It is generally accepted that folks that live around the Mediterranean Sea live longer.  They suffer less than most Northern Europeans and Americans from Cardiovascular diseases which seems to account for about 53% of the worlds deaths.  The populations of the Greece, Italy, France and Spain traditionally follow a balanced and nutritious diet based on fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans, nuts, legumes, olive oil, and flavorsome herbs and spices; also eating fish and seafood at least a couple of times a week; enjoying poultry, eggs, cheese, and yogurt in moderation; and saving sweets and red meat for special occasions.  Top it off with loads of flavorsome olive oil and splashes of the occasional glass of red wine while remaining physically active, and you’re on your way.

Mediterranean diet pyramid

The Mediterranean Diet Pyramid, introduced in 1993 by the Harvard School of Public Health, visually portrays the daily food intake to implement healthier eating habits.  It was based on the dietary habits of the island of Crete, Greece and southern Italy circa 1960.  Which at the time chronic diseases in their populations were among the lowest in the world while their adult life expectancy was one of the highest in the world even though they had limited medical services.  This Mediterranean Diet is not a diet as ‘to go on a diet’ but a way of life.  Even though it improves your health and it helps you lose weight, it’s more a style of living which includes foods, activities, dining with family and friends, and drinking wine in moderation.  It does not mean that the different cultures around the Mediterranean Sea all eat the same foods but share a common philosophy.

At the Hotel Nafsika we have always tried to follow the Mediterranean diet principles, although I have to admit with some reservations. This is mainly due to our clients being foreign and not Greek.  Obviously we cannot serve meat dishes only once a month as the diet suggests, people would think we are trying to diddle them.  I could remember my grandfather eating a stewed pork dish during a lunch meal.  Nnormally my grandparents had their main meal in the afternoon while eating a light meal at night. Once seeing that the pork still had a couple of inches of fat on it, I foolishly told him off saying that it was unhealthy for him, he just laughed at me and continued on eating.  Only now, do I realize that he only ate meat occasionally and to top it off most of the meat he ate was locally and organically raised and freshly consumed.

Olive oil and Olives

We do try to keep the menu as Greek as possible but again I have to confess we tone down the ‘Greekness’ somewhat as some of my clients, as Jack Nicholson said, “can’t handle the truth!” The truth of the matter is that Greeks when cooking traditional peasant-style home cooked meals principally use a lot of olive oil.  As most people produce their own supply of it, the cost is not an issue but more importantly Greeks have always known of the goodness of olive oil!–well before, the Harvard report.  My Grandmother, for example, would pour enough olive oil in her wild greens so that they would be swimming in it.  This much oil would be unacceptable even for me!  Olive oil was their sole source of dietary fat in their diet.  In fact, there are some dishes that we Greeks ourselves call them the ‘Lathera’, the oily ones.   Moussaka, Pastitsio, Greek broad beans, Stuffed Tomatoes and Peppers would fall under this category.   Although, olive oil is high in calories, the health benefits due to the high monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fats found in olive oil make it one of natures natural medicines!  In addition to bolstering the immune system and helping to protect against viruses; ailments such as heart disease, cancer, blood pressure, diabetics and many others can be averted with only just 2 teaspoons of olive oil per day!

Greek Roast Pork *

As we have been in business for well over 35 years and we have come to the realization that we cannot serve the “lathera” dishes as we would serve them to the locals or as we ourselves would eat them so we have modified them to a point of less olive oil while they are still considered Greek dishes!  As I myself do not want my food to be too oily, I would say that we cook our dishes with moderate amounts of olive oil in them.  Thus recalling one of the sayings of the Ancients Greeks: “metron ariston”, or “moderation is best”.  It is interesting to note that not all the people who come to stay in the hotel share with this diet and some find my mother’s food greasy, due, of course, to the olive oil.  As we produce our own olive oil from our own olive trees, we use it bountifully in all our dishes.  A recent guest of the hotel, wrote in one of the reviews boards, “this was by far the greasiest food we have ever been served, nearly all meals had oil slopping around the plate.”  As I don’t want to disappoint anyone, next time someone that is not used to the olive oil can inform me so I can steer him away from the more Greek dishes!  All I can say to any of my guests is that in Greek food we use olive oil and to have it without it, would not be Greek food!  Extra virgin olive oil is highest in health-promoting fats, phytonutrients and other important micronutrients which is what makes Greek food healthy.

