Patates yiahni

Potatoes stewed with tomatoes, carrot and celery.

A simple peasant dish served hot on a cold winter's day, cold on a summer evening.   This is perfect for Lent, meatless Wednesdays and Fridays and the 15 fasting days before Christmas (for some).   This is the sort of dish you would be served up if you ate at a monastery, or at our house between feasting.

- Chop one onion

- peel a carrot and cut into thin slices

- thinly slice a few sticks of celery, stalks and leaves

- slice 2 cloves of garlic 

-  3 or 4 potatoes peeled and cut into large chunks

Put them all in a pot with a few tablespoons of oil and brown slowly till the onion has softened a little

- Add a wine glass of white wine

- put 2 or 3 tomatoes through a little mixer and add them to the pot

- add a bay leaf 

- one teaspoon of sugar

- salt and pepper

- a little cumin for the adventurous

Boil slowly for 30-40 minutes till the potatoes have cooked and the sauce has thickened a little.  Add some water if the tomatoes were not very juicy.

Strips of green pepper, some crumbled feta cheese, a small hot pepper or some chilli would make it something special

A bottle of local olive oil on the left, Vaso's white wine on the right

In the pot ready to boil

On the plate

Serve with feta cheese, a dish of olives, lots of village bread and a few glasses of wine