All posts filed under: featured

Strawberry Mess

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As a side effect of the quarantine we mastered the art of the meringue. Were the batches of unchewable or dark experimental tries worth? Yes – because at the end we came to a decent result that combined with whipped cream and strawberries results to one of the best desserts  during a quarantine or anytime – a simple Eton mess or pavlova. The deliciousness is unproportional to its simplicity – but who says that complicated recipes are always the best… Just think of sushi… Or pommes frites.. it’s what you do with the ingredients; they just have to be the best and you just need to put a sense of fugues into your cooking or baking. Like what Bach did with a Blockflöte.  We tried several meringue approaches ( with burned sugar,corn flour or cream of tartar) and we found that the basic version with a splash of Calvados works best.  For the meringues (makes app. 15 golf ball size meringues) 2 large egg whites (at room temperature) 60g caster sugar 60g icing sugar 1 Tbsp calvados (optional) Preheat the oven to  100°C (fan). Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Put the egg whites into …

The Lockdown GBTS Project

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What can you do when in lockdown? Eat well. Ontop, as parents of a child in e-learning, we needed a decent amount of alcohol. I would say that the occupation around food and drink became something of a modest obsession..All that had consequences. When going back to a somewhat more normal routine you notice that clothes don’t quite fit ( I had the impression that my pants upper button would launch and hit somebody in the eye or knock a person dead).  When running the familiar route around the hill I began making concessions to the steep parts, accelerating only when another runner appeared.. So we had to face the simple fact: we gained weight!  For my part I even considered doing nothing about it, and spending the rest of my life with the extra kilos. Then again, perhaps not. I fantasized journeys that you travel easiest when lean and fitting in my wetsuit. Our problem is that we don’t like diets (who does..) . Our assumption is that even if we stuck  to a diet for a period, we would slip into the previous habits without thinking much. So we decided to come up with some simple rules, …

homemade ketchup

Ketchup for our burgers

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Our burgers are a bricolage of Ottolenghi brioche buns, Hawksmoor ketchup and beef from our butcher. To be honest, we are not big ketchup fans, but this is another animal! We feel grateful to the Hawksmoor guys who included the recipe in their cookbook “Hawksmoor at home”, and we can attest that the result tastes as good as the stuff they have in the restaurants. Our touch is that we prepare our own compote instead of using  tinned apples or pears. For the patties we use our butcher’s mix and make brioche buns according to the recipe of Ottolenghi. For the tomato ketchup 1 kg tinned or very ripe fresh tomatoes 250g tomato purée 250 g apple compote or tinned apples 50g onion, peeled and cut in half 200g fruit sugar 1 clove garlic, peeled 50 g Maldon sea salt flakes 200ml white wine vinegar 8 whole black peppercorns 1 whole allspice 1 clove 1 whole star anise For the apple compote 2 apples,  peeled, cored and cut in chunks 25g caster sugar water Start with the apple compote. In a …

artichoke moussaka

Artichoke Moussaka

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The greek moussaka is a true fusion dish, created by Tselementes, a  greek chef and cookbook writer of the begining of the 20th century. Tselementes  has been demonised in the last decades for not being a ‘purist’ and the rest. Although many of his recipes are too rich for todays tastes, with his moussaka he invented a quintessential dish that spawned more ‘purist’ discussions about ingredients, methods e.t.c. In any case, during this time of year artichokes grow in our garden, and we use them instead of aubergines causing a small scandal in the family. The greek standard is with traditional béchamel, but we prefer the greek yogurt béchamel, according to the recipe of Aglaia Kremezi. We think the combination tastes great . The artichokes lemon juice 10 fresh artichokes (or 10 frozen artichoke hearts) The potatoes 3 medium potatoes (350g), cut into thin slices olive oil, for brushing the eggplant and The meat sauce 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 250g onion, finely chopped 70g carrots, grated 1 clove garlic 700g minced beef 3/4 cup dry …

happy easter

The bad conscience of a meat eater

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Seht ihn! – Wie? – als wie ein Lamm. (Behold Him! – How? – As a Lamb.) -BWV 244 ,’Matthäus-Passion’ On Easter Sunday Greeks roast a lamb. That is, a whole lamb is skewered on a spit and roasted over charcoal. The spit usually pierces the scull of the animal or appears though the teeth, next to the prolonged tongue, in pure gore fashion.  Family and friends gather around the spectacle and celebrate Easter, preferably in gardens and yards in the countryside, among poppies, chamomile and daisies. Jesus is associated with the innocent lamb, scarified during Easter. What perverse association established the custom of lamb eating on that very day I do not know. Perhaps a suppressed kurgan inclination managed to resurface in the most sacred of celebrations to mock the orderly Christians, betting on the carnivore within. Or, even more bizarre, it has to do with something much more sinister and ancient: cannibalism. We have not completely lost the association to the living young lambs, sweet and innocent, recipients of our affection. Nevertheless we eat them, teaching …

salt cod fritters

Salt Cod Fritters (Bakaliaros Skordalia)

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Bakaliaros skordalia (salt cod fritters with bread garlic sauce) is sort of greek national institution. You have it on National Day and Palm Sunday, both in spring. You associate it with blue sky, parades and childhood memories – until you have to carry your own toddler to the parade. The deep fried bakaliaros and the garlic in skordalia make a tastebomb. It is also a game theory dish. Equilibrium is reached when everybody have it and can bear each other’s garlic consumption. We like to have it the whole year round and for some time we were in the quest for the perfect recipe. After experiments involving soda siphons Blumenthal style, I think we found our definite answer to bakaliaro perfection in an adaptation of Argiro Barbarigou’s recipe. Here it is: Serves 4-6 For the salt cod fritters (bakaliaros) 1kg salt cod fillet, desalted 260g all purpose flour 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp sugar 2 tsp baking powder 330ml beer 20ml ouzo olive oil for frying To desalt the cod (24-36 hours in advance) Rinse the …

Extra Virgin Green Olive Oil, cold pressed

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Every autumn Popi recruits workers, volunteers  and semi-volunteers to harvest the olives. When it comes to olive oil she is a perfectionist. The green olives have to be combed down from the trees gently, inspected one-by-one and carried to the oil press within a strict schedule. Luckily for all in the last years she has settled for one of the presses half an hour drive away, a big improvement over the long drives of the past, when she had confronted and discarded every facility in the prefecture. This year someone suggested to use harvest machines for speed. When we arrived the device was flat on the ground, Popi looking down to it in disgust and explaining that is was a really bad idea, the way it hurt the fruit.  Popi goes around, inspecting how all are performing,  and explaining what great fun it is to gather the olives: ‘It is not at all tiring, only a great opportunity to exercise, and that only for the first day, then it is not even a challenge’. As sunset approaches she intensifies her rounds of disks full of meatballs and …