* Photo by www.kalofagas.ca

History of Roscon De Reyes

Traditionally eaten in Spain, France and some other Spanish speaking countries on the 6th of January, the day when children are traditionally given their Christmas presents, the Rosca or Roscon de Reyes (Bagel of Kings) is normally accompanied by a thick drinking chocolate.
The origin of this special large bagel appears to be related to the Roman Saturnalia, although sometimes it is associated with an edible representation of the Advent wreath. These were celebrations dedicated to the god Saturn so that that the Roman people in general could celebrate the longer days after the winter solstice. For such celebrations, round cakes were prepared with figs, dates and honey, which were distributed equally among the commoners and slaves. In the third century, a bean was introduced into the dry ingredients and the fortunate person that was served that bit was named king of kings for the day. Nowadays the Bagel which represents a sort of crown has candied fruits encrusted in it, which represent the crown jewels. Inside the bagel there is a bean and a little ceramic figure, normally something to do with the Nativity. If you get the bean you have to pay for the bagel and if you get the ceramic figure you keep it and you wear the paper crown that accompanies the Bagel. Nowadays people usually eat it at breakfast time or in the afternoon at tea time and served with drinking chocolate.

Recipe Ingredients:

• 500 g flour
• 40 g butter
• Grated orange peel
• Orange blossom water
• 125 cc warmed milk
• Grated lemon peel
• 70 g sugar
• 10 g yeast
• 1 whisked egg
• The ceramic figure

Candied fruits to decorate

Method:

Preheat oven to 110ºC

Form a mountain of flour on a work surface. Make a crater in the middle and place in it the yeast, the sugar, the butter, the orange blossom, the warm milk, the lemon and orange peel.

Make dough until it sticks to your fingers. Form a round shape and let it stand in a warm place for 3 hours until it ferments and increases its volume.

Work the dough into a bagel shape, placing inside the ceramic figure and the bean and decorating it with the pieces of candied fruits. Brush with the whisked egg and sprinkle with granulated sugar.

If you wish you can fill the finished and cooled bagel with fresh whipped cream or butter.

Cook in a preheated oven for approx 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Vasilopita

Happy New Year!

I wish you all a healthy, happy, and prosperous 2012.  Vasilopita is a traditional Greek bread-like cake made every New Year. The cake is made to bless the house and to bring good luck for the next year.

In the Greek tradition, it is a custom to have sweet bread-like cake on New Years Eve. After the last few minutes of the Year we welcome the New Year by parceling out slices of vasilopita to the family. Each slice is dedicated to someone beginning with the church, the home, and then the family members from oldest to youngest. The vasilopita is baked with many ingredients, but most important is the coin which placed inside the cake, represents good luck throughout the year! Sweet flavoring is added to the bread which symbolizes the hope that the New Year will be filled with the sweetness of life, liberty, health, and happiness for all who participate in the cutting of the vasilopita.

It’s origins stem back to the legend of Saint Basil the Great was one of the most influential of the Greek Fathers of the Church during the “Golden Age of the Fathers” (the 4th and 5th Centuries).  Saint Basil died on the 1st of January which is when his Feast Day is observed.  According to the legend, one year during a famine the emperor levied a sinfully excessive tax upon the people of his parish.  The tax was such a heavy burden upon the already impoverished people,  Saint Basil came to his people’s defense by fearlessly calling the emperor to repentance.  The emperor did repent!   He cancelled the tax and instructed his tax collectors to give back the loot taken. But now Saint Basil was faced with the daunting and impossible task of returning these thousand coins to the rightful owners. He commissioned some women to bake sweetened bread, in which he arranged to place gold coins. Miraculously, each owner received in his piece of Vasilopita his own gold coins.

Saint Basil was a very giving man and took care of the poor and needy. He is also associated with bringing gifts to the children which is when gifts are given in Greece.  Normally kids get their gifts on New Years Day rather than on Christmas Day!

