On the Menu: Ouzo

I love licorice…REAL licorice…black licorice.

The Greeks are famous for their licorice flavored (OK, anise-flavored) drink: ouzo.

I first had ouzo a few years ago -- we used it to make a really interesting Greek-styled fondue.  But to be honest it wasn't that great.  It tasted like licorice, but it burned uncomfortably going down and had a nasty after taste.

Apparently that's pretty much par for the course for a lot of the ouzo you get in the U.S.  And it seems like you don;t have much of a choice when it comes to buying ouzo from your friendly neighborhood liquor store (in all the liquor stores I've been in they've only ever had at most one brand of ouzo in stock).

One ouzo fanatic wrote online that most of the ouzo you can get in America is basically "licorice-flavored rubbing alcohol."  That was certainly true of the first ouzo I tried.

For Greek week, Bobbi and I decided to give ouzo another try.  This time around the brand we had available was Ouzo 12.  It wasn't half bad.  It didn't have the horrible after taste and the initial "burn" was pleasant.

I'm no ouzo expert.  But from what I've read online it seems like the "real" way to drink ouzo is to slowly sip it neat and straight (or cut with water) over a meal.  I like my liquor cold, so I like to put my ouzo in the freezer before drinking (although it does form crystals and becomes murky if it stays in the freezer for too long) or just use ice in the glass.

And, of course, you have to yell out "Opa!" (which I'm pretty sure is Greek for "Look at me!  I'm getting drunk off of licorice-flavored rubbing alcohol!")

Oh, and before you drink any ouzo you should definitely watch the party scene in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" to see a cautionary tale about the effects of drinking too much ouzo too fast...

On the Menu: Fassolatha and Kalamata Olive Bread

When I was in Greece, I can't recall eating a dish with beans in it. I must have, certainly, but I can't remember doing so.

I mean, I ate pizza in Naxos!

But no beans, I guess.

I'm disappointed because apparently, the Greek national dish is fassolatha - a soup made with beans and other vegetables.

Our stubborn two year old (who insists that he likes beans only to snub them at dinner) was much more excited about the kalamata olive bread I made to accompany the soup.

I found both recipes from the website Lemon and Olives (an excellent resource if you've yet to find Greek food you like!) and tweaked them a bit. I've recopied the recipes here with my modifications and also linked to the original recipes.

Fassolatha (original recipe here)
Serves 6-8

1 lb navy beans (soaked for at least 6 hours before cooking)
1 tbs. olive oil
1 onion, chopped finely
2 celery stalks, chopped finely
2 carrots, diced
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 14.5 oz can petite diced tomatoes
1/4 cup fresh parsley
5 cups water
salt and pepper to taste

1. Soak beans for at least 6 hours.
2. Sauté onion, carrots, celery in a large pot or Dutch oven for five minutes.
3. Add thyme, undrained tomatoes, half of the parsley, drained beans, and water to the pot. Add salt and pepper. Bring to a slow simmer.  
4. Simmer for about an hour, or until beans are soft. Serve immediately with the rest of the parsley sprinkled on top.


Kalamata Olive Bread (original recipe here)
Makes 1 large loaf

2 cups all-purpose or bread flour
1/2 tbs. yeast, mixed with 1 1/2 tbs water to activate
1/2 cup kalamata olives, chopped
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbs. honey
1 1/2 tbs. olive oil (plus extra for coating)
1/2 tsp Rustic Italian seasoning blend (or rosemary if you can't find something comparable)
1 cup warm water

1. Activate yeast in 1 1/2 tbs water, if needed. Let sit for 10 minutes.
2. Add all ingredients to yeast, mix well. Knead for 8-10 minutes, or until a soft dough forms. (I use my Kitchen Aid for this part!)
3. Coat a large bowl with olive oil. Put bread in the bowl and coat top of bread with a little more oil. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours, or until doubled in bulk.
4. Remove bread from bowl. Place onto a cookie sheet and shape into an oval. Cover and let rise in a warm place for another 30 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes. Brush with olive oil for the last five minutes of baking. The bread should be golden brown when done.

On the Menu: Baklava

I certainly hope baklava makes the "things you think of when you think of Greece" list.

Honestly, how could it not? Nuts + sugar + honey + butter + filo dough = AWESOME!

I had just enough of leftover phyllo dough to make these yummy treats. The boys were skeptical about them at first...but they ate it up! It was a nice way to end Greek Week.

