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!

Yiayia's Yiouvarlakia (Γιουβαρλάκια Γιαγιάς)

It has taken me a while to really get the right inspiration for this blog, yet I think I have finally cracked it! I realised that living abroad makes you miss the really homely things in life. One of these things for me is my yiayia's cooking. Yet in many ways, being away has brought me closer to my culture than ever before. Me and my yiayia speak regularly now on the phone about recipes, and I am always calling her for inspiration when I can't decide what to cook. After all, she is the expert on feeding people well! 

Now, everyone probably thinks that their yiayia is the finest cook in the world and I am no exception. Somehow yiayia's manage to pack in a special ingredient (for scientific purposes I'll call it the 'yiayia factor'), which I believe is only available to you when you yourself become a yiayia. Even if you copy their instructions step-by-step, theirs will always taste better.

I want to keep these recipes alive, share them; their taste, their tradition, their ability to bring family together.

For me, my favourite food is an easy choice; Avgolemoni (Egg and Lemon soup). This soup is always different depending on whose family makes it and I have experience the good, the bad and even the ugly. So you should by now know what I am going to say...yes my yiayia's one is the most delicious. However, this recipe is not for Avgolemoni. This recipe is for Yiouvarlakia (Egg and Lemon soup with meatballs). It so reminds me of being in Cyprus, in a little traditional restaurant during the old days when Nicosia was not yet home to swish bars, starbucks and sushi. The recipe originally comes from Greece and my dad swears that his yiayia (my great grandmother) made the nicest one (what a surprise!) 

Ingredients: 

250g lamb mince

1 onion grated

100g rice 
hanful chopped parsley

2 eggs (yellows and whites separated) 

juice of 2 and a half lemons 

3 litres chicken stock 

Mix the onion, parsley, rice and lamb mince with some salt and pepper in a bowl until well combined. 

Roll into small balls, then fry them for in some olive oil until they are browned.

Add the chicken stock and simmer for about 30 minutes, then leave aside to cool a little. 


In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites a little (you can use an electric whisk) and then add the yellows. Keep whisking all the time and then add the lemon juice. Now add half a cup of water and (as I said before) don't stop whisking. Now add a ladle at a time of the stock from the pan into the bowl whilst whisking. When the bowl becomes warm you can stop whisking. 


Now slowly, whilst stirring, pour the contents of the bowl back into the pan. Stir well and leave. You can warm the soup a little when you are ready to eat but do not boil it again as the egg may curdle. 

Enjoy!