Limoncello Spritzer

It was a hot weekend. A very, very, hot weekend. Hot days require cooling, refreshing drinks. And this spritzer is one of them. I brought back a bottle of Limoncello last year when I went on a holiday to Italy. And I still have a lot of Limoncello left, not knowing what to do with it and there are only so many times you can make Nigella Lawson's Limoncello trifle without putting on a LOT OF POUNDS. 

The limoncello is sweet on its own so you don't need to add any sort of syrup or sugar - this is an adult version of a sparkling lemonade after all. But if you have a sweet tooth and want it really sweet, then please do add according to your tastebuds!

Ingredients: (for 1 tall glass)

Limoncello (one shot glass portion approx. 35ml)

Sparkling water

1 tbsp of lemon juice

Ice cubes

Preparation:

1. In a tall glass, fill it up with ice cubes.

2. Add the limoncello and the lemon juice.

3. Top up with sparkling water.

4. Swirl and stir with your straw to mix it all up. 

5. Drink!

Dakos (Cretan Rusk Salad)

This is a dish that took me quite some time to get used to. I found that the barley rusks usually causes my mouth more harm than good (they are crunchy, and that is to put it mildly!) - that is until I attempted to make it myself at home. And I have to tell you, this is one of the best umami-laden salads you can have which is also very healthy. The feta and capers go really well with other, and olives and tomatoes? Do I need to say more? 

The Greek barley rusks are not easy to come by (unless you live in Greece.) but here is a website that I have been told is really rather good: GreekMarket. It delivers to anywhere (according to the FAQ). This will have to do until the day I attempt to make my own paximadi!

Ingredients: 

150 g of barley rusk (Greek paximadi  παξιμάδι )

4 large tomatoes, diced roughly

100g of feta (Greek feta please, none of these Greek-style white cheeses)

A large handful of Kalamata olives, pitted and halved (or whole, if you want)

2 tbsp of capers, roughly chopped.

A sprinkle of oregano

Olive oil, according to taste (the more the better!)

Preparation:

1. Arrange out a flat layer of paximadi in a flat bottomed bowl.

2. Add the tomatoes on top, along with the juices. (this will help soften the paximadi a bit so you don't lose your teeth eating the darn thing.)

3. Add the olives and the capers.

4. Roughly crumble the feta on top.

5. Add a sprinkling of oregano and dress it with olive oil. I would say use 2-3 tbsps of olive oil, and let it soak all the way down into the paximadi.

6. Leave to rest for a few minutes, until all the oil has trickled down to the bottom of the bowl. Stir before serving. The paximadi should be part crunchy part bread-soaked-with-oil-textured. Enjoy!

Kimchi Fried Rice

I love kimchi. I have never had it as fried rice though. I have Rae (a Malaysian girl I know from Tumblr) to thank for this. She talked about it quite a few times and curiosity got the better of me. I went to Dong Fang with George today and bought Kimchi. (And queue the 'stinky food' jokes from far and wide like "Maybe the kimchi would like to visit Kerameikos, since it came all the way from Korea? It smells like it can walk out of the car on its own.". Ha ha.). I decided to not use plain white rice for the dish today, but mixed in some Camargue red rice and black rice (cooked separately and left to cool). It adds a bit of texture, and it is healthier.

You can eat it as it is, or add additional garnishes to compliment the fried rice. I like my fried rice with an egg on top and I had some wakame left over from before and I decided to make a simple sesame-soy wakame salad and use it a a garnish too.

So Raerae, this is for you! You are my muse. (Talk about food more, and we can see what else I am inspired to make!)

Ingredients: (serves 1)

Kimchi, chopped in small pieces (as much or as little as you want.)

1 tbsp of soy sauce

1/2 tbsp of chilli sauce/gochujang, or to taste.

1 tsp of sesame oil.

1 portion of cooked rice, cool. (Follow packet instructions.)

