has other vegetables, like leeks, but feel free to add other greens depending on the season and availability. Spinach should be the main ingredient though - hence the name of the dish!

Serves 4-6

1 kg of Spinach (or 500g of spinach and 500g of leeks or other greens)
8 Spring onions, finely chopped
2 eggs, beaten
150g of feta, crumbled
2-3 tbs of fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
6 tbs of fresh dill, chopped
1 tbs of fresh mint, chopped
pepper
2 packs of pre-bought filo pastry or 1 quantity of home made short crust

Wilt the spinach in a saucepan without adding any liquid. If using leeks, lightly fry them in olive oil, until softened. Drain the spinach, allow for it to cool slightly and mix with all the other ingredients. Add some pepper for seasoning.

Oil a baking dish. Add layers of oiled filo pastry. Work fairly fast if using filo pastry so that it doesn't dry out. Once you have added half the pastry, fill the dish with the filling, then top with oiled filo pastry layers. Fold over the edges, to make it look more presentable.

Bake at 170 (fan oven) for 30 - 40 minutes, or until pastry is nice and golden. 

Enjoy as a main course, starter or side dish.

Cuttlefish in Tomato Sauce

Seafood; You either love it or you hate it. As you may have guessed, I love it! I 'm convinced that people who don't like it haven't had good seafood, otherwise they would like it. I mean, whats not to like? Its sweet and salty and so soft in texture. Talking about it now, I could just live on it! If I were ever told that I could only ever eat meat OR seafood for the rest of my life, I think it would have to be seafood - though during my pregnancy the answer would weirdly have been meat!

I love everything about seafood and I love all seafood. But when I was young, I think calamari was my favourite! Any time we went out to a taverna, I would check if they had it. And one of my favourite days of the year was 'Kathara Deytera', which translates as 'Clean Monday' and is the first day of Greek Easter lent. On this day we basically eat all the seafood we can - octopus, calamari, prawns! It seems seafood - as opposed to fish - doesn't have blood and is therefore allowed during lent. Clever Greeks!

This recipe with cuttlefish often featured during lent and is simple, yet delicious. It is usually served with rice and is another recipe out of my mother's cookbook. I know cuttle fish is different to squid, but they are similar and I actually made it with squid this time - as the fishmonger didn't have any cuttlefish on the day.

Serves 4

1 kg cuttlefish or squid (after cleaning, so probably 2 kg of uncleaned cuttlefish)
4 medium onions, chopped
750g passata
2 tbs finely chopped celery
250 ml dry white wine
3-4 tbs of olive oil
salt
pepper

Clean the cuttlefish or squid, or ask your fishmonger to do it (much quicker and easier to have it done!). Cut into strips of around 1-2 centimetres. Fry the cuttlefish/squid with the onions, until all the juices dry up. Add the wine, celery and passata and some pepper. You can add some salt too, but we had ours salt free so the little one could also enjoy it - which she really did! Simmer gently for 1,5 - 2 hours. Serve with rice - normally long grain, but I only had basmati on the day. Talk about adjusting a recipe!

Daddy Donkey Burritos

Once you have been on a break for a while it adds pressure to make the first food post worth while. Similarly, once you have been out of work for ages, and then suddenly go back and have an array of fantastic food around your office, you want to make that first lunch worth it! I think Daddy Donkey on Leather Lane fulfils both of those very well.

It was always my Friday treat while I was pregnant and I think it was my last day's treat too! Burritos are probably one of my favourite street foods in the world. A good burrito can even, on occasion, surpass a souvlaki! There, I said it! And I am a proud Greek too! Just the combination of the rice, with soft beans, delicious meat, creamy guacamole and spicy salsa - then topped with sour cream and cheese! Heaven. Makes a day at work worth it!

I have tried a fair amount of burritos in London and to me Daddy Donkey are the best in town. They are extremely generous with their fillings (though on the expensive side too) and their meat is always full of flavour and succulent. The service is friendly too and I find the race to get back to the office while it is still warm helps keep some of the calories you are about to consume off!

