Well, it was only a matter of time before we had the recipe for Baclava here! It's probably one of the best-known sweets from this area of the world and quite rightly so, in my opinion! You should be able to obtain the sheets of filo pastry where you live - it's available in most parts of the world, I believe.
Continuing the occasional series on modern phrases or expressions that have Greek origins (see Halcyon Days), this post is about the word ostracize.
Nowadays, the word means to exclude from a group by common consent and the word comes from the practice of ostracism in ancient Athenian society. The idea behind this was to protect democracy from people who were felt to be too influential or dangerous.
Firstly, the People's Assembly was asked whether a vote of ostracism should be held and if there was a clear majority, a date was set. On that day, every voter was given a potsherd, or ostrakon (hence the name ostracism) on which he wrote down the name of a politician he believed to be potentially dangerous (or he asked someone else to write it). If a certain quorum was reached, the politician who had received most votes was sent away from Athens.
The man who was ostracised remained a citizen, had to leave the city for a fixed period of ten years, did not lose his possessions, and could be recalled - which happened quite often.
Below, you can see some examples of these potsherds, or ostrakon, with people's names written on them. These are all from the Agora Museum in Athens.
If you like seafood and/or prawns, then you'll love this dish! It can be served as a starter or a side dish and is actually quite filling. The Greek drink ouzo is used as is Greek feta cheese, but you should be able to obtain both of these quite easily wherever you live. It is served in the individual ceramic bowls you can see in the photos and the bowls are placed in front of the guests piping hot! This recipe is for 4 of these bowls or servings.
Ingredients
800g prawns size 1 100g grated onion 300g chopped fresh tomatoes 200g feta cheese 100g chopped green pepper 1 hot green chilli pepper chopped 100 ml olive oil 2 cloves grated garlic 1 teaspoon chopped parsley 50 ml ouzo Salt and pepper
Preparation
Remove the shell and the intestine from the prawns, leaving the head and tail, and cut in two.
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and when it is hot, add the onion, garlic, green pepper and chilli pepper.
Fry for 2 minutes and then add the prawns and stir well.
Add the ouzo and continue cooking for another 2 minutes.
Add the tomatoes, parsley, salt and pepper and simmer for another 5 minutes.
Distribute the mixture evenly into 4 ceramic bowls ? what we call saganaki bowls (see photo).
Cut the feta cheese into small cubes and place on top of each bowl.
Place the bowls under the grill long enough for the feta to melt and colour slightly.
Serve the 4 individual portions hot, adding some chopped fresh parsley on top if you wish.
This is a popular dish in Greece and quite easy to prepare. It is usually made with lamb, but you can use other meat if you so prefer. You should be able to obtain Greek 'kritharaki' pasta where you live, as it is exported all over the world, but if you can't find it, you can order it here - Misko Orzo (Large) - Kritharaki Hondro
Ingredients
1 leg of young lamb cut into portions 200g Greek ?kritharaki? pasta 1 grated onion 200 ml fresh tomato juice 100 ml slightly concentrated tomato juice 3 cloves 1 cinnamon stick 100 ml olive oil Salt & pepper
Preparation
Gently fry the lamb in the olive oil for 5 minutes.
Add the grated onion and continue frying for another 5 minutes.
Add the tomato juice and when it starts boiling, add 1� litres of water.
Add the cinnamon stick, cloves, salt and pepper.
Cook the lamb until it is tender, by which time the water should have been reduced in quantity by nearly a half.
At this point you need to have at least 1� litres of liquid in the pan, so add enough water to make up the difference and bring to the boil once again.
Remove the cinnamon stick and cloves and transfer to an oven dish, which you then place in a preheated oven at 200 degrees Celsius.
Once it starts to bubble, remove from the oven and add the kritharaki pasta.
Stir the pasta in well and place in the oven again.
Leave in the oven until all the liquid has been absorbed.
Serve with grated cheese on top ? ideally Greek Kefalotiri.
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