Stelios Parliaro’s recipe was used again for this recipe.

Ingredients (for 16 pieces)

250 gr butter at room temperature
250 gr sifted icing sugar
250 gr ground blanched almonds
6 large eggs, preferably organic
250 gr all-purpose flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
100 gr raisins
100 gr prunes, stoned and finely chopped
100 gr dried figs, finely chopped
200 ml cognac

Soak the dried fruits in the cognac overnight.

The next day, puree the mixture.

Preheat the oven to 170-180C.

Beat the butter, icing sugar and ground almonds until a fluffy white cream forms. Keep beating and gradually add the pureed fruit, mixing well. Then add the eggs gradually. Stop beating and add the flour and baking powder, stirring with a spoon.

Pour the mixture into a greased and floured 30 cm diameter cake tin. Bake for an hour. If desired, glaze the Vasilopita with lemon icing: Mix 200 gr of icing sugar with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and spread over the cake.

Otherwise, dust the cake with sifted icing sugar.

Kourabiedes

Kourabiedes or Kourabiethes (Greek: κουραμπιέδες, pronounced: koo-rah-bee-YEH-thehs) are a traditional Greek almond shortbread cookie made for special occasions like Christmas, christenings and other celebrations. Together with the Melomakarona they grace the Greek Christmas table. Traditionally they were flavoured with rosewater and through the centuries, other flavorings have been added such as  lemon zest, orange zest, etc. Local butter, usually ewe’s and/or ewe’s and goat butter is used but if you can’t find any use regular butter, although the cookies will lack the characteristic taste, they will still be delicious. The real magic of kourabiedes is how they immediately melt in your mouth, the memory of the crumbling delicious almond cookie only lasting until the next one entering your mouth.

Kourabiedes, adapted from Stelios Parliaros

Ingredients:

• 300 grams of Greek Sheep’s milk butter or normal butter
• 110 grams of powdered/icing sugar
• 1 vanilla pod or vanilla extract
• 30 grams of black rum or Metaxa brandy
• 600 grams of all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 100 grams of almonds with the skin on, roasted and coarsely cut
• 300 grams of icing sugar, for coating them

Preheat oven at 160 degrees Celsius and roast the almonds for  12 minutes.  Cut finely once they get cold.

With an electric mixer, whisk the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  This should be done for a long time as the longer we whisk it the more velvety it will become!

Sift together the flour and baking powder and then add to the butter mixture in four or five batches, making sure that each batch is well blended before adding the next. Add the rum. At the end, add the roasted almonds.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Break off 35 gram pieces of the cookie dough and roll by hand into balls, half-moon, or S shapes.

Place in a preheated oven of 180 degrees C.  The temperature of the oven depends of course on the oven you have. Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes, or until golden. Cool completely and then roll the cookies in the confectioners’ sugar.  If placed in a tin box without the sugar they can last up to 3 months.

“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.”

Melomakarona (on the lower right)

As most people who know me will know that I am not a sweet dessert person. Sure I would eat a dessert once it is put in-front of me but I would never seek it.  Being raised on fruit I much prefer their sweetness and sharpness to the sugary end of meal sweet foods.  Having said that, at Christmas time in Greece the shops and homes are filled with the Christmas Cookies, Melomakarona(in Greek: μελομακάρονα, pronounced: meh-loh-mah-KAH-roh-nah) and once you have eaten one you cannot stop with just one.  With ingredients like cinnamon, cloves, walnuts, and oranges, these little, soft cookies that are dipped into a spiced, honey syrup, cannot be more representative to the season festivities.  They are made from the end of November to the Christmas holidays and there is no home that will not have them on its table. After baking, the most unbelievable fragrance wafts through the house for a couple of days which subliminally prepares you for the holidays!

This version of the recipe is based on Stelios Parliaros recipe.  Although this youtube recipe is in Greek (my apologies to my non-Greek friends!), I think most of you will be able to see how he does it.  Like they say  a ‘picture is worth a thousand words’!!

