The art of mezze
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The essentials of Greek cuisine
Although Greece seems to be a country constantly bathed in sunshine, many areas in winter, especially inland, can be downright cold and there are many recipes for nourishing soups made with simple products such as fasolada, made with white beans and assorted vegetables, or faki made with lentils.Avgolemono is made from a broth that is then thickened with a mixture of egg yolk and lemon juice. But you can also enjoy lighter soups like kakavia, a kind of bouillabaisse mixing fish, potatoes, carrots and saffron. Finally, the more curious will try the patsas, made of tripe, which is said to cure hangovers.
For the main course, grilled meats have pride of place and often constitute a whole page in the menus of Greek restaurants. Souvlaki is a large skewer of meat, most often pork or chicken, but sometimes beef or lamb. Paidakia is a type of grilled lamb chop with spices, while kefkedes are minced meatballs flavored with onion, oregano, mint and dill. They can be simply grilled or cooked in a thick tomato sauce and are called keftedes me saltsa domata.
Apart from grilled dishes, there are many other cooked dishes such as moussaka with minced meat and candied eggplants, topped with béchamel sauce and au gratin, or pastitsio where the eggplants are replaced by macaroni. In fact, in addition to the traditional Italian pasta, there are many pasta in Greece such as kritharaki (resembling rice) or hilopites (small square noodles). The baked giouvetsi is made of chicken, lamb or beef and small pasta and tomato sauce flavored with cinnamon, cloves and bay leaves. The term yemista refers to different types of vegetables (especially peppers and eggplant) stuffed with rice and minced meat and baked. Stifado is a hearty stew of beef - more rarely pork or rabbit - confit in a sweet and sour sauce made of wine, shallot and cinnamon. The soutzoukakia smyrneika is a Turkish-inspired dish of meat croquettes in tomato sauce. Closely related, spetsofai is a sausage stew with peppers and tomato.
Greeks also eat a lot of vegetables which are used in many cooked dishes. Fasolakia is a dish of green beans in tomato sauce. In the gigandes plaki, the green beans are replaced by huge white beans, called in Greece fasolia gigandes. Prasorizo, a kind of risotto with leeks, is very popular in winter.
Fish and gyros
Even without counting the countless islands that surround mainland Greece, the country itself boasts a series of capes, bays, peninsulas and other gulfs, making seafood indispensable to Greek cuisine. Red mullet, sea bream, swordfish, shrimp, octopus and squid are the classics, usually grilled or fried, delicately seasoned and served with a few lemon wedges. Grilled mackerel(safridia), for example, is highly prized for its fatty flesh. More elaborate dishes include psari plaki, baked fish covered with a mixture of tomatoes and candied onions, or garides me feta, a dish of shrimps simmered in a tomato sauce and covered with crumbled feta. Mýdia saganáki is a similar recipe, but with mussels. Finally, octopus is often grilled, both as a mezze and as a main course. Alternatively, there's octopus stifado, simmered for a long time in red wine. Psarotavernas are restaurants specializing in fish and seafood.
On the street food side, it's absolutely unthinkable to miss the famous gyros, the Greek version of the kebab, consisting of soft pita bread, topped with shredded meat (pork or chicken), French fries, tomatoes, onions and tzatziki. Ideal for small budgets, it rarely costs more than €4.
Desserts and coffee break
For dessert, we often end our meal with fresh fruit: peaches, melons, watermelons or apricots, especially in summer when the sometimes scorching temperatures call for a little freshness. Sometimes, the meal can also be rounded off with a simple yoghurt topped with a drizzle of honey and a few pistachios. Many sweet treats are enjoyed during the day with a cup of coffee. These are mostly made with a base of almonds, pistachios or sesame, flavoured with honey, orange blossom or cinnamon, such as baklava, a diamond-shaped cake made with filo pastry and dried fruit - notably walnuts - and soaked in a cinnamon syrup. Quite similar, kataifi replaces filo pastry with angel hair. This very sweet cake is also known by other names in Turkey and the Arab world. Galaktoboureko is also made with filo pastry and a lemon-scented cream made from milk and semolina. The closely related bougatsa is filled with cream cheese. Less well known, moustalevria is a kind of grape juice pudding similar to fruit paste, topped with chopped walnuts and sesame seeds. Moustokouloura, a type of ring-shaped shortbread, is flavored with grape juice molasses and cinnamon.
