I promise you there will be no weight gain with this delight.

Got your attention?

Good.

If only.

But what I can truthfully promise is that your auntie Mary (you know the one I’m talking about, great cook, even better with desserts, has everyone kissing her on both cheeks), will be begging you for this recipe.

Honest.

No fat. No butter. No one will believe it.

But it’s true, I tell you.

And it’s Greek. (Shock)

Turn a blind eye to the sugar content, add a dollop of thick Greek yogurt and we can call it health food.

Why not.

Ingredients

700g ground walnuts
500g fine organic semolina
14 free range eggs
2 cups sugar
2 tspn ground Greek cinnamon
2 tspn ground cloves
1 cup brandy/cognac/scotch (any brown booze will do)
Olive oil and extra semolina for greasing

Syrup
10 cups water
7 cups sugar
rind of half a lemon
6 whole cloves

Method

Heat oven to 150C.
Lightly grease a 45cm x 45cm x 8cm non-stick tray with olive oil and dust with semolina.
(This will ensure mix will not stick to the bottom and make for easy removal of slices).
Separate eggs.
Beat whites to form a stiff meringue.
Beat yolks and sugar together.
Gradually add semolina and whites into beaten yolk/sugar mix, alternating until all incorporated.
Mixture will be fluffy and light.
Add spices and booze.
Fold in 500g of the ground walnuts.
Pour mix into pan and bake until skewer comes out clean; about 50mins depending on your oven.
Meanwhile, get cracking with the syrup.
Add water, sugar, lemon and cloves to a heavy based saucepan.
Simmer on medium heat for 20 mins.
Allow to cool.
When cake is ready, remove from oven and pour cool syrup over cake.
Cover generally with remaining ground walnuts and slice.
Allow to cool completely before removing slices from tray.

My brother, Tony has a love affair with taramasalata.

He’s escaped to Thailand at the moment.

He’s not a big fan of the chilli so I know he is struggling to chow down chilli Pad Thai every day.

I bet he’s missing his taramosalata.

No tarama in Thailand, though.

Lots of Nam Pla (fermented fish sauce). Hmmm. Now, there’s an idea.

Anyway, since it’s his name day today (Jan 17), I thought I’d send his some via cyberspace.

And, because it’s a balmy evening in Melbourne tonight, some fresh crusty bread, a big fat bowl of freshly made taramasalata and a few icy cold beers will suffice for me.

Nam Pla Hronia Polla, Tony!

(That’s Happy Name Day in Thai)

Ingredients

4 slices white stale bread, crusts removed
300ml water to cover
1 red, brown or white onion, roughly chopped
100g salted red mullet roe or white cod roe paste
juice of 1 lemon
550ml olive oil (not Extra Virgin)

Method

Cover bread with water and soak overnight (or if in a hurry to eat, as I so often am, just soak for 20mins or so in luke warm water)
Blend onion in a food processor until smooth.
Squeeze water from bread, add to onion and blend until smooth.
Add roe and lemon juice, blend until smooth.
Slowly drizzle in olive oil to create an emulsion, as you would mayonnaise. If too thick, loosen with a little boiling or sparkling mineral water.
Serve with warm bread and icy cold beer.

Side note:

The alchemist in me always seems to turn a happy recipe into a science experiment.

Although I only buy Aussie red mullet roe (orange can, about $7-$10/100g), I have also had luck with a $3.99 jar of blushing Herring roe from Ikea.

And my LBD (Little Black Dress) version, which makes non-fish eaters happy, is also made with a $3.99 jar of Ikea’s Seaweed topping. Throw in a couple of free range egg yolks with this one.

No reason why black fish roe can’t also be used.

He loved white raspberries (Σµέουρα, Smeoura in Greek).

So she went out and picked a bunch for him.

She pricked her finger on the thorns.

Blood from her finger tainted the white fruit and all raspberries that ever grew again were raspberry red.

End of love story.

