Traditional Greek Pasta Bake (Παστίτσιο)

Apparently this is what the crew eat on the Greek ships, so despite the fact (I've heard) that they do not have the greatest reputation for on-board safety, at least your last meal would be a good one. 

This is is the epitome of the Greek-Cypriot kitchen and you will find it at every festive celebration. The party just isn't complete without the μακαρόνια του φούρνου (makaronia tou fournou). Well, it's always there because yiayia has made it and you hope that there is some left because you can take it home and keep it in the freezer for you to enjoy all by yourself on one of those flake-out evenings. 

I have no doubt that this is one of the most famous recipes, lasagne loving Italians move out of the way because we Greeks also know a thing or two about pasta bakes ;) 

Half a pack of macaronia (we use long pasta tubes)

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons dried mint

half tsp ground cinammon

1/2 pack of halloumi cheese

350g pork mince

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon tomato puree

100ml white wine

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

For the bechamel:

3-4 glasses milk

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour

3 eggs, beaten 

half teaspoon of nutmeg

salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 180°C

Heat some oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and add the onion, stir for a few minutes. Add the tomato puree and pork mince and cook for a further 5 minutes, until it has browned. Now add the wine and smell the lovely aroma as it sizzles. After a couple of minutes add the chopped tomatoes and continue to cook over a medium heat for about 5-10 more minutes. Turn it off and leave aside. 

Meanwhile boil the pasta for 8 minutes. Then drain and add the butter, mint and cinnamon. Stir well to ensure the pasta is covered. Now get a large baking dish and add a thin layer of the meat mixture, then a layer of pasta, then meat and so on until you run out of both. 


In a saucepan melt the butter over a low heat, then add the flour and stir with a whisk continuously. Slowly add the milk and keep stirring until, then the eggs (still stirring) until you form a thick bechamel sauce. The mixture should be thick and creamy, you can add more milk to make it thinner or more flour to thicken it. Stir in the nutmeg and season with salt and pepper. Now pour it over the top of the layers in the baking dish. 

Place into the oven and cook for around 40 minutes. When it is done, you can eat it immediately or leave it to cool and eat is as part of a midday lunch. It is delicious cold too! 

Olive bread (ελιόπιτα)

If there is one thing I am grateful for, being Greek, it is the olives... kalamata, stuffed, yiayia's own pressed olive oil from Cyprus, olive bread, olive pastries...



My favourite is this olive bread, it's not really a typical bread but a bit like a cake loaf. The aroma from the mint really gives it something special and it is so unlike the olive bread you can buy in a store. The texture is soft in the middle and the smell takes you to small village streets, ladies sitting outside their houses dressed all in black. 


Ingredients: 
1 onion chopped finely
2 handfuls of fresh chopped coriander
1 tablespoon dried mint
2 cups black olives, chopped
200ml olive oil
5 eggs
200ml milk
350g self raising flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt


Grease a cake tin and preheat the oven to 220°C


Beat together the eggs and the oil and then stir in the milk. Then slowly add the flour, salt and baking powder, beating all the time. 


Stir in the coriander, olives, onion and mint and mix it all together well. Now pour the mixture into the cake tin and pop it in the oven for about 45 minutes. When it is done, it should be golden brown and cooked in the middle. 

Leave it to cool and then serve in cake-like slices along with tzatziki or tahini and a big fat Greek salad.

Tava (Aρνί ταβάς)

This is a great dish for a Sunday afternoon when you have visitors. If your family are coming round, this is perfect as it is all in one dish and can go in the oven to cook while you tidy the house ;) 


Ingredients:


Shoulder lamb of about 1kg
1 kg of potatoes, cut into quarters
1 large onion, roughly chopped
1/2 cup of olive oil
large knob of butter
4 tomatoes, medium slices
1 table spoon of tomato puree
3 tablespoons coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Sea salt and pepper


Handful of fresh coriander to garnish


Preheat oven to 160°C.


Mix together the olive oil and the herbs and spices. Put the lamb in a large oven dish and massage with half of the oil mixture. Then arrange the onion slices and potatoes around in the dish and then add the rest of the olive oil mix and give them a sprinkling of sea salt and pepper. 

Now add the tomato slices and dot small amounts of butter on the top and cover the dish with foil. Place it in the oven for around 3 hours (now go and relax!). After 3 hours, turn up the oven to about 180°C and cook for another hour. Finally, remove the foil and cook for another 30-40 minutes on 200°C.


The lamb should be browned, cooked through and soft enough to melt in the mouth. This dish will definitely impress at a Sunday family gathering. 


Put a big Greek salad on the table with this dish and enjoy with a well-deserved glass of wine. Bask in the complements!

Raviolia (Ραβιόλια)

This is a typical cypriot dish, perfect for an evening where time is short as these can be frozen and eaten at a later date. My yiayia makes these for my pappou at lunchtime and just the smell of the aromatic mint and halloumi takes me to the heart of Nicosia in the summer. Recently, I had one of those uneventful Sundays. There was some halloumi that my yiayia had bought me from Cyprus leftover and so decided to make some raviolia. In the cupboard I also have a stash of the most wonderful dried mint (also from my yiayia) and you really can smell the difference between that and the one from the supermarket...there is no comparison.

Ingredients: 

225g plan flour

2 tablespoons of olive oil

2 eggs

150g grated halloumi cheese

50ml warm water

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground cinammon

1 tablespoon dried mint

dash of pepper

You will also need a ravioli cutter or shaper.

In a bowl, mix together the flour, salt, oil and egg. Then add the water slowly and work the dough for around 5-10 minutes. The dough should be soft and not too sticky or too dry, if you need more water or flour then add it. Set it aside, covered with clingfilm and leave it for about half an hour.

For the filling, mix together the other egg, the halloumi and the spices and herbs.

Roll half of the the pastry out thinly and lay either on a floured surface or on to a ravioli shaper. If you doo not have a shaper then mark out regular squares of about 2x2cm. Place a spoon of the filling in the middle of each ravioli and then cover with a second thin layer of the pastry. Cut out the ravioli shapes and set them onto a plate.

When you have used up all of the pastry and filling, leave the raviolia for about half an hour. Afterwards, you can either cook them, boiling for about 10-15 minutes or freeze them. If you decide to freeze them then arrange them in layers with clingfilm in-between each layer so that they do not stick.

I like to eat them plain, with a drizzle of olive oil or in some vegetable stock. I also like to make a thick spicy tomato sauce and spoon it over the top.

This is what we eat when we are in Cyprus and are too tired to go out to eat. There is always a supply of them in the freezer and they are so quick to just throw in the pan. But more importantly...they are delicious ;)