I usually go for the chicken burrito, but this time opted for the Tomatillo Beef. I honestly don't know how the wrap doesn't burst with the amount of filling that goes in it! I mean rice, beans, meat, salsa, sour cream, cheese and ALWAYS guacamole! Of course you have to develop an appropriate technique in eating it, so that it doesn't burst and spill everywhere. This time I didn't quite manage it - I was out of practise. But last year, by the end I had perfected my technique and I don't think I even wasted a grain of rice! 

Really worth a try if you are in the area!

Yum yum yum yum.

Daddy Donkey Burritos

Pitches 100-101
Leather Lane Market
EC1N 7TE

Happy 2012! I am still alive!

Apologies, apologies, apologies! I have been awfull with blogging this month, I know! I was in Greece for the first week of January, then moved house two days later - nightmare. It all went smooth, until BT got involved and it took them more than a week to connect our phone line. That meant that along with the internet provider it took a total of 2 weeks to get connected. What BT needed to do was just leave the existing number of the property and transfer it over to our names. What they did was transfer our old house number to the new one, followed by disconnecting both numbers, followed by taking 3 more days to reconnect the original number. Rant over and I now accept 50% of the blame for being so bad in 2012.

On a slightly cheerier note, I am determined to be better and put up new recipes, reviews and ideas for happy food times! Another happy note is that I now have a ONE year old daughter! Time does fly and even though 2011 has been a difficult year, it has also been a great one to get to know my little one!

I will no longer be adding the BLW (Baby Lead Weaning) initials at the end of recipes. I am now basically doing all home cooking with no or minimal salt, so that my daughter can eat everything we eat too. Most of the recipes are still 'big family' friendly though, so not to worry!

I hope 2012 has started well for everyone. I look forward to giving you some food for thought and food for your belly too!

Hungry Mama x

Candied Orange Slices in Chocolate

Happy Christmas everyone! I hope you had a lovely time with your family, with plenty of delicious food and quality time! Our Christmas was definitely different this year. It was our first Christmas with our daughter! This year we decided that, for various reasons, we wouldn't really do presents for each other - for the little one only, of course! We decided we would MAKE presents! This way it is more personal and, yes, much cheaper! So what is fairly Christmassy and yet delicious and easy to make? Chocolate? Flavoured, maybe? With oranges? hmmm. How about some candied oranges dipped in chocolate? Genius!

Makes between 70-90 (depending on thickness of slices)

5 oranges (good quality)
2 cups of water
31/2 cups of granulated sugar (we used demerara and it worked fine too)
150g of good quality dark chocolate (not too bitter, as you need a bit of sweetness to counteract the bitter orange)

Cut the oranges in half (we found cutting across the navel worked better). Then take each half and place it on its flat side down. Cut slices lengthwise - along the direction of the orange segments (use a very sharp knife so you don't squeeze all the juice out). The thickness of the slices should be between 2-4 mm.Discard the ends that don't have any orange in them.Continue until all oranges are sliced.

Add the water and the sugar to a pan and bring to the boil, making sure you stir to dilute the sugar. Add the orange slices and lower the heat to a gentle simmer. Leave them to simmer for an hour, stirring carefully every now and then, to make sure all slices are in the syrup.

Remove the slices after an hour and lay on greaseproof paper, making sure they are separated and don't stick to each other. You can use the syrup for another dish if you like, or discard. Leave the oranges slices to dry out for 24hours, or place them in the oven on a very low temperature (30 degrees) for a few hours to help them dry out faster.

Once dried (they are still a little sticky and not hard, but there is no liquid running off them), melt the chocolate in a bowl over some simmering water. Dip each orange slice half way in the chocolate and lay on another piece of greaseproof paper to harden - this takes about 2-3 hours in a cool kitchen. Now they are ready to eat or package for your loved ones. Keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Chickpea Soup with Chorizo

It has been a busy few weeks again. We are moving house soon and organising packing, moving and everything becomes quite hard with a baby. In fact, everything becomes harder with a baby. But I assume it gets easier again, eventually. In some ways at least! I must say, though, however much people 'warn' you before you have a child about how different your life will be, I don't think you can really comprehend it all until it actually happens!