The baklava didn't survive the next morning. (Guilty. Very guilty.)

Baklava (original recipe here)
Serves 4-6 (or if you are gluttons, serves 3)

4oz filo dough (half package)
1/4 lb chopped walnuts, almonds, or pistachios (or a mixture)
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbs honey

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the bottoms and sides of a bread pan (either a 8.5 x 4.5 or 9 x 5 is fine).
2. Finely chop nuts and mix with cinnamon. Set aside.
3. Unroll filo dough and cut in half to fit pan. Cover with a lightly dampened cloth to keep from drying out as you work. Place 2 sheets of dough in the pan, butter, and repeat until you have 8 sheets layered.
4. Sprinkle nut mixture on top layer.
5. Cover with another 8 sheets of dough, buttering every 2 sheets (just like you did to the bottom layers).
6. Using a sharp knife, cut diamond or square shapes through the baklava to the bottom of the pan. Bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until golden and crisp.
7. Make sauce in the last 5 minutes of baking: boil sugar and water until sugar has dissolved. Add vanilla and honey. Simmer for five minutes (mixture will thicken slightly).*
8. Remove baklava from oven and spoon sauce over it immediately. Let cool.

* I made the sauce right after I put the baklava in the oven...which turned out to be a big mistake. The glaze became too thick to spoon on top of the baklava.

On the Menu: Lamb Gyros with Tzatziki and Sweet Potato Fries

I have a butcher.

I'll admit it sounds kind of funny, a throw-back to the 1950's when a housewife had a local grocer and butcher. They knew not only her name, but the foods she bought and the cuts of meat she liked. 

The fact I have a butcher fills me with vintage nostalgia. 

My husband, on the other hand, thinks it is hilarious.

My butcher was out of lamb, but promised he could special order it and have it available by Monday. 

Products from lamb and goats are quite popular sources of foods in Greece. In fact, remember the goat herder I mentioned in a previous post? He wanted to slaughter and roast a goat for us to eat in celebration at the completion of the dig. (Rumor had it, the Americans complained. So much for a unique cultural experience!)

Some people, however, don't like lamb. It does have a strong flavor. If lamb isn't your cup of tea, then substitute beef or turkey for the lamb in this dish.

Lamb Gyros

Serves 4-5

naan or gyros bread (I make naan bread; the recipe is here)

2-3 medium tomatoes 

tzatziki (recipe follows)

kalamata olives (optional)

sprouts (optional)

For the meat:

1 lb. ground lamb (or substitute)

1/2 onion, minced

1/2 tsp. rosemary

1/2 tsp. oregano

1 clove garlic

salt and pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

2. Mix the meat, onion, rosemary, oregano, garlic, salt, and pepper into a medium bowl. Form into a meatloaf and put into a bread pan. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until cooked through.

3. Once the meatloaf is cooked, remove from oven. Increase the oven heat to 400 degrees.

4. Slice the meatloaf thinly. Place strips onto a cookie sheet or large pan and bake for an additional 10 minutes. The meat should be somewhat dried out, but not too crunchy. 

5. Serve meat on naan bread with tzatziki, tomatoes, and sprouts. 

Tzatziki

Serves 6-8

1 large container plain Greek yogurt* (I like Fage)

2 cucumbers, grated*

1 large clove garlic

1 tsp. white vinegar

dried mint (optional)

1. Mix the yogurt, shredded cucumbers, garlic, and vinegar in a medium bowl. 

2. Sprinkle dried mint on the top. Serve immediately.

* Due to the popularity of Greek yogurt, most supermarkets now carry a brand of Greek yogurt. I prefer Fage because it doesn't taste bitter. (I've tried many generic brands and they taste terrible.) If you can't find a brand you like, you can make your own! Take a container of plain yogurt and strain it through several layers of cheesecloth. The longer you strain it, the thicker the yogurt will be. My favorite brand to strain is Mountain High plain yogurt.

** I like to squeeze the extra water out of the cucumbers. This makes the tzatziki less soupy.

Greek Week: Activities

One of the best ways to learn about a foreign country is to go there for a few weeks. You can't really experience a culture until you are immersed in it.

Many of us, however, are not so lucky. We have to rely on comparative sociology: we compare our own lifestyle to that of others. Obviously, it lacks depth but it provides a simple means to familiarize oneself with the "foreign."

