LEFKADITIKI POULENTA Greek cornmeal is usually a coarse grind, which is what I recommend in the recipe that follows. The ratio of water to cornmeal varies depending on the final texture one wants to achieve. In the old Greek dishes, the cornmeal was cooked to a medium consistency, which means a 4:1 ratio of water to cornmeal. Makes 6 servings Ingredients: […]

ITHAKIANO PILAFI ME ENA KEFALI SKORDO I took a couple of liberties with this old Ithacan dish. First, believe it or not, I reduced the amount of garlic from one head per serving to one head for 4 servings. The garlic is poached first, an old Greek method for ridding it of its bitter edge. I also replaced the […]

GARIDES PILAFI ME KARI A strange and very un-Greek recipe, since this unusual dish has existed in Ithaca for the last three decades. It is the product of two historical forces—the British domination of the island from the end of the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth and the economic circumstances that forced husbands, brothers, and sons to take […]

GLYKOPATATES BOURTHETO Sweet potatoes probably came to Corfu with the Venetians, as did many other New World crops, sometime during the sixteenth century, where they remained poor man’s fodder for hundreds of years. It took the English to popularize them, by showing Corfiote aristocrats the virtues of serving them with syrup. Nevertheless, they have long been cooked on a grill or in […]

MELITZANES SKORDOSTOUMBI – Μελιτζάνες σκορδοστούμπι This simple dish is a paean to the robust flavors that mark so much of Greek and Ionian—cooking. Garlic and vinegar are a combination we find on country tables all over Greece, but usually it is one reserved for seasoning meat. Its use here with eggplant is what makes it unique. Makes 4 to 6 servings […]

TSIGARELLI – ΤΣΙΓΑΡΕΛΙ In spring, certain tender greens, both bitter and sweet, are picked to make tsigarelli, a dish of blanched greens sauteed with onions, herbs, olive oil, and—traditionally—reddened with paprika or chile pepper. Today the dish has been modified considerably and is more likely to get its color mainly from tomatoes. Tsigarelli is not exclusive to Corfu—it is found throughout the Ionian […]

KOLOKITHOKORFATHES ME SKORTHO KAI SELINORIZA In Greece in the late spring, zucchini flowers fill up the markets. There are 2 kinds: the large sturdy flowers that grow on the stalk of the zucchini plant and the smaller, more fragile ones that sprout out of the actual zucchini. Greeks generally prefer the sturdier ones because they’re easier to work with. These […]

HTAPODOSOUPA This soup traditionally calls for dried octopus, not the easiest thing to find either in America or in urban Greece, so I have reworked it a little for fresh octopus. Makes 6 to 8 servings Ingredients: 1 medium fresh or frozen octopus (about 3 pounds), cleaned if necessary 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1 cup dry white […]

LEFKADITIKI HAVIAROSOUPA Makes 8 servings Ingredients: 5 pounds cockles or any other small fresh clams 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil 4 fresh green garlic stalks, coarsely chopped, or 3 scallions, white and tender green parts, chopped, combined with 2 garlic cloves, minced Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 1/2 cup medium-grain polished rice Juice of 2 […]

The World’s Most Basic Soup ZOUPA Makes 4 servings This dish is the apotheosis of the trinity of Mediterranean flavors—wheat, wine, and olive oil. “It’s just like the akraton — the breakfast of bread and undiluted wine—that the ancients used to eat.” At first I thought it was one of those dishes, like so many others, lost to time, […]