Sunday Vittles

Sunday, grey, cold and windy but no rain, yet.  

Vaso and her children are still harvesting olives on this wintry day.   They have been picking for over two months and have pressed 2 /12 tonnes of olive oil, so far, plus whatever they gave to the oil press in payment.  It is the first time ever that all the  olive trees have such a bountiful crop of olives.  I can hear the sound of the chainsaw just across the road.  80 year old matriarch Vaso does not often pick with them.  She has her goats and chickens to take care of and then retreats, probably with a glass of raki for company.

Meanwhile in our house it is time for a Sunday winter special.  Homemade sourdough bread and turkey soup.  

I changed my baking technique again today and the sourdough loaf was baked to perfection.   Baking the bread in a covered ceramic roasting dish gives a crunchy crust with a soft, easily cut interior.  I hardly kneaded it at all and left it overnight to rise.  This loaf, using one kilo of flour, is really too much for us but I can cut it in half and give some away.

The bread is easily sliced and the perfect size for a sandwich or some bread and marmite.  I had just pulled the loaf out of the oven and cut the first slice when the doorbell rang.  It was almost half an hour before I could butter it.  Alas it had cooled down too much and the butter wouldn't melt.  I guess that was a power on high telling me I shouldn't be eating hot bread and butter!

I keep the bread in the covered baking dish and it keeps fresh for about a week, if it lasts that long

Making the cabbage salad for lunch.  I grate the carrot on the mandolino (that's what it is called here).  A greek cabbage salad is made with a grated carrot, a crushed clove of garlic and chopped celery, olive oil and lemon juice.  I didn't mix the garlic in properly and later got a mouthful of raw garlic. I'll be a bit whiffy for a while.

Greek celery (selino).  It looks like parsley but tastes like celery

Today I am drinking just one small glass of red wine .  Local, out of the barrel

A family place mat (with stains of meals past).  In 2008 I got all the grandchildren to place their hands on the mat and drew around them in indelible marker pen.  The tiniest was just a baby.  I'm going to do it again on another mat, ten years later.

A plate of turkey soup.  The turkey was an old bird and fatty.  We boiled it for a couple of hours and added celery, onions and carrots.

There was a lot of fat in the pot so I'll add rice and boil it in the juices.  That's what they do down in Crete with a sheep or goat.  The rice, called gamopilafo (wedding pilaf), is a speciality first course at a wedding,  Absolutely delicious though you end up with a glaze of fat around your mouth.

I shall take the turkey out of the pot, boil the rice and then serve them separately.    I could have added tomato to the juices or thickened it with an egg or lemon sauce but I think the rice will be appreciated more by my traditional greek.  

We spent three years in Crete at the Naval base and have wonderful memories of their regional dishes, different from the rest of Greece

In a response to my brother who asked what the Turks are called in Greek ...... officially

   A Turk comes from Tourkia and speaks barbarian (bar bar bar)

The turkey bird is a gallopoula.  And the gallopoula goes 'gooloo gooloo'  (not 'gobble gobble').