Something that has been very affected by having a child is cooking. I no longer have hours available to cook. So all my recipes at the moment seem to be fairly quick and easy things. Still, I think there is a demand for quick and easy recipes (and cheap in some occasions). So chickpeas it is, again!

I do like them as an ingredient, they are filling, flavoursome and go with a load of different things. And they are cheap, especially in this economic climate and all!

Serves 2 plus a little extra

2 tins of chickpeas
1 onion, chopped
2 tomatoes (skinned - put in boiling water for 30seconds and peel)
300-500ml of water or vegetable stock
handfull of chopped parsley
100g of chorizo, chopped
Salt and pepper

Fry off the chopped onion. Once softened, add the chickpeas and the chopped tomatoes. Add 300ml of water or vegetable stock. Cover and simmer over a low heat for 15-20 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Once softened, blitz it to a soup (add more liquid if you want it less thick). In the meantime fry off the chorizo pieces. Serve in bowls and top with the chopped parsley and the the fried chorizo. Drizzle with the chorizo oil.

Part-time Jobs for Mums...Please!

I am sat here, with my bowl of yoghurt and blueberries (I got jealous of Missy's breakfast), feeling a little disappointed and angry. Time for a mini rant, I think... I am only now having my breakfast, despite the fact that I have been up since 7.30, because I turned my computer on pretty much the moment Missy left for the childminder, trying to find a job.

Looking for jobs, is a job in its self. It is stressful, time consuming and very frustrating. Looking for a part-time job, as a new mum is pretty much impossible; I should know, I have been doing it for almost two months now. Well, it seems to be impossible in my area of work; Architecture and Urban Design. Please let me know if I am wrong and I will happily accept it (if you do so, please tell me the company you are thinking of, so that I can apply!). And before you think or say it, yes I am looking in other areas of work as well. Admin, Marketing, Business Development etc. There seem to be no part time jobs for professionals!

The only luck I have had, has been through applying for full time positions. On the few interviews I have managed to get, the moment my '4 day a week' issue crops up I am out of the run again. I attended an interesting group interview last week. There were 25 of us in the run for 2 marketing positions. After the process, 7 of us were shortlisted for the next stage of interviews. I was extremely proud to be one of those 7! What recognition! After the next interview I was told that I did not make it to the next (yes there was another stage) stage of interviews. I was extremely upset. I knew I could do this job and after asking for feedback, the only reason I was given was that I would only be able to do the 4 days. I can appreciate that this can put people off - a working week is 5 days, hence if you can't work the 5 days, you can't do the job, right?

But how many people actually work the full 5 days. You check your emails a few too many times, your lunchbreak runs over by 10 minutes every now and then, someone wrote something on twitter that you have to check, you started some on-line shopping and get a little engrossed by it for, well, 30 minutes or so. What I am trying to say - and what I tried to explain to them - is that I am working the 4 days, so that I can focus 100% on the job for those days, and spend the rest of the time with my daughter and doing all the other things I feel need to be done, without any resentment either way.

I am not sure if I am convincing you now, either and I would really appreciate some feedback on this. I feel completely stuck in this situation, where I know there are so many jobs out there I am perfectly capable of doing, but the fact that I want to dedicate an extra day to my family seems to be a stumbling block. I guess I am mainly writing this, so that I can vent, feel a little better and hopefully convince one or two of you that flexibility in the workplace is an extremely important issue that we, as a society, are still behind on. If a better work-life balance were offered by the employer, then the employee would be much more open to committing to their job wholeheartedly.

Now can I have a job? Please? OK, I 'll go back to my blueberries then...

