Wonderful Olives!

Olives are such a wonderful fruit and so 'complete' in what they can offer! I previously wrote a post here about collecting and preparing olives to be eaten at the table, but the olive tree and olives offer so much more.

Olives have existed here since the time of Ancient Greece and one Greek myth actually attributes the founding of Athens to an olive tree that sprung from a barren rock at the bidding of Athena, during a competition with Poseidon as to who would be the protector of Athens. They are hardy trees and there is an olive tree in Crete which has been determined to be over 2000 years old.

The word olive is derived from the Latin "oliva", which came from the Greek "elaia" and the  Mycenaean Greek e-ra-wa ("elaiva").The word oil is also ultimately derived from the name of the tree and its fruit.

Many Thanks To Our Readers - 1000+ Per Day!

We'd just like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who visit this blog. Over the New Year period we were delighted to see that the numbers went over the 1000 per day mark! The number of visitors has been growing and we hope this reflects the fact that we are providing useful and interesting information for those of you interested in Greek cooking.

Maria comes from a family of chefs and combines this know-how with the simple dishes that are cooked here in the country. We hope you enjoy them!

If you haven't already done so, then I suggest that you subscribe (see right side bar) so that you can get each post delivered  to your inbox.

Those of you who have your own site, why don't you try advertising here? Click on the button Advertise Here at the top of this page to find details. Get your site exposed to over 1000 people a day!

Again - many, many thanks!

Greek Spinach Pie With Cornmeal (Plastos)

There are several different ways of making spinach pie (spanakopita) in Greece. We have previously featured 2 - here and here. The recipe below - called Plastos - is popular in Greece and is normally made with a variety of aromatic herbs. We have made it here with spinach, but it includes aromatic herbs. The main difference between this and other pies is that instead of pastry, cornmeal is used. This gives it a nice crunchy taste - you can see in the photo above how it came out of the oven.

Ingredients

1 kg spinach finely chopped

8 spring onions finely chopped

4 tbsp fresh dill finely chopped

2 tbsp wild fennel leaves finely chopped                   

Any aromatic herbs available in your area that are suitable for pies. We used Mironia (translates as Shepherd’s Needle, Venus’ Needle, Venus’ Comb) and Kafkalithres (Mediterranean  Hartwort). Use 1 small bunch of each herb you use.

300g feta cheese

2 cups cornmeal

150 ml olive oil

Salt to taste

Preparation

Put the spinach, spring onions, dill, fennel and aromatic herbs in a pan. Bring to the boil, mix well and simmer for 3 minutes.

Remove, drain well and place in a bowl to cool.

Crumble the feta cheese and gently mix in with the greens mixture.

Add 50 ml olive oil, salt and set aside.

Spread 50 ml olive oil in a shallow oven dish.

Sprinkle half of the cornmeal on top of the oil.

Carefully spread the greens mixture on top, making sure that the cornmeal remains on the base without getting mixed in.

Sprinkle the remaining cornmeal on top.

Sprinkle the remaining 50 ml olive oil on top.

Flatten it with the palm of your hand.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for approx. 40 minutes.


If you've tried this recipe please rate it!

Eat and Enjoy!

 

Greek Rice With Fish (Psaropilafo Tis Kivelis)

This is a delicious dish, using any fish that is suitable for soups, e.g. sea bass, trout, monk fish or a combination of these. In Greek this is called Kiveli's fish rice dish. Kiveli (or Kyveli)was a famous lady of the Greek theatre last century - George Papandreou, grandfather of our present Prime Minister, was her third husband and she his second wife. You can see a photo of her at the bottom of this post. Kiveli created this dish one day when she had limited ingredients and had to prepare a meal for a lot of people. The meal was a success - people asked for seconds! - and the dish was thus named after her.

Ingredients

1 kg fish – this should be fish suitable for soup, e.g. sea bass, monk fish, trout or a combination of these)

2 carrots cut into 3 pieces each

4 onions sliced

4 sprigs celery leaves

1 bay leaf

100 ml extra virgin oil

1½ cups pilaf rice

3 tbsp butter (2 for sauce, 1 for rice)

1 cup milk

2 tbsp flour

1 egg yolk

Preparation

Clean and wash the fish.

Boil the carrots, onions, bay leaf, celery leaves and oil for 30 minutes.

Add the fish and continue boiling for another 10 minutes approx. – the fish is ready when the flesh can be easily removed from the bone.

Remove the fish and set aside.

Remove 3 cups of liquid from the pan and pass through a very fine sieve.

Put this in a pan and add the 1½ cups of pilaf rice and 1 tbsp butter, bring to the boil and then simmer at a very low heat for 15 minutes.

Pass the remaining liquid in the pan through a thick sieve into a bowl.

For the Sauce

Place the 2 tbsp butter in a pan and melt.

Add the flour and stir briskly for approx. minutes.

Add the milk and continue stirring.

When it starts to thicken, add enough of the liquid in the bowl to make a consistent sauce – neither too thick nor too thin.

Add the egg yolk and stir briskly for approx. 1 minute.

Remove from the heat.

Remove the bones from the fish and cut into large portions.

Serve the pilaf rice on a large dish and spread 2-3 spoonfuls of the sauce on top.

Place the fish on top.

Spread another 5-6 spoonfuls of sauce on top.

The remaining sauce can be set aside for anyone who wishes to add more.


If you've tried this recipe please rate it!

Eat and Enjoy!

 Kiveli Adrianou

1888 - 1978 

Photo: http://toblogtonkirion.gr

 

Happy New Year - With Traditional Greek New Year Carol (Protochroniatika Kalanta)

We'd like to wish all our visitors - there are now over 1.000 of you every day! - a peaceful and prosperous 2011! You can see the Vassilopita we made this year in the photo. The 2011 has been made out of pomegranate seeds - in Greece the pomegranate is good luck at New Year and we break one on the floor / ground to bring the house luck for the whole year.

Below, you can listen to the traditional New Year Carol - Protochroniatika Kalanta.