Ingredients:

For the cookie dough

• 400 gr. fresh orange juice
• 530 gr. good olive oil or sunflower oil
• 50 gr. butter
• 30 gr. powdered sugar
• 1 whole finely grated orange zest
• 1200 gr. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch ground cloves

For the syrup

• 500 gr. water
• 700 gr.  sugar
•  one orange cut in two
• 2 sticks of cinnamon
• 100 gr. thyme honey

For assembly

• 1 1/2 cups finely crushed walnuts
• thyme honey

For the syrup: Combine the sugar, cinnamon, 2 half of orange and water in a large saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil, without stirring until the sugar has dissolved, then boil for 2 minutes and take off the heat. The syrup will thicken slightly and deepen in colour. Add honey and leave to cool, preferably in another saucepan to cool down quickly.

Preheat oven to 200°C and Line two cookie sheets with parchment.

For the dough: In a bowl, combine all the wet ingredients,  the oil, butter, orange juice and citrus zest.  To this you add all the spices, baking soda and powdered sugar.  With a wooden spoon or spatula we mix this and add all the flour.  We continue to mix this with our hands from the center towards the outside.  We don’t need to mix it too well so that the dough will not harden, just enough for the liquids and flour to be absorbed.

We take pinches of dough around 35 gr. each and roll it into oval balls with a fork press the tines of a large fork in a crosshatch pattern in the center of each cookie.  A wire mesh will do this beautiful by just rolling them! Place the cookies on baking sheets.  Bake them for 22-28 minutes until lightly browned.  When they come out of the oven, we place the hot cookies into the cold syrup for about 1 minute and place them on a wire mesh to drip dry.

Place one layer of cookies on a large platter and drip some honey on them followed by some crushed walnuts.  We continue to do this until all the dough is used up.

1. Tzatziki

Tzatziki

Tzatziki is one of the favourite Greek dips during the summer season yet for some reason even though I like all the ingredients individually.  It is made with yogurt, cucumber and garlic.  When you add them all together I find the taste totally foreign to my taste buds and maybe it has to do with the fact that I normally eat yogurt with something sweet and to have it as a savoury dish puts me off.  To be honest I have tried it once and I sort of liked it but not so much to try it again!  The main reason for my dislike of this dish is that my mother never introduced tzatziki to me thus I never grew up to like it.  I was more a taramasalata person so when the dips come to the table I would feast on the ‘pink stuff’ and forgo the ‘white stuff’!

2. Russian Salad

Russian Salad

Like the name might imply, it is made from potatoes, vegetables and mayonnaise.  I have not tried it because I don’t like mayonnaise and there is lots of mayo in it.  In hindsight, I may have done myself a world of good as mayonnaise is not the most healthiest of things to eat!  Of course, if you like it, like most people seem to do, the dish is fit for a Tsar!

3. Stuffed Tomatoes

Stuffed Tomatoes

Once again, I love tomatoes in every form hot or cold but I have never tried to eat them stuffed and I simple eat the Stuffed Pepper which normally was in the pan along with the Stuffed Tomatoes.  My sister and mother don’t eat them either so the pan would be filled with stuffed Peppers and in the corner would be 1 or 2 Stuffed Tomatoes for my father who would be the only person to eat them.

4. Stuffed Grape Leaves (Dolmades)

Greek Stuffed Grape Leaves (Dolmades)

One of the classic Greek dishes where we use grape leaves to wrap food, dates back to the days of Alexander the Great. This is another dish that has escaped my taste buds!  Stuffed with rice, pine nuts and herbs this simple dish which slightly resembles the rolling of cigars (only that you roll them on the table rather than your thighs), is loved by most tourist visiting Greece. There is no real reason why I have not tried them and I’m sure if I did I would not dislike them but…yet, again they were never on our family table so no one of my family likes them.

5. Spanakopita (Spinach Pie)

Spanakopita

I have included this dish in the list even though I now do eat Spanakopita (Spinach Pie) but I have only started to eat it a few years ago.  Once again, since there would be Cheese pies on the family table along with the Spinach pies and I would of course always have the Cheese pies –which I still love!  My love for this dish came after I tried a Monemvasia pancake-thin pastry called Saïtiá which is unbelievably delicious, prepared with handmade Phylo dough and filled with fresh spinach (or wild greens), leeks, and feta cheese.  Now, I can’t get enough of my mothers Spinach Pie! There are many variations of a Phylo stuffed pastry throughout all of the regions of Greece and sometimes even between neighboring villages. But now, I try them all!

