TIGANITO HTAPOTHAKI APO TIN ITHAKI Makes 8 to 10 meze servings Octopus is the Lenten fare par excellence in Ithaca. There is plenty of it, it is rich and filling despite its associations with the fast, and it is cooked in several unusual ways. The following recipes were given to me by Mihalis Maghoulas, an Ithacan native who tinkers in […]

Stuffed Little Meatballs POLPETES APO TIN KERKYRA Makes about 24 meatballs What the rest of Greece knows as keftedes or by the diminutive, keftedakia, Seven Islanders call polpetes, delicate little meatballs. In the Ionian area these days they are apt to be the mint-doused rendition common throughout all of Greece. This particular recipe, borrowed from Ninetta Laskari’s excellent book on Corfu, […]

KEFALONITIKO LAGOTO This dish is traditionally made with wild hare in Cephalonia, but in its absence rabbit is often used. The name lagoto (lago means “hare” in Greek) is also found in parts of the Peloponnesos, where it refers either to a dish of hare or rabbit thickened with skordalia or, oddly, to pork stewed with skordalia. The Cephalonian version of […]

ORTYKIA ME KOUKIA – ορτυκια με κουκια Quail appear in many varied dishes all over Greece, from the preserved quail so revered in the Mani to the quail-stuffed bread, also from the southern Peloponnesos. From the eastern Aegean, we find another unusual quail dish, in which the tiny birds are stuffed into eggplants (the recipe is included in my first book, The […]

KEFALONITIKI KREATOPITA This recipe, from native Cephalonian Roussa Meleti, originally appeared in my first book, The Food and Wine of Greece. Makes 8 to 10 servings Ingredients: 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for brushing 1/2 pound boneless lamb, trimmed of fat and cut into 1/2-inch pieces 1/2 pound lean boneless pork, cut into 1/2-inch pieces […]

MARITHOPITA TIS LEFKADAS Makes 8 to 10 servings Ingredients: 4 pounds small picarel, gutted and washed 2 medium onions, finely chopped 1 cup short-grain rice Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 2 tablespoons tomato paste diluted with 1?4 cupwater (optional) 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for brushing 1 recipe Basic Homemade […]

BAKALIAROPITA TIS ITHAKIS Makes 8 to 10 servings Codfish pies are found throughout the Ionian Islands. The Ithacan version includes both rice and cubed potatoes, testimony to the fact that this originated as poor man’s food, a dish that needed to be as filling as possible. Cod pie is a classic Lenten dish not only in Ithaca but in Cephalonia […]

KEFALONITIKI PITA ME KOLOKYTHA KAI KAROTA Makes 6 to 8 servings One finds recipes in the most unusual places, in this case from Spiros Bazigos, the accountant at the Coridalenio Library in Argostoli, Cephalonia’s capital. I had just spent a day looking for books on old island customs and food habits. He had come in to say good night to […]

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: […]

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 […]