Monemvasia

  

My daughter-in-law Yianna and my son Spiro invited me to spend a long week-end with them, in the medieval fortress town of Monemvasia, where Yianna has a house.     It was absolutely wonderful to visit after so many years.  Beautiful traditional houses, Byzantine churches, the Museum, cobbled streets, colourful shrubs and flowers everywhere.  And the people are friendly and smiling and generous. I shall always remember  Leone’s warm welcome at Fany’s tastefully arranged Malvasia Hotel, and Spiro and Yianna’s old and new friends that I so utterly enjoyed meeting.  As for the food, it was perfect! Venetia makes the tastiest dishes, and Anna is an excellent and inventive cook!   It was so beautiful it didn’t seem real.  

Let's come back to reality and cook a few dishes together.

                     

BREAD WITH ONIONS, OLIVES AND FETA

     This is a lovely recipe for bread that keeps fresh for 2-3 days.  Try it also with celeriac or carrots instead of onions.  The best olives to use are the ones stuffed with sun dried tomatoes or pimentos.

500 g (1 lb) flour

8-10 g (1 tbsp) dried yeast

½ tsp salt

2 medium onions, chopped

125 g (4 oz) or more feta, crumbled

1 tsp honey, diluted in

250 ml (1 cup) tepid water

1 cup stuffed olives, sliced

          In a large, warmed bowl mix the flour with the dried yeast.  Then add the onions, salt and half the amount of cheese and mix well.   Add the water and honey mixture and knead vigorously for 8-10 minutes until the dough becomes elastic but remains soft.  Place the dough in a clean, warmed mixing bowl, cover the whole bowl with a plastic bag, tea-towels and a small blanket and let rise, free from draughts, until doubled in bulk  (about 1 ½ hours).

          Knead the dough again, add the olives and the remaining cheese.  Shape 2 loaves and leave to prove, on an oiled baking tin, for about half an hour, or until doubled in bulk.  Slash the loves and brush with olive oil.    Bake in a hot oven, preheated to 200 C (400 F) for 40 minutes, until golden and crisp. 

 QUICK FETA TART

                                                

       This is June Marino’s example of an Anglo-Greek recipe.    It combines an English batter mixture (used for Yorkshire pudding) with Greek feta and olive oil.

250 g (½ lb) flour

600 ml (2 ¾ cups) milk

2 eggs

Pepper and salt to taste

100 g (1 cup) feta, coarsely chopped

 4 tbsp olive oil

       Place the flour in a bowl and make a well in the centre.   Add the eggs and mix.   Slowly add the milk and mix or whisk well, until smooth and season with a little salt and pepper. Cover and leave in the fridge for a least ½ an hour.  

      Pour the olive oil into a 35 cm (14 in) round baking tin or even larger, and place in a oven preheated to 190 C (375 F).   When the oil is hot (but not smoking) remove from the oven and pour in the beaten batter mixture and sprinkle with the feta.  Be sure you beat the batter well before you pour it into the hot olive oil.   Place the tin on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, and then put the tart on the bottom of the oven for about 15 minutes.

(Serves 6)

SMOKED TROUT TERRINE

          This dish is very popular with my family.  The girls prefer it blended into a mousse, the men and boys like it flaked.   It can be served both a first dish or as a main course with a salad.

4 packets smoked trout fillets, each packet weighing 186 g (6.2 oz)

4 finely sliced spring onions

2 tbsp finely chopped parsley

1 tbsp finely chopped dill

Grated rind of 1 lemon

4 tbsp or more lemon juice

1 cup veloute sauce (see recipe below)

7 gelatine sheets (11.6g/0.38 oz)

250 ml (1 cup) low-fat cream

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Veloute Sauce:

This sauce is not made the classical way that needs simmering for 40 minutes.

Prepared this way it has excellent results.