What are some of the Greek dishes you have not tried? Yet?

What would be your Top 5 Greek vista list?

1. Soaring high at Meteora

Meteora Holy Trinity, Agia Triada monastery, was built in 1475

Spectacularly perched atop rocky pinnacles in Thessaly, the Meteora monasteries are among the most striking sights in Greece. Meaning ‘suspended in air’ the name Meteora soon came to encompass the entire rock community of 24 monasteries of which only 6 now remain. Their 16th-century frescoes mark a key stage in the development of post-Byzantine painting.  The bizarre but beautiful monasteries of Meteora are centuries old and listed by UNESCO World Heritage.

2. Surreal Santorini

Santorini

Santorini (also called Thira) is one of the most amazing islands in Greece’s 3000 or more islands. It’s essentially what remains after an enormous volcanic explosion which could have destroyed the legendary island first mentioned by Plato, Atlantis. The beauty of the island is the most important reason for being ranked as one the top island in Europe.  It’s famous for its black sand beach, red sand beach and white sand beach all due to the volcanic eruption and it .  For me the 2 things that would draw me to the island would be its great wines and its archaeological site in Akrotiri. Akrotiri could be characterised as the prehistoric Pompeii of the Aegean.

3. Rhodes’ medieval old town

Rhodes medieval town

The citadel of Rhodes, built by the Hospitalliers, is one of the best preserved medieval towns in Europe which in 1988 was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Order of St John of Jerusalem occupied Rhodes from 1309 to 1523 and set about transforming the city into a stronghold. It subsequently came under Turkish and Italian rule. With the Palace of the Grand Masters, the Great Hospital and the Street of the Knights, the Upper Town is one of the most beautiful urban ensembles of the Gothic period. In the Lower Town, Gothic architecture coexists with mosques, public baths and other buildings dating from the Ottoman period.

4. Experiencing the Acropolis

acropolis

The Acropolis of Athens and its monuments are universal symbols of the classical spirit and civilization and form the greatest architectural and artistic complex bequeathed by Greek Antiquity to the world. The word acropolis referred both to the hill and to what was built on it. Almost every Greek city had its acropolis, which provided a place of refuge for townspeople during times of war. The ruins of its temples and their sculptures are widely regarded as the finest examples of ancient Greek art and architecture. Built on a limestone hill that rises about 150 m (about 500 ft) above sea level, the Acropolis dominates the city of Athens. The most important monuments were built during that time: the Parthenon, built by Ictinus, the Erechtheon, the Propylaea, the monumental entrance to the Acropolis, designed by Mnesicles and the small temple Athena Nike.

5. Climbing to Angelokastro

Angelokastro_(Corfu)

Angelokastro (Greek: Αγγελόκαστρο, English translation: “Castle of Angels” or “Angelos’s castle”) is one of the most important Byzantine castles of Greece. It name and date of construction is a bit of a mystery with some historians attributing it to Angelos Komnenos of the Komnenoi dynasty of Byzantine emperors and a ruler of the Byzantine Despotate of Epirus in 1214. It is located on the island of Corfu near the town of Krini and unbelievably built on an inaccessible pinnacle above the sea. Its fortifications repulsed Ottoman attack three times. My first visit up the steep cliff was exhausting just walking it never mind had you had to do any fighting to capture it.  Once up there you soon realized why it got it name as you feel to soar amongst the clouds along with the angels!

