Coming Clean – Kathará Deftéra

Well, it’s that time of year again. For the last few weeks we, here in UK that is, know that we are approaching Lent – well let me re-phrase that – we know that Easter is on the horizon. The hot cross buns have been on the supermarket shelves since early January, and, believe it…

No Messing Moussaká – Greek Food Myth No.3

It is arguably, the most famous but also the most maligned of all Greek dishes. Unfortunately, most visitors to Greece do not experience home-cooked moussaká, instead having to eat it at touristy tavérnes. There, it seems to have two incarnations – either as a congealing, solid, stripy slab or as a slop, served in individual…

Sweet nothings – Rizógalo – Greek Rice Pudding

It occurred to me recently that I have only posted a couple of sweet recipes so far. Truth be known, perhaps I am happier with the savoury palette than the sweet – or maybe I don’t have the patience for a lot of fiddling around with confections of sugar and butter. Having said that, there…

Amalthea Deli – Greek delights on line

Sometimes life is a series of happy accidents – serendipity, or whatever you like to call it.  Out of absolutely nowhere comes a happenstance, and there you go …. suddenly you realise that the world is a very small place. That was exactly how an unplanned, but hugely memorable, meal in the foothills of Mount…

Amalthea Deli – Greek delights on-line

Sometimes life is a series of happy accidents – serendipity, or whatever you like to call it.  Out of absolutely nowhere comes a happenstance, and there you go …. suddenly you realise that the world is a very small place. That was exactly how an unplanned, but hugely memorable, meal in the foothills of Mount…

Super Food Heroes and Mythical Places

  To those of you whose only experience of Greece is on a summer holiday, all I can say is that you are missing a trick or two. Of course, the Greek islands in July or August are without comparison. The familiar picture of sapphire seas under cloudless skies is one cherished by philhellenes and…

November Salad Days – Horiátiki Saláta Greek Salad

  In much the same way as last year, November has found us in Athens again. After a few days of dappled, grey skies, the weather has reverted to type – the sky the deep azure of the Aegean, with a warmth reminiscent of late spring rather than early winter. Feeling blessed by this winter…

A Spoonful of Sugar – Preserving Goodness Spoon Sweets

  There was a time, probably not so common now, that ‘visits’ (επισκέψεις) to a Greek home followed a series of conventions that, in some ways, were almost rituals. The visitors would be entertained in the ‘salóni’ – a room a bit like the British ‘front room’ -a place that the family rarely set foot…

Greek Food Myths No. 1 There’s no such thing as hummus!

As a sort of ‘Reality Check’, I feel I’m duty-bound to de-bunk some ‘Greek food myths’ and the first one is hummus – it’s one that really drives me nuts! THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS HUMMUS. OK, I can hear you all running to your fridges and checking that your pot of hummus is…