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How a few treasured recipes take me back to the Greece I love
For me, Greece is the most beautiful country on earth—the sunlight on the vast sweep of the Aegean in the morning, the white-walled villages clinging to the hillsides on the islands, the wooden boats fishing under a full moon with special lanterns—all of it is without equal in my experience. My husband was a Greek national, and I visited over thirty-three islands during the course of my marriage. Entranced both by the beauty of the country and its complex and often perplexing culture, I began writing about it, creating what would eventually become my Greek Island Mystery series.
Often during these travels, I would find myself in the kitchen discussing food and, if I was lucky, the woman of the house would share a cherished recipe with me. Here in Sudbury, as autumn and our cooler New England weather approaches, I turn to them for an instant reminder of sunny islands and clear blue waters. I hope they will do so for you, as well!
A Taste of Greece
Greek dishes are built on freshness, incorporating vegetables from open air markets or back gardens and seasoned with copious amounts of olive oil, lemon, oregano and other spices. Prior to World War II, meat was a luxury and that, combined with the rigorous fasting built into the Orthodox faith, meant that the local diet in many of the villages was largely vegetarian.
A recipe I shared on my website, Theano’s Stuffed Tomatoes, is a good example of this practice. Stuffed with rice, spices, almonds, raisins, and cinnamon, these tomatoes embody what I love most about Greek food, the use of humble elements to create an explosion of flavors in unexpected ways.
Thalia’s Epirotan Batsaria, meanwhile, is a layered, cheesy delight with eggs and the salty decadence of kefalotyri and feta cheeses—and it’s a dish the protagonist in my mystery novels, Yiannis Patronas, loves! Every time I cook it, I feel like I am cooking for a friend.
My most requested recipe is an island standard, Shrimps with Feta, which I have modified over the years to include star anise (which I prefer to the traditional ouzo), scallions, celery, parsley, white wine and olive oil in addition to the shrimp and feta.
At Christmas, I always make Kourabiedes—Greek shortbread cookies that are rich and buttery. I also love baking Bougatsas, a custard-filled pastry my grandchildren adore, and that is much beloved by the Greeks, who feast on it whenever they get the chance.
All of these dishes instantly remind me of Greece when I cook them. A single bite and I am back on Sifnos or Crete or Astypalia or Paros, sitting on a rickety chair in a taverna facing the sea.
As I mentioned earlier, the list of islands I’ve visited is long—some were very small and had no more than two or three families living on them—but far more valuable to me are my memories of the people I encountered there and the meals we shared.
Sharing food is one of the cornerstones of Greek hospitality and culture. The generosity and big-hearted welcome of Greek people is legendary and deservedly so. Meals are lengthy affairs—lunch, for example, can take up most of an afternoon—and a host in Greece can be relied upon to serve the absolute best he or she can afford to a guest. I remember being invited for a ‘snack’ one Sunday afternoon and, after I’d taken a seat at the table, the man of the house brought out an entire suckling pig and set it down front of me. As an American, I was dumbfounded, and I still am to this day. I rejoice that I got to experience this first-hand, to live it, as it were.
The recipes for these dishes are available on my website, www.letaserafim.net. If you’d like a taste of Greece yourself, please try them! The ingredients are readily available in the United States—and they are all easy to make, I promise. And best of all, as the coolness of New England fall begins, they will transport you to a warmer, sunnier climate with a simple taste.
Yeia mas! To your health!
Writer, novelist, and playwright Leta Serafim worked for The Los Angeles Times Washington Bureau and The Boston Globe before turning to fiction, where her Greek Islands Mystery series has captivated mystery fans worldwide. She is also the author of the historical novel To Look on Death No More, the children’s book Molly Saw a Bear, and the new play Requiem, a two-act drama about Russian poet Anna Akhmatova. She teaches creative writing in the Boston area and continues to spend her summers in Greece.