Wakame (seaweed) salad (garnish): seasoned with soy sauce, sesame oil and sesame seeds. (Optional)
1/2 of a spring onion, sliced thin. (garnish, and optional)
1 egg, fried sunny side up. (garnish and again, optional)

 Preparation:

1. In a pan/wok, heat up 1 tsp of vegetable oil.
2. Fry the kimchi until fragrant it has softened. Add the soy sauce and chilli sauce/gochujang. Stir.
3. Add the rice and coat the grains with the sauce. Continue frying and stirring for a few more minutes until the rice is cooked and near crispy.
4. Season with the sesame oil. And mix thoroughly for another minute.
5. Serve, and garnish with the spring onions, egg and wakame (optional!)

Cherry and Rose Cake

My recent trip to the UK, I had purchased a lot of special ingredients that I have always wanted to use when I cook or bake. One such purchase was a small container of dried rose petals from Waitrose.

I wanted to bake. I wanted to make a cake. So, I made one. I wanted a soft, moist and strongly scented cake. I used about 1.5 g of the dried rose petals, and made a fine rose sugar mix by blending it with the sugar. Also, rosewater is essential here so that the smell of roses will be more apparent.

I used a certain type of cherries that the Greeks here call 'Vyssino' (βύσσινο) which are sour cherries and they are so flavorful, juicy and I am just in love with them.

Ingredients:

250g of butter

300g of rose petal sugar

1 tbsp of rosewater

4 eggs, separated

A pinch of salt

160ml of milk

375g of cake flour

2 tsp of baking powder

400g of cherries, pitted.

Icing sugar to decorate

Rose petals to decorate

Whipped cream to serve.

What you will need:
A mixer: handheld or standalone. Or, a husband-shaped-whisk-wielding helper to help. (Elbow grease)
A round baking tray with removable bottom, lined.
A wire rack

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Cream 250g of the rose petal sugar, butter and rosewater until its a wonderful golden creamy mix. Add the egg yolks in gradually, one by one.

3. After its mixed thoroughly, add in the milk and whisk until smooth.
4. In a bowl, mix thoroughly the baking powder and the flour. Add the mixture into the golden liquid mixture and mix thoroughly.
5. In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites, salt and the leftover 50g of rose petal sugar until you can hold the bowl upside down and not have egg whites all over your kitchen floor (stiff).
6. Gently fold the egg whites and cherries into the batter.

7. Transfer the finished batter into the cake tin.

8. Bake. You will know when its ready when you insert a toothpick or a knife right in the centre of the cake and it comes out clean.

9. Remove from the tin, and let cool on a wire rack. 

10. Decorate with a small dusting of icing sugar and scatter some rose petals around the top.

11. Serve with whipped cream (which you can flavour with a bit of rose petal sugar and rosewater too!)

Flour Tortilla

Unable to find tortillas to accompany my Spicy Squash and Chickpea Roast (coming soon!) I decided to attempt to make my own. I remember having these beautiful freshly made tortillas over at Jennifer's place in Paiania once, and I thought, lets attempt this! And wow I know its a bit time consuming than popping over to the local store and buy a packet of ready made tortillas, but these taste so much better! They are fluffy, warm and full of flavour (and no preservatives!) Traditionally it is made with lard but I used butter and I think its a fairly decent substitution.

Ingredients: (makes about 10 tortillas)

210g of flour (one with low gluten content)

1/2 tsp of salt

3/4 tsp of baking powder

150ml of lukewarm water (approximate. I used a bit less, maybe 2 tbsps less)

10g of fat (lard or butter)

Preparation:

1. In a big bowl, mix the salt, salt and baking powder thoroughly.

2. Crumble the butter (or lard) into the flour gently. Rub the flour into the butter with your fingertips.

3. Gradually add water into the flour, mixing until you get a sticky dough.

4. Knead for 2-3 minutes on a floured work surface (or knead it in your mixer if you have a dough attachment)

5. Cover and let rest for 15 minutes.

6. Separate the dough into 10 different balls, and cover and let them rest for about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

7. Roll out the dough into a thin sheet, making sure the dough stays circular. To make it easier, you can roll the dough in between 2 baking sheets.

