Before you bottle all those tomatoes

I should have posted this recipe a while ago while tomatoes were in full season in the northern hemisphere.  For those in the southern hemisphere, patience, your tomatoes will soon be in full flood.  This dish is called 'kayena'.  It is easy, really tasty and perfect for a summer evening on the patio with a glass of chilled sauv blanc and some fresh fluffy bread.

The traditional way is to grate the tomatoes so they have a few lumps and are not just plain juice but whizz them in the little mixer for a second and they will be fine.  





For two people.  Grate or whizz 2 or 3 big tomatoes.  This of course depends on the size and the juiciness of the tomatoes.  Half fill a soup plate.  Experiment.  You'll know better the second time round!






Beat four eggs



Put a little extra virgin greek olive oil in a big frying pan.  Add the tomatoes and simmer for about 5 minutes.  Add the beaten eggs and about (depending once again on taste) 200 grams of crumbled feta cheese.  Kiwis, you can use that yellowy cow's milk 'feta' cheese.   I rather liked it. 




Stir till the feta cheese melts and the eggs  set slightly.  And 'Bob's your uncle'.  Spoon into a big plate and take it out on the terrace at sunset. Cut up something from that huge choice of breads that you all have available from the hot bread shop/boulangerie/panetteria/fourno.  Pour a couple of glasses of your favourite alcohol and enjoy the sunset/sound of the crickets/antics of four legged friends.

Ingredients for two people:
4 eggs beaten
2/3 very ripe tomatoes, grated
200grams feta cheese crumbled
Some of the salt of your choice and a good grind of pepper

Stew tomatoes 5 minutes. Add eggs and cheese. Serve when cheese melted a little and eggs somewhat set.  May be quite runny depending on the juice in the tomatoes.

Kali orexi

Edibles

Fanouropita with added protein

I made a fanouropita (non dairy/egg cake, see labels for the recipe) for a memorial on Sunday.  Unfortunately I left it out on the bench overnight and in the morning it was swarming with tiny ants.  It wasn't suitable for the memorial coffee but I cut it up, shook each piece, transferred it to a bowl and took it down to the family feast afterwards.  A friend told me later I should have put the baking dish out in the sun for five minutes.  Ants hate bright sunlight and they would have hightailed it out of the cake as though it was on fire.

The goats left me one squash plant and 'lo' I found a squash was growing under the leaves.  Hope there is enough sun now for this to develop and grow.  I am keeping a sharp eye out for any more.  We'll probably pay over 70euros for our summer water and what did we get?  Quite a few green peppers, a couple of handfuls of mini tomatoes and one squash.  Next year I'll still plant the squash and hopefully a proper pumpkin or two but the rest I'll buy from the weekly local-growers' market.  I still have the tomato and pepper plants and after fertilising again and adding extra lime maybe they'll produce a few more vegetables.  We've had a few inches of rain and now the sun is out.  Perfect growing weather.

The left over fava (split peas/pease pudding) I made into dhal and it was delicious.  Greek cuisine is so healthy, olive oil, mediterranean diet, blah, blah, blah, but I do crave a bit of heat and a change of tastes.  I fried a little onion, lots of garlic, some chopped ginger and curry and added it to the cooked split peas.  Damn tasty!  It perfectly filled that taste gap.

I was given another feta recipe recently and it looks like one that the traditional members of the family will eat.

-  Green beans with feta sauce

·         150 gms feta (greek of course) crumbled

·         3 tbsps greek olive oil

·         minced garlic, as much as you dare

·         400 gms  green beans

·        juice of one lemon

·         oregano

·         lots of fresh pepper

Combine the feta, oil and garlic in a small pot.  Simmer a little till the cheese is soft and melting.

Pour this over the green beans and sprinkle with oregano (fresh or dried), lemon juice and grind fresh pepper over it all.

When in Greece please eat the fish heads

Our  Kiwi  family, recently arrived for a holiday, make good Greeks.  They all have large, close, extended families/whanau back home in New Zealand who live 'close to the earth' (on farms or in the wop-wops). Now they have their extended Greek family too where everyone is 'related' even if they are a third cousin twice removed. These New Zealanders love offal,  they see curious foods  on their plates and do not ask before eating 'eh, what's this then?', they love olive oil and they eat fish heads. 

The remains of a large plate of freshly cooked and local 'green bone' fish, a small fish with a long 'swordfish' type of nose and a green phosphorescent backbone

Katy, chief fish head eater, cleans the bones.  She picked the head to pieces, eating the cheeks, crunching on the eyeballs, polishing up the bones.  Ka pai wahine.

Tuna caught by K, doused in lemon juice and served 'sushi' with a little olive oil

Small whitebait type fish fried till crisp and eaten head, tail, bones and all.  Delicious.

We did a lot of eating while they were all here and besides the spit roast pig and the spit roast roll of lambs offal we also managed a lot of fish.  Saturday it was slices of  a tuna sort of fish cooked in the oven with lots of olive oil, garlic, onion and slices of tomato.  Sunday it was kalamari, soaked for a few minutes in a soda solution to soften them.  The kalamari were tender, crispy and utterly divine, especially with a glass of chilled local white.

Last night it was mussels in a mustard sauce, eaten al fresco on our rooftop terrace watching the sun go down, octopus, fried whitebait, ouzo and cold greek beer, handmade salted sardines and greens fresh from our fields.  All of this with stereo greek and english  conversation. The debate was lively, coming from all sides, young children and a dog.

This is from our first fish feast on the roof.  The main dish was oysters pulled out of the sea by a combined greek and kiwi diving team just a few hours earlier.

And the next fish feast with mussels, grilled octopus and sardines salted by K

The mediterranean diet at its best.  The freshest of fish, lots of greens, a glass of wine and good company.  We'll live forever on this utopian greek island.

The view from the back of the terrace.  The typical blue and white island house and a mass of bougainvillia.

Marinated feta made by our family chef Kyriakos.  Small pieces of feta drizzled with olive oil and fresh chopped mint.  The mint just gives this half goat, half sheeps cheese a zing which turns it into a gourmet dish

Evening in the port.  The car ferry on the left is coming across from the mainland and the big ferry from Piraeus is just turning to dock below us.

A dish of oysters straight from the Aegean sea and on to the BBQ

Another dish of octopus.  This octopus was made with finesse by Yianni. He prepared it by pounding and tenderising, boiled it in its own juices and then drizzled it with the finest virgin olive oil and homemade vinegar. Greek men are good cooks.

So much food still to be eaten, so many great times to make into memories, so much still to write.  Stay tuned.  There will be much more about my kiwi whanau.