Shellfish and Ouzo

 It has been a busy few days.  Monday was the big day of clean eating to celebrate the beginning of Lent.  No dairy, no eggs, no meat and only seafood without blood. That meant a lot of shellfish, octopus, squid, vegetables and all sorts of lentils and other pulses.  

The most traditional food today is the lagana, flatbread, and taramasalata. That's salted fish roe mushed up with breadcrumbs, lots of oil and a bit of onion and lemon juice. 

I made some flatbread. The dough rose slowly all night in the fridge and I baked 2 loaves the next morning. 

K made the fish roe dip (taramasalata) the day before but I made my own version with half bread/half boiled potato. It comes out smoother.  Daughter Danae made some with potato too. 

Everyone devours hot lagana smothered in taramasalata. Daughter Elli brought a lagana with olives in it.  Delicious. You don't worry about cutting up the bread, just rip it apart with your hands

It was a lovely sunny day but very chilly in the shadows

Yiannis cooked the squid and cuttlefish outside.  We ate them hot from the pan

Lagana, salted vegetables, dolmathes and giant prawns. Elli brought a huge pot of macaroni with a sauce of tomatoes and shrimps. 

Yiannis also made a really great mixed salad

Danae steamed cauliflower and broccoli

K?  Oh yes, beside the taramasalata he also made a big bowl of pureed yellow lentils, called fava. 

And I almost forgot the octopus. You can't have Clean Monday without octopus.  Yiannis prepared, boiled and tossed the octopus in olive oil and vinegar. It was soft and tasty.  

That sounds like an awful lot of food.  And there were only 8 of us.  All the grandchildren were celebrating with friends either in Athens or on the island

The Patriarch awaits 

It seems to be all about food again. While traditional fare is important, and the cooking and eating, it's the comeradeship, the laughter, the togetherness with family and friends that brings the greatest enjoyment

When the sun went in we moved inside to the warmth of a roaring wood stove 

Family

And the sweets 

They're supposed to be made from semolina today, pastry, nuts and syrup. Friend Nikos knows what people really want.  A Chocolat and caramel tourta.  I had 2 pieces.  

Bravo Niko.  He brought a box of baclava as well, with those nuts and syrup.  I ate one of those too 

The finale

Dividing up the leftovers

We took enough shrimp macaroni, lagana, octopus and squid to feed us both for a couple of days

No cooking. Yeh

Kali Sarokosti

Good Lent

And it wouldn't be a party without Boem