2 tbsp butter

2 heaped tbsp cornflour

1 bay leaf

375 ml (1½ cup) hot chicken stock

A little salt and freshly ground black pepper

         First, prepare the sauce.   Melt the butter, over low heat, add the bay leaf, sift in the cornflour and cook, stirring for 2-5 minutes.   Then pour in all the stock, raise the heat, whisking constantly until the sauce comes to the boil.  Reduce the heat and keep stirring until sauce thickens, about 10 minutes more.

        Meanwhile, separate the gelatine sheets and cover them with cold water for 2-3 minutes.  Squeeze the gelatine, to extract as much water as possible, and place in the hot sauce and stir vigorously until thoroughly mixed together, and set aside to cool slightly.

       Flake the smoked trout and combine with the other ingredients (the sauce and gelatine mixture must still be hot) and stir until completely mixed together.  Taste and add salt, pepper or lemon juice if necessary.  Now is the time to blend the mixture into a mousse, if preferred.

          Line the bottom and sides of a loaf-tin with cling film, leaving the excess hanging over the sides.   Spoon the trout mixture evenly into the tin and cover completely with the overhanging cling film.  Refrigerate for at least 5 hours.

         Just before required, remove the film from the top and reverse the terrine on a dish. Garnish with parsley and dill sprigs and serve with a zesty green salad and warm brown bread.

 LOIN OF PORK ROASTED WITH APPLES AND HERBS

We can’t only eat salads in summer, so do try this dish.

1½-2 kg (3-4 lbs) pork loin with the bone

Coarse Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped or

2 tbsp fresh sage, chopped

1 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped

1 tsp fresh ginger, grated

3 tbsp olive oil

(mix all the ingredients well together)

1-2 apples, peeled, sliced and drenched with

The juice of half a lemon

3-4 large sprigs of fresh rosemary or sage

          Using a sharp knife remove the skin from the meat and reserve.  Very carefully remove the meat from the bone, in a single piece. Reserve the bone rack also.

          Slit the loin in half lengthwise, lay it flat and make 2 parallel scores. Spread the herb mixture over, pushing it into the slits with your fingers.  Cover with the apples, roll up the meat lengthwise and tie it securely with kitchen string.  Lay the roll on the bone rack and cover it with the large herb sprigs.    With a very sharp knife score the reserved skin along the width and place over the herb sprigs.   Tie again to the bone rack and sprinkle the skin with water and coarse salt.    Roast in an oven preheated to 190 C (375 F) for about 1½ or until the meat is tender and the skin has turned into excellent crackling.

        Remove the crackling and cut, or rather break it, into small pieces.  Carve the meat and serve it with the crackling , roast potatoes and a salad of your choice.

                                  

  

SQUID BAKED IN ASHES FROM MONEMVASIA

  

Fresh squid, cleaned and washed

Olive oil

Lemon juice

       Wrap the squid in parchment paper and then in aluminium foil, and bury in the hot ashes of a fire or charcoal grill.  Cook until tender, but not too long, as the squid may toughen.   Eat either plain or with olive oil, lemon juice and freshly ground black pepper. 

  

 LEMON TART

         Eddie Kotsis often makes this fabulous tart for us, when we play bridge.

Crust:

200 g (6 oz + 1 scant tbsp)  butter, at room temperature

100 g (½  cup) sugar

About 300 g (2 1/3 cups) self-raising flour, combined with a

Pinch of salt

Filling:

4 eggs

400 g (2 cups) sugar

The grated rind of 1 lemon 

50 g self-raising flour, sifted with

½ tsp baking powder

160 ml lemon juice or according to taste

          For the crust, blend the ingredients until just combined, adding a little more flour, if necessary.   Wrap and chill the dough for at least 30 minutes.  Meanwhile preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F).

          Roll the dough out thinly and line a 28 cm baking tin, prick with a fork all over, and chill for 15 minutes until firm.  Bake the pastry shell blind, for 20 minutes.

          In the meantime whip the eggs with the sugar and lemon zest until light, fluffy and almost doubled in bulk.  Gently fold in the flour and baking powder mixture and the lemon juice.

          Take the filling to the oven and pour it over the hot baked crust, and bake for 25-30
 minutes.