Kinda Beef Giouvetsi (BLW)

I get very excited when I find Greek ingredients in the UK, so I usually buy them, even if I don't really feel like eating them. This is the case with things like Caprice, the chocolate cigar waffers- which if you haven't tried, by the way, you really should! -, halva and kritharaki (a small rice-shaped pasta, also known as orzo in Italy). In fact it was orzo that I saw when I was shopping online about a year ago and got so excited that I bought it. A year later, it was still in my cupboard and still in date, so I decided it deserved using up.

I absolutely love Giouvetsi (the Greek meat dish that traditionally uses kritharaki). I love it, but for some reason eat it rarely. At home we only cooked once or twice a year. It is mostly done with lamb, and that meant I often wouldn't eat it, as I wasn't a keen meat eater in my teenage years. What I really love about Giouvetsi is the way the kritharaki pasta absorbs all the cooking sauces from the meat and gets a slightly sticky and rich quality to it.

As I mentioned, Giouvetsi is traditionally done with lamb, but people also use chicken, beef or pork for it. It is also normally cooked as a roast and then the kritharaki are added close to the end. This is NOT a traditional Greek Giouvetsi. It is my version of Giouvetsi, mostly because those were the ingredients I was working with on the day. Basically it is a slow cooked beef cheek, which I then bake with the kritharaki at the end. Like an alternative pasta with meat sauce. For the beef cheek I followed my recipe of Ox Cheek Ragu. 

Serves 4 plus baby/ toddler

600 g ox cheek (2 cheeks approx)
1 large onion, finely chopped
200 ml of water OR red wine OR stock (depending on how rich you want the sauce) - I used wine this time
350 ml tomato passata
1 bay leaf
1 stick of cinnamon
salt - optional if doing Baby Led Weaning
pepper
400g kritharaki
handful of finely chopped parsley

Cut the ox cheek in 3cm cubes and add to an oven proof casserole dish along with the chopped onion. Pour over the 200ml of water/wine/stock, add the bay leaf, cinnamon stick, salt and pepper and put in a low temperature oven (150 degrees) for one hour. After that take out of the oven, add the tomato passata and return to the oven for a further hour and a half to two hours. Finally remove from the oven, take the pieces of meat out of the sauce and shred (they should be so tender that they fall apart).

Once shredded, return to the dish, along with 400g of kritharaki or orzo. Add a glass of water and mix everything together. Return to the oven with the lid on (or with foil on top) and cook for 45 minutes, stirring it every now and then to make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom. If it looks thick, add more liquid to it.

Once cooked, add the chopped parsley and serve with some grated Parmesan or Kefalotyri.

Salmon Teriyaki

I love Japanese food. It has a comforting effect on me, yet is light to eat. But, like many Asian cuisines, I find it a little intimidating to cook at home. I don't know the raw ingredients as well and don't feel too sure about how to treat them. I mean, I have made sushi rolls at home on many occasions - often vegetarian ones, when I couldn't get good enough fish. It was a monthly treat during my times in Oxford, with my sushi-obsessed housemate.

Last week I decided to brave a very well-known Japanese dish: teriyaki. I discovered another great fishmonger locally and thought I would give their salmon a test, by marinating it in the teriyaki sauce and cooking it medium. Easy, healthy, delicious dinner. I served it with edamame beans (ready peeled frozen ones).

Serves 2

2 fillets of salmon (around 250g each)

For the teriyaki sauce:
1/2 cup of mirin (all major supermarket and Asian supermarkets should have it)
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp of sugar

Put all the ingredients for the sauce in a pan, mix well and bring to the boil. Once boiling reduce the heat and allow to reduce slightly. Turn off after a few minutes and leave to cool.

Once cooled place in a dish with the salmon and leave to marinade (ideally for at least 1-2 hours). Once marinaded, put a frying pan over medium heat. Add the salmon fillets with the marinading juices and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side (longer if you do not like your fish medium). Turn the heat down if the mixture is bubbling too much or put the heat up if the mixture is not bubbling at all. You should have a slightly thickened sauce at the end. Serve the salmon with some boiled edamame beans and pour the rest of the sauce on top. Enjoy!