(Don’t know if she ever did get jiggy with him. Maybe she should have made him ice pops instead.)

Raspberry Pops

My dad went through a phase where he had hermetically attached a fishing rod to his right hand.

Every opportunity he got he was on a pier, somewhere.
Severe weather warnings or not, he was there.

No boat – that was for sissies.

Just him, the bait and the promising potential of the water.

Sometimes, hours later, there was nothing.

Other times, there was enough to fill a large chest freezer. And then some.

The ‘and then some’ was made into Psari Plaki (Baked Fish)

Any fish, really.

Just ensure it’s super fresh!

Ingredients

1kg fish, filleted and cleaned well (Cod, Bakaliaro, Snapper, Perch)
4-5 golden delight potatoes, sliced
5-6 summer tomatoes, sliced
2 red onions, sliced
1 whole head of garlic
3-4 springs of fresh oregano
a handful of fresh parsley
1 tblspn dried oregano
dried chilli flakes (optional)
a splash of white wine or retsina
a good glug of EV olive oil

Drizzle oil on the bottom of the baking dish.
Add slices of potatoes, onions & tomatoes.
Scatter garlic cloves, dried & fresh oregano ( and chilli, if using).
Lay fillets on top.
Splash wine and more oil over the top.
Scatter with fresh parsley.
Bake for 25-30 mins in 180C oven, initially covered with baking paper & foil.
Then uncover in the last 5mins.
Mop with bread.

Post Christmas leftovers (too many kourambiethes, melomakarona – yours and from the in-laws)

Christmas cherries in abundance (and as cheap as they’re gonna get)

Sweet tooth is whinging, again!

You got time on your side.
You are on holidays, after all.
And there’s no need to even go near an oven.
So, cherry-up baby!

Ingredients

Base
140g kourambiethes (or melomakarona)
85g soft butter

Filling
250g softened cream cheese
150g manouri cheese
½ cup icing sugar
250ml double cream
1/2 tspn lemon juice
1 tspn vanilla extract

Topping
2 cups pitted fresh black cherries
2 cups sugar

Blitz the biscuits in a food processor until they begin to form crumbs, then add the butter and whiz again to make the mixture clump.
Press this mixture into a 20cm springform tin; press a little up the sides to form a slight ridge.
Beat together the cheeses, icing sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice in a bowl until smooth.
Lightly whip the double cream, and then fold it into the cream cheese mixture.
Spoon the cheesecake filling on top of the biscuit base and smooth with a spatula.
Put it in the fridge for 3 hours or overnight.

To make the topping:
Place cherries and sugar in a saucepan and gently heat, stirring frequently until sugar has dissolved and cherries are soft and caramelized.
Cool.

When you are ready to serve the cheesecake, unmould it and spread the black cherry over the top.

So it only makes sense to festively fuse my two addictions together.

Walnuts sprinkled on the macaroon shell and buttercream infused with cinnamon, cloves and honey, this is my Christmas fix.

Ingredients

100g egg whites
125g almond meal
125g icing sugar
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
food colouring, optional

For the syrup:
150g sugar and 50ml water

Directions
Process the almond meal and icing sugar together.

In a mixer, whip half the egg whites to soft peaks.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan bring the water and sugar for the syrup to 117C on a sugar thermometer.

Once ready, slowly add the boiling syrup to the egg whites and continue to whip on medium speed until they are thick and shiny and are completely cooled (about 10 minutes).

At the final stage of whipping the meringue, add the food colouring.

Mix the remaining egg whites to the sifted almond mixture and fold into the meringue in four parts.

Pipe macaroons on lined baking sheets.

Sprinkle with chopped walnuts.

Let your macaroons sit at room temperature for 30-60 minutes.

Bake at 140C for 15-18 minutes.

Fill with ganache or filling of your choice.

Refrigerate to set.

