Greece was wonderful – an oasis of jasmine and bougainvillea, crystal clear deep turquoise water, constant sun, views of islands are far as the eye could see BUT terrible internet.
After I tired of sitting outside cafes with free Wifi, Manu, the lovely internet guy in the square, fixed me up with a signal from his grandma’s house across the town. It turned out that if I placed my computer on the window ledge in the bedroom, I was in a direct line to her house and could therefore get her signal. Now, apart from the fact that I was perched in the most uncomfortable, contorted position, the signal was off more than it was on. I discovered that on Greek islands the telephone lines go down for all sorts of reasons – excessive heat, excessive humidity, power surges, power failures…and no doubt excessive cold but we didn’t stick around long enough to find that one out. Anyway, once down, how long till it gets fixed? Between 3 -10 days usually. Rarely more that 10 days, Manu assured me. Argghhhh.
After the third or forth time it went down, I got the picture. The frustration didn’t seem worth it and I gave up.
And so my food blog came to a halt. I have a bunch of half written posts that never saw the light of day which is a pity since the food we were eating was wonderful and I had so much to share.
The beauty of Greek island food comes from the fact that it is almost all home cooked. The island barely has supermarkets let alone Macros and Costcos so food is generally natural and cooked on the spot. The other thing I loved was the balance in the food. Greeks serve a lot of fresh vegetables so each meal comes accompanied by lots of salads and small tasty dishes.
What I’m going to do here is share a few of my favourites – dishes I’m going to continue making now I’m back in Spain and top of that list is Saganaki cheese. Saganaki refers to a small two handled frying pan but it’s come to refer to a style of cooking. Saganki cheese is fried cheese – yes, loaded with calories but oh so good…! For years I’ve been guiltily hooked on fried halloumi which is a soft slightly rubbery cheese that comes from Cyprus. It tastes dull as is, but amazing when fried and gets all soft and melty inside. It comes vacuum packed and keeps for ages in the fridge so really worth buying when you come across it. The other cheeses that are commonly used for saganaki are also made from sheep’s milk –Kasseri, Graviera, Kefalograviera and Kefalotyri and vary in their saltiness in this order, Kasseri being the least salty. Try them all if you can get hold of them.
By far the easiest of these to find is halloumi which is more than fine my me. My favourite dressing for fried halloumi is made with olive oil, lime, garlic, and capers. Yes I know, calories on calories…and it gets worse because it tastes so good with fresh crusty bread. Utterly sinful, but utterly delicious and a guaranteed way to wow your guests.
Halloumi with Lime Caper Dressing
Ingredients
I pack Halloumi
2 tbs flour seasoned with salt and black pepper
Olive oil
Lime Caper Dressing (Delia Smith)
2 tbs olive oil
Juice and zest of 1 lime
1 tbs white wine vinegar
1 finely chopped clove garlic
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tbs capers
I tbs chopped coriander leaves
salt and black pepper
Method
- Cut the cheese into 1- 1.5cm slices and dredge both sides in seasoned flour. You will get about 8 slices from a pack of halloumi.
- Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a solid bottom pan and then fry the cheese slices for a few minutes till they start to melt. Flip over and cook for a minute or two more. Each side should be golden brown.
- Remove carefully with a spatula.
Now they should have a crusty coating and you can just squeeze some lemon on top as they do in Greece, or get a bit more elaborate and make the Delia Smith dressing above which is utterly delicious.
Feel free to improvise with the dressing. I’ve made a dressing by blending coriander (cilantro) leaves, chilli, garlic, olive oil and lime – a kind of green harissa. You could try a mint, olive oil/lemon dressing, or even with something fruity like a mango or watermelon salsa. Halloumi tastes wonderful with everything!