Since our boys are so young and don't really have a concrete concept of infrastructures like government, politics, or economics, we asked them questions like:
What is the currency of Greece? 
What does the flag look like? 
What does the music sound like? 
How do people in Greece dance? 
What does the country look like? 
Where is the country located on the globe?
What is the climate like?
How do people get around?

We showed them where Greece was on a world map. We encouraged them to make flags of the country (Arthur insisted making his out of Legos). I brought out some of my old Drachmas and we watched a few YouTube movies of Greece. The boys were fascinated by the ferries and the beautiful beaches. They loved the mopeds and hearing about my trip to the Paros Quarry.

If your children are a little older, ask questions like:
What kind of a government does Greece have?
What is Greece's role in the E.U.?
What are Greece's major exports? Major imports?
What is the geography like? 
How does the climate vary by region?
Are there any well-known celebrities with Greek origins?
What religions are observed in Greece?
What major ethnic groups live in Greece?

If you are lucky enough to know someone from Greece, have your children interview them. Even young kids can come up with the questions!

On the Menu: Spanakopita

Preparing the spanakopita.

Spanakopita is probably my all-time favorite Greek dish. The flavors are wonderful and it is fairly easy to prepare. If you are short on time, you can even make these in advance and freeze them until you are ready to bake them.

The boys love "painting" the butter on with the marinade brush.

They also love eating the filling. (But I'm also guilty of that!)

Spanakopita
From: Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen
Makes 1 large pie or about 20 pockets

1/3-1/2 cup olive oil (for the filo) - I use butter
1 lb. filo (or phyllo) pastry*

Filling:
1 tbs. olive oil
2 cups minced onion
1/4-1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. oregano
2 1/2 lbs. fresh spinach, stemmed and finely chopped**
5 medium cloves garlic, minced
3 tbs. flour
2-3 cups (packed) crumbled feta cheese
1 cup cottage or pot cheese
black pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Oil a 9x13" baking pan.
2. Heat 1 tbs. olive oil in a Dutch oven. Add onion, salt, and herbs and sauté for about 5 minutes, or until the onion softens. Add spinach, turn up the heat, and cook, stirring, until the spinach wilts (5 to 8 minutes). Stir in the garlic.
3. Sprinkle in the flour, stir, and cook over medium heat 2 to 3 more minutes. Remove from heat.
4. Mix in the cheeses. Taste to correct seasonings, adding lots of black pepper.
5. Place a sheet of fill dough in the oiled pan, letting the pastry edges climb up the sides. Brush lightly with the oil and add another sheet. Keep going until you have a pile of 8 sheets. Add half the filling, spreading it to the edges, then repeat with 8 more sheets of oiled fill, followed by the remaining filling. Layer the rest of the fill over the filling, brushing oil in between. Oil the top, tuck in the edges, and bake uncovered for about 45 minutes or until golden and crispy. Cut into squares and serve hot or warm.

Looks amazing!

Filo dough is fairly easy to work with. Keep it covered with a moist cloth while you're working with it because it will dry out and become too brittle to handle if you don't. Piecing filo dough is not for a noob chef.

In Fairbanks, Alaska (of all places) there was a fabulous Greek restaurant: Bobby's. They had delicious spanakopita, but there was an extra seasoning in it. I'm not sure what it was, but I suspect it was juniper or nettles, both spices in traditional Greek cooking. Their availability may be limited in the States. Thank goodness for the Internet!

* I usually cut the fill dough in half and make little spanakopita pockets. (You can see these in the picture.) To do this, cut the fill dough in half. You'll want two piles of long filo strips. Layer three pieces of filo, buttering in between each sheet. Put approximately 2-3 tbs. of filling in the left corner closest to you. Fold into a triangle shape over and over again until you finish at the upper left corner. Butter the top and carefully transfer the pocket to a cookie sheet or baking pan.  

** My local grocery store does not carry fresh spinach. Yeah, weird, right? I use 2 1-lb. bags of spinach as a substitute. Just thaw, gently squeeze out the excess water, and mix with the rest of the ingredients at step 2.

Greek Week: The Menu

Disclaimer: We're kind of an odd family in that we only eat three dinners a week. The alternating evenings are leftover nights. In addition, we also eat two vegetarian meals (one with beans) and only one meat meal. The meals we chose for our 12-week tour will closely emulate our current meal plan: one vegetarian meal, one meat dish, and one bean dish (usually vegetarian). I will also make one special dessert.