November 17, 1973 - Tank in front of the Polytechnic

Many people know about the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 when a student (Tank Man) stood in front of an oncoming tank but few people know of when Greek students faced comparable tanks. Greece was under the Greek military junta, alternatively ‘The Regime of the Colonels’ between 1967 and 1974. Under the dictatorial rule of the military, the Greek people suffered the abolition of their civil rights, citizens and politicians were exiled, imprisoned and tortured due to their political views. One of the main reasons for the fall of this Greek military junta was the student protest in the Athens Polytechnic (Polytechneion) in November 17, 1973. Although there were many protests against the dictatorship in Greece though more often outside the country (a student from Corfu set himself on fire in protest of the dictatorship in Genoa, Italy where he was studying, a monument of Kostas Giorgakis stands in one of the Corfiot squares, he was one of the first martyrs), the Polytechnic incident was started by the students who went on strike on the 14th of November and barricaded themselves in the Polytechnic to protest against the dictatorial regime and rally for democracy. They set up a radio station using laboratory equipment to make the radio and broadcasted across Athens asking the people to join in their cause. Broadcasting repeatedly the following message:

“Here is Polytechneion! People of Greece, the Polytechneion is the flag bearer of our struggle and your struggle, our common struggle against the dictatorship and for democracy!”

The gates crushed

In the early hours of November 17th the dictators sent tanks to smash down the gate of the Polytechnic in a city that had no lights, the colonels had shut them, the Polytechnic had lights due to a generator. All you could hear is the voice of the students on the radio calling for the soldiers to join them in the uprising and the people of Athens to come and support the strike. Calling them ‘brothers in arms’ and singing the Greek National Anthem made no difference to the soldiers who entered the yard and by which time the radio broadcast finished.

In the aftermath, none of the students in the Polytechnic were killed in the uprising, 35 or more civilians were killed outside the campus, some teenagers , some children. Hundreds of others were injured during the uprising as the students call was answered by the multitude of Athenians wanting the end of tyranny. Today all of Greece remembers them and honors them!

This ultimatum, which was presented to Metaxas, the Greek Prime Minister at the time, by the Italian ambassador in Greece, demanded that Greece allow Axis forces to enter Greek territory and occupy certain unspecified “strategic locations” or otherwise face war. It was allegedly answered with a single laconic word: όχι – ‘ohi’ (No!). This ultimatum was sent on 4 am on the 28th of October and the Italians forces attacked on 5:30 am of that day. The whole country mobilized and most of the able ready men fought in the mountains of Epirus in northwestern part of Greece. Within weeks, the Italians were driven out of Greece and Greek forces pushed on to occupy much of southern Albania. Greece was out numbered by the Italians 2 to 1 and had to fight a far superior Italian army. What a lot of people don’t know is that this was the very first land victory by the Allies in the Second World War, and helped raise morale in occupied Europe.

As this was a bit of an embarrassment for the Axis, Germany had to come and deal with its weaken southern flank. The German military machine had no problem defeating the Greeks but at a price which some historians say won the war for the Allies as it meant that Germany had to delay its invasion of Russia and thus suffered defeat due to the harsh Russian winter.  Inspired by the Greek resistance during the Italian and German invasions, Churchill said, “Hence we will not say that Greeks fight like heroes, but that heroes fight like Greeks”.

As most people know this year is not so good business wise in Agios Stefanos. I think mainly because people are cautious with their spending along with other economic reasons. So when an article appears in the Telegraph about your establishment and along with just 4 other hotels when there are endless amounts of them in Corfu, you feel very proud! One hopes that other than yourself, others have seen the article as well!

Pool and bar by night.

The score of 7 out of 10 is in fact due to Mr. Dubin giving us 5 out of 10 for location and 5 out of 10 for the rooms, both of which I totally disagree as they are both unrealistic. Not that I think my hotel is a 10 out of 10 but certainly at least 8 out of 10.

Entitled Fall under the spell of Corfu – travel with the experts written by Marc Dubin on 20th August in the Telegraph.

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Affordable

Nafsika Hotel 7/10 (score)

This cult beachfront family-run hotel, on the south end of the Corfiot northwest coast, seems like an Eighties Greek-resort time capsule, with basic rooms but superior welcome, a pool-cum-bar and an in-house restaurant. The service from Spyros, the manager, his parents and their entire staff is assiduous. The 15 basic rooms may be ripe for a makeover but are kept spotless, while Mama Theodora’s chip-free homestyle greek cooking attracts a considerable walk-in-trade.

Location: South end of San Stefanos on the northwest coast. Price: Doubles from £45. Details www.nafsikahotel.com