8. On a hot pan/griddle, cook until the tops start to bubble, and turn over. It took about 20 seconds on each side, no more. If you leave it on for any longer it will become hard and turn into tortilla chips.

9. Continue with each one. To prevent it cooling and drying out, cover with aluminium foil while you are making the other tortillas.

10. Serve immediately! 

Vermicelli Chicken Salad

Summer in Greece is hot. Summer in Greece makes it suitable for yummy salads as a whole meal in itself. I was feeling peckish, craving for vermicelli bihun noodle soups that I loved to eat back in Malaysia. I had one 'bihun' packet left in my store cupboard, and some leftover roasted chicken in the fridge. This dish is easy to make, you can use any vegetable that you have (tomatoes, cucumbers, avocados.) I have included sliced sundried tomatoes and capers in this dish to make it an East meets West mix (but also as a salty additive since I am out of fish sauce). Be daring, experiment! 

Ingredients: (makes 1 large meal portion)

1 chicken breast, grilled/steamed and shredded (or leftover from a roast)

Red and green peppers, sliced thinly 

1 tbsp of capers

2-3 slices of sundried tomatoes, sliced thinly

1 spring onion, sliced

Nuts mix: sunflower, pine, pumpkin and cashews (I bought mine from M&S)

1 small red chilli, seeds removed and sliced thinly.

1 portion of vermicelli (bihun) noodles, cooked according to instructions and rinsed in cold water

1 small bowl of lettuce, sliced thin

A small handful of coriander leaves, sliced thinly

Salt and pepper.

Garnish

1 boiled egg (I like mine poached or part boiled. You can have it hard-boiled if you want)

Soya Sesame Dressing

1 tbsp of dark soy sauce

2 tsp of light soy sauce

1 tbsp of sesame oil

1/2 tsp of sesame seeds

1 tsp of rice wine vinegar

Preparation:

1. In a big bowl, just mix everything (without the egg) and coat with the dressing. Season with salt and pepper according to taste.

2. Serve with the egg on top. Eat.

Peach Clafoutis

The landlady gave me some wild peaches the other day. They grow in her garden in her village in the Peloponnese. They are quite small in size, and not those big round kinds you find in the supermarket. They are quite tasty, and since I had quite a few (I ate half in a space of a few days) I couldn't finish all of them before they rot and go all weird and gooey, so I have decided to make it into dessert or a pie of some kind. I remembered I saw in the past about a flan type of dessert that had a Greek sounding name. Rachel Khoo's cookbook came to the rescue, and it was 'Clafoutis'. Its not Greek in origin, but French - and derived from the Occitan language meaning 'to fill'. Traditionally its made with cherries, but I decided to make it with peaches. This is based on Rachel's recipe.

I also had some limoncello set aside and I added a few tablespoons of the liqueur onto the peaches and let it soak for a few minutes while I prepare the other ingredients. You can use any type of liqueur that you think will go well with the peaches. Or not use any. 

Ingredients:

200g of peaches, stoned, peeled and sliced

2 eggs

75g of sugar

A pinch of salt

50g of finely ground almonds

1 tbsp of flour

60ml of Greek yoghurt (or creme fraiche)

60ml of milk

1 tbsp of brown sugar, plus extra to coat the baking dish and garnish

A little butter to coat the baking dish

A little limoncello/liqueur added to the peaches (optional)

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Lightly coat the baking dish (or dishes) with butter. Lightly sprinkle the dish with the brown sugar to coat it slightly. Arrange the sliced peaches at the bottom in one level and sprinkle with the 1 tbsp of brown sugar. Set aside.
3. In a bowl, whisk/cream the eggs and the sugar together with the pinch of salt until it becomes a creamy pale yellow mix.
4. Sift in the flour into the mixture and fold in the almonds, mixing it thoroughly.
5. Add in the yoghurt/creme fraiche and the milk and stir.
6. Add the batter onto the prepared baking dish.

7. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until the tops have turned golden brown.

8. While hot, I garnish with a little more brown sugar. You can serve it hot or cold.

'Fried Green Bananas' Fries

Don't you just love the movie 'Fried Green Tomatoes'? Now that is a recipe for another day, but today, I found downstairs in the local supermarket a huge bunch of very very green bananas. I wanted to buy ripe ones but they only had these. I am reminded of the ubiquitous Malaysian kids favourite go-to snack, the 'pisang goreng', fried bananas in batter. (Or is it goreng pisang?)  But I wasn't too keen on frying and I thought maybe I can roast it in the oven somehow to make 'fries'. A sort of pisang goreng but without the goreng (fry). And how about making it savoury too? To dip in chilli sauce! I was on a roll.

Warning, green unripe bananas are very difficult to cut and peel, so be careful. And the slimy liquid (or 'getah' we call in Malay) will stay and stain your hands and clothes and is extremely difficult to wash off. So wear gloves and be patient!

Ingredients:

A bunch of green, unripe bananas. Remove skin and cut into fries like below.

Fine breadcrumbs, enough to coat the bananas generously.

Olive oil, enough to coat the bananas generously.

Salt and pepper.

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.

2. Coat the banana pieces with the olive oil. (Use your fingers, Jamie Oliver style! Toss! Toss!)

3. Coat the oiled pieces with breadcrumbs (More tossing!)

4. Season with salt and pepper, generously. (Toss some more!)

5. Roast in the oven until golden brown.

6. Serve hot, with chilli sauce, or ketchup. (Or any sort of dipping sauce you like.)

Quinoa 'High Protein' Salad

I love quinoa. I first tried it when I read about in the Guardian about 10 years ago when I was living in the UK. Its been a staple in my cupboard, although I do use it sparingly and when I want to treat myself. Its rather expensive here in Greece but prices vary from store to store. Some health food stores charge exorbitant prices for this wonderful grain. My favourite place to buy this is at a store (will look up name and address of store soon) in the centre of Athens near the Vegetarian & Vegan restaurant Avocado.

This dish is vegetarian. It has nuts and seeds and quinoa (which is high in protein) and avocados and half a boiled egg. There isn't a special dressing to this dish really - the quinoa is seasoned and flavoured with the garlic, ginger and spring onions and cooked in olive oil. I just ate the salad plain but if you want you can have a bit of dressing of your choice. And again, if you want to add more salad vegetables, you can. 

Its really a side salad to be eaten with a main dish, or if you are serving it as a main dish (as I did here), have a side dish as well. I had it with some 'Fried Green Bananas' Fries.

Ingredients: (makes 2 servings)

1 cup of quinoa, rinsed thoroughly.

2-3 tbsp of olive oil

1 spring onion, sliced thinly

1 clove of garlic, chopped fine.

Half a thumb-sized ginger, grated, and discard the stringy pulp, use only the soft bits leftover.

2 cups of water

Salt and pepper.

Nuts and seeds mix: pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, cashew nuts, almonds. (I got mine from M&S)

1 ripe avocado, stone and skin removed and diced.

1 hard boiled egg, sliced into halves

A scattering of chia seeds.

Some lettuce leaves, sliced into edible pieces.

Preparation:

1. In a pot with a lid, heat up the olive oil. When its hot, saute the spring onions, garlic and ginger until fragrant.

2. Add the quinoa and mix to coat the the grains with oil thoroughly. 

3. Season with salt and pepper. Add the water (preferably hot from the the kettle) and cook on low heat as how you would cook rice.

4. Once you see crater holes at the surface of the quinoa, turn off the heat and cover with the lid. Let it to steam for 10-15 minutes.

5. Once done, fluff with a fork. Taste for seasoning. If not enough, add more salt and/or pepper.

6. Compile the salad: start with the lettuce at the bottom, and then the avocado, then the nuts and seeds and then the quinoa and the egg. Dress with a little olive oil if you want.