If you choose to take this journey with us and find that you'd rather eat meat all week or that the meals are too complicated for your busy life, that's fine! There are a lot of other meals that are much simpler and just as good. I'd recommend heading to your local library or using your favorite search engine to start, but I will also have some other suggestions at the end of the post.

***

People are fascinating. It's true.

We may have different traditions, different stories, different instruments, different flags - heck, we may even have different phenotypical features - but we're all undeniably fascinating.

The thing is, though, we all have to eat.

What we eat and how we eat speak volumes about our culture. In some places, eating is a highly-involved process and a complicated ritual while for others, eating may be picking up something on the go or done in front of a television.

For our family, I feel it is important to get my children involved with the whole process and to understand that not everyone eats the same thing or in the same way. I hope that one day they will be more accepting of others because they know this.

This week we will be eating:

Spanakopita with Greek Salad

Gyros with Tzatziki and Sweet Potato Fries

Fassolatha with Kalamata Olive Bread

Baklava

Alternative Menu Ideas:

Briam

Kalamarakia Tiganita

Moussaka

Tiropites

Horta Vrasta

Youvesti

Dolmathakia

Souvlaki

Greek Week: January 18-24

Part of the shoreline of Despotiko.

When I was a young and adventurous undergraduate, I did some traveling (for what I thought at the time would eventually become my career) to Greece. I was there for five weeks in the summer of 2001, leaving behind a sweet, charming boyfriend who later became my husband.

Then I moved back to Alaska to pursue a graduate degree and never became the archaeologist that I thought I would.

But Greece still holds a special place in my heart. Once you've been, it's one of those magical places that you never really stop thinking about.

The dig site, facing the ocean. Note the stone
goat fence in the background.

The dig site was on Despotiko, a very tiny island next to Antiparos. The site itself had been discovered by a goat herder, who, rumor had it, had been squatting in the vicinity for almost ten years. He might have been able to stake a claim the area as part of Greek law (another rumor suggested that since he had been there for more than ten years, he could claim ownership). But Greek antiquities are taken very seriously there, so he contacted the government and student volunteers from America, Canada, and Greece flocked to this small island to discover something.

The goat herder was not pleased by this activity. His goat fence needed to be moved, so a crew was hired to move it about five feet closer to his building. A team of about four men demolished the stone fence and then rebuilt it in a day. It was pretty incredible to watch. They certainly knew what they were doing!

Me and another volunteer uncovering a stone floor.

Me and the dig's mascot.

Most of the people I met stayed for only the first session. I was one of the lucky ones who had no other priorities and could stay for an extra two weeks. It was amazing to see the site unfold before us. Because I was such a careful digger, I was assigned to work uncovering a Roman floor. It was difficult work because I couldn't dig too far through the clay or I would ruin the floor.

Digging away!

Most of the time, we were just digging up soil in an attempt to uncover everything and anything we could as quickly as possible. The American dig director was often exasperated by the Greek dig director. He would often chide him about losing the context of our finds.

Sometimes I miss volunteering for digs. I have fond memories of the camaraderie, the history, and the anticipation of finding something. There's nothing like back-breaking labor to cement a group of strangers together.

Picking the Countries

We wanted the boys to be involved as much as possible so we let them help pick the countries we'll be "visiting" this year.

Of course, our boys are young (5 and 2) so we basically showed them a map of the world and let them point at the countries they wanted.  Each of us got to pick 3.  The boys pointed randomly and Bobbi and I picked ones that would hopefully give us a good variety.

Here's the list we came up with:

Our Itinerary

• Greece
• Argentina
• Canada
• Russia
• Germany
• Congo
• Algeria
• Turkey
• Venezuela
• Sweden
• Australia
• Japan

I think we got a good mix.  It should be interesting to see how they are similar and different.

Our Adventure Begins

My wife, Bobbi, had an amazing idea.

She thought it would be fun if every month this year we chose a country and spent a week learning about it with our two kids (ages 5 and 2). 

We would eat food from that country for dinner each night. We listen to traditional music from that country. We would learn about the climate. We would find videos and photos online. We would try to talk to people who had lived there or visited.

So this year is going to spent touring around the world with our boys…well virtually touring around the world. You can follow us here. I'll post some of the fun stuff we do each month. I'll post the recipes we make. Hopefully we'll have a good time and learn a little.

That's the plan anyway.