Melomakarona Buttercream

Ingredients
2 egg whites @ room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
125g unsalted butter @ room temperature
1 teaspoon each of cinnamon and cloves
2 tablespoons honey, to taste

Directions
In a bowl over simmering water, whisk the eggs whites and sugar.

Cook until the sugar has dissolved and the temperature reaches to 70C.

Transfer the bowl to a stand mixer and on a medium speed, beat until you reach firm peaks, about 5 minutes.

Slow the speed and add in the room temperature butter one piece at a time.

If the mixture appears to curdle, keep beating on medium speed until smooth again.

Add in the spices and honey.

Makes 2 cups.

Makes 40-50 shells, and 20-25 finished macaroons.

My favourite sanga!

Ingredients

Lath-o-lé-mo-no

4 large lemons, juiced
2 tspn dijon mustard
300ml extra virgin olive oil
2 tspn rigani (Greek oregano)
4-5 cloves of garlic
a good splash of retsina or wine
salt and pepper

Πατάτες Με Αυγά

Patates Me Avga

No matter which side of the earth you walk on, at some point you’ll stumble across the humble fried spud/egg combo. It might be in some fancy-schmancy dig served up for brekkie or shlapped up together somewhere in a late night kitchen. This is my round-the-clock meal – always there, always available. This is also my brother Tony’s staple bachelor feed. Throw in some greek loukanika or kabana, feta, fresh tomato or herbs and he calls it gourmet! Makes no difference to me, this marriage is here to stay!

Feeds 4 (or 1 Tony)

8 free range eggs
2-3 potatoes per person (choose the waxy type if you want them to remain intact or the starchy type if you like mush)
generous extra virgin Greek olive oil
salt & pepper, to taste

Peel the spuds and cut into cubes or small wedges.
Heat oil on medium heat in a large frying pan and add spuds.
Cook, stirring frequently, until soft and golden.
You can speed up this step if mad-hungry by covering the pan with a lid in between stirring.
Crank up heat to high and add eggs, whole or beaten (up to you).
High heat creates better fried eggs, just watch the spatter.
Stir to cook evenly and until eggs are cooked.
Don’t over cook the eggs.
Remove from heat.
Remember that residual heat from the pan also contiues to further cook the eggs.
Add salt & pepper.
Eat straight out of the pan.

Put aside a teeny bit of extra time to make the chicken crackling…and you’ll remember again why you love winter……

1 large free range chook
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
1 head of garlic (10-12 cloves), smashed
2-3 onions, finely chopped
½ bunch spring onions (white parts), finely chopped
a handful of fresh parsley with stalks, finely chopped
a few sprigs of thyme or marjoram (fresh or dry)
2 bay leaves (fresh or dry)
1 cup long grain rice or manestra/kritharaki metrio (greek orzo-like pasta)

2 eggs
2 lemons, juice only

Extra virgin Greek olive oil, for shallow frying

Soup:

Remove most of the skin from the chicken and reserve.
Combine chicken, onions, celery, garlic, parsley, bay and thyme or marjoram in a pot large enough to the fit the bird.
Cover with water (about 2 litres), bring to just below the boil over medium heat and skim scum from surface with a slotted spoon.
Simmer until stock is well flavoured ( about 2 hours).
About 20mins before end of cooking time, add the rice or manestra.
When rice/pasta is ready, remove soup from heat.
With a large slotted spoon, fish out the cooked bird carcass.
Pick off as much of the meat as possible and add back to the soup.

Chicken crackling:

In a separate saucepan, heat olive oil.
Coarsely chop reserved chicken skins and fry until crisp and golden (3-5 minutes).
Drain on absorbent paper, season to taste, cool then finely chop and set aside.

To finish:

Whisk eggs and lemon juice in a bowl or blender jug.
Add a ladleful of hot chicken stock and blend well with a hand-held blender or whisk until the mixture is frothy, then slowly pour back into the soup pot, taking care not to scramble the eggs.
Check seasoning and adjust if necessary, then ladle into serving bowls and top with chicken crackling.