Xoirino prasoselino

This is the first dish that Athina mentioned to my in our interview. It has northern Greek origins, and is often eaten for Christmas.  It's simple and hearty; pork (I used shoulder) braised with celery, leeks, and white wine, and finished with a hearty avgolemono, the creamy egg-lemon mixture found throughout Greece in the winter. 
I included red, green, and yellow bell peppers because we had a bit of a surplus on hand.  It is not traditional. It was nice, though. 

For the pork stew:

2 lbs pork shoulder, cut into chunks
1 cup white wine
4 cups broth
The peel of one lemon
6 celery stalks, cut on the bias
2 leeks, cut on the bias
1 each red and yellow pepper, cut into chunks
1 tablespoon oregano
1 teaspoon cinnamon

For avgolemono:

2 eggs
The juice of two lemons
1 cup cooking liquid

1. In a large pot, heat a bit of oil and brown pork batches. 
2. Deglaze the pan with the white wine, and then return pork to the pot. Add broth and a bit of the lemon peel. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook, covered, for about 45 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in another pot, sweat the vegetables with the remaining lemon peel. Remove from heat and set aside until pork is ready.
4. After 45 minutes have passed, add your veg to the pork. Add oregano and cinnamon, as well as salt and pepper.
5. Simmer, uncovered, for another 45 minutes, adding more broth or water if it gets a bit dry. 
6. In a medium bowl, thoroughly beat two eggs. Whisk in lemon juice. 
7. Whisking constantly, stream about a cup of the pork's cooking liquid into the egg-lemon mixture. 
8. Remove stew from heat. Add egg-lemon mixture to the pot, shaking to incorporate.

"You can taste the flavour of a tomato when you eat a tomato."

So, this blog has a new format.

Every week, I am going to post a full interview with a new person, entirely about food. These interviews will be with people of all kinds, from all around the world!

Over the week that follows, I will be posting new recipes inspired by the interview.

If you want to be interviewed, or know somebody who might be, don't hesitate to email me at patchworktablecloth@gmail.com. I'm hoping to post interviews with some interesting musicians, artists and chefs as well as anybody who loves eating, cooking, or just talking about food. 

Anyway, let's get started with a little trip to Greece...

Athina

 Greece

I interviewed Athina over a big glass of wine on a summer evening in her living room in Rhodes, Greece. From a small village in mainland Greece, she was in her mid-thirties and ran the bar at an artsy restaurant in Rhodes' gorgeous Old Town. She was kind, bold, and just like her goddess namesake, very wise. 

Patchwork Tablecloth: What is your all time favourite food?

Athina: Xoirino prasoselino. (Χοιρινό πρασοσέλινο) It's pork with celery and leek.

PT: Do you like cooking? What sort of things do you make?

A: My favourite foods.  Dolmades. With other leaves too... cabbage.

Dolmades are leaves; (most often grapevine) stuffed with rice, tomato and onion. 

Pictured above, dolmades with egg-lemon sauce. Taken at a restaurant in Kos, one of Rhodes' neighbouring islands. 

PT: What's your favourite holiday? What do you eat then?

A: Easter. Lots of meat. Lamb on a spit over fire.

PT: What are your favourite vegetables? 

A: Leek, cabbage, and cauliflower.

PT: What about fruit?

A: Banana and peach.

PT: What did you eat growing up?

A: Everything. Salads, soups, pasta, potatoes, meat, yoghurt, olive oil, onions. Onions are in everything in Greece. This is also true with oregano.

PT: What is normally inside your fridge?

A: It changes with the seasons. Vegetables when I'm not busy. Yoghurt, sweet cheese, onions, garlic, milk.

PT: What foods do you dislike?

A: Olives! But I like olive oil.

PT: Can you tell me a bit about food in Greece?

A: It's very good. Generally healthy;  no butter, only olive oil. Home cooking....lentils. The cuisine is very simple and healthy. We use clear flavours; you can tell the vegetable and spice. It's simple. You can taste the flavour of a tomato when you eat a tomato. The cuisine got more complicated in the 50’s.  Turkish brought yogurt, stuffed things, moussaka, etc. Those foods are all from the 50’s. They became famous from a popular Greek cookbook. It had a very big influence on Greek cooking.

Lentils. Greek home-cooking in Rhodes.

PT: On a typical day, what do you eat for breakfast?

A: I can wake up and eat anything. I could eat a steak.

                           

PT: What about lunch?

A: Usually small; yoghurt, cornflakes. I eat a good meal after work.

PT: Dinner?

A: Anything. Pasta with zuccini, chiles, bacon and fresh tomato and garlic. Italian pasta with peperoncino, garlic, lots of chile pepper.

PT: What are your favourite desserts?

A: Everything. I love sweets.  Ice cream in summer. Chocolate, cakes, creams.

PT: What do you think is the most important thing to have in a kitchen?

A: A cooking pot and fire.

PT: What are your favourite drinks?

A: Everything. Wine, tequila or whiskey, gin and tonic, rum cocktail, good beer. I don't like vodka.

PT: Any hangover cures?

A: Depends on the weather. Soup in the winter, summer not so much. Patsas (Πάτσας);  a soup from lamb’s bellies. It smells bad but it is like medicine. 

Patsas seems to be a pretty well known Greek hangover remedy. It's tripe soup cooked with tomatoes, wine, cinnamon, and garlic.

PT: If you were making dinner for just yourself, what would it be?

A: Maybe I wouldn’t cook. Pasta or something. Depends. Maybe salad. Things that don’t take too much time. If I go through all this trouble, I want to share it with someone.

PT: What is something "weird" that you like to eat?

A: It's very relative. The head of the lamb, but that isn't so strange here. But I’ve seen people shocked by it.

PT: What is your favourite combination of flavours?

A: Ouzo with seafood. It's the only way to drink ouzo.

From left, clockwise: tzatziki (yoghurt with cucumber and mint), skordalia (a garlickly dip), mashed fava beans, octopus, brined caper leaves, and fresh sardines. 

Taken in Nisyros, a small, neighbouring island of Kos. Athina suggested that we travel there. This dish was prepared for us by friends of hers.

PT: What are your favourite ingredients?

A: Different spices for different things. I don’t like too many spices. I like clear tastes. I like cinnamon and meat.

PT: What is something interesting that you tried while traveling? 

A: Czech Republic- boiled bread. Weird. They used lots of cream, heavy food because of the weather.  I'm interested to learn Italian cooking. They use the same materials