There are several specialties linked to religious holidays, such as koulourakia, a vanilla brioche with sesame seeds prepared for Easter. There's also tsoureki, a brioche often braided and flavored with citrus zest, and mahaleb, a powder made from wild cherry pits. Lazarakia, a brioche bread, is eaten on the first Saturday of Holy Week. Vasilopita is the equivalent of king's cake - eaten between New Year's Day and Epiphany - with a rather loose appearance, somewhere between a cake and a brioche, with a piece hidden in the dough. Melomakarono are Christmas honey cookies, as are kourabiedes, large almond shortbreads completely covered in powdered sugar. Diples are thin, crunchy, tube-shaped doughnuts, soaked in syrup and sprinkled with cinnamon and chopped nuts, very common at New Year's Eve and weddings.
Last but not least, coffee plays an essential role in Greece. Typical Greek coffee (the equivalent of Turkish coffee) is not filtered, so it's best to wait a few minutes for the layer of grounds to settle at the bottom of the cup. Try it sweet(glyko), medium(metrio) with milk(me gala) or without milk(choris gala). A coffee is brewed in a small pot with a long handle(briki) using very finely ground coffee beans. It is often served with a glass of water. Otherwise, the classic espresso is served in all bars and restaurants.
Wines, ouzo and other market products
With a wine-growing history stretching back over 6,000 years, it's clear that Greece has a unique know-how when it comes to wine. During antiquity and well into the Middle Ages, Greek wines were imported throughout Europe for crowned heads and wealthy merchants. For whites, try Châteaux Matsas, Tsandali, Aghioritiko, Strofilia, Lazaridi and Gerovassileio. For rosés, try Tsandali and Calligas. For reds, try Naoussa Boutari, Hadjimihali, Karras, Lazaridi, Gerovassileiou and Malvazia. Among the AOC (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée) wines in mainland Greece are the varieties of Némée, Mantinée, Patras, Mavrodaphni de Patras, Mavrodaphni de Rio and Muscat de Patras in the Peloponnese. In Macedonia, we find Amyntaio, Goumenissa, Epanomi and Naoussa. In Epirus, the only grape variety is Zitsa, while Thessaly is home to Rapsani, Anchialos and Mesenikola.
Although beer is not native to Greece, it is a very popular alcoholic beverage. There are, of course, a number of international brands, although Greek beers such as Mythos or Alpha are quite respectable and often less expensive. Of all Greek liqueurs, ouzo takes center stage. It is generally drunk as an aperitif. It can be drunk neat with an ice cube, or diluted in ice water to make it milky like pastis. Aniseed-flavored, it is generally around 40° proof. In a restaurant, it's often cheaper to order a small bottle for two or three people rather than separate glasses. Retsina or resin wine is a dry white or rosé wine that has been produced throughout the country for over 2,000 years. Originally, the wines were transported in terracotta amphorae, which were sealed by coating them with pine resin, giving the wine a unique taste. Retsina has an AOC (protected designation of origin) and is mainly produced in Attica and Evia. Another, more surprising liqueur,arbaroriza, is made from fragrant geranium leaves. Mavrodafni, a fortified wine, and tentura, a cinnamon and clove liqueur, originate from Patras in western Greece. Tsipouro, a grape marc liqueur, is notably produced in Epirus, Macedonia and Thessaly. Finally, mastiha is a liqueur made from the resin of the mastic tree, a relative of the pistachio.
A diet of olive oil
Olive oil is obviously one of Greece's most distinctive products, and among the 19 PDO varieties, five are produced in mainland Greece: Halkidiki, Kalamata, Lygourio, Laconia and Olympia. But, of course, the olives themselves are a product of choice to bring back in your suitcases. Kalamata olives, produced in the south of the Peloponnese, are the best known. These fleshy purple olives have a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), but they're not the only ones. Konservolia olives from Amfissa, Arta and Volos, and green olives from Halkidiki are also PDOs. While currants - produced throughout Greece, of course - are very common in France, the Aeghion region in the north of the Peloponnese is home to Vostizza raisins, known for their unique taste, which benefit from a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). Menalou vanilia fir honey also enjoys protected status. It is produced in 24 municipalities and communities within Arcadia, in the central Peloponnese. Finally, while Iran accounts for almost 95% of the world's saffron production, Greece is a close second. Saffron from Kozani, in Macedonia, is often considered one of the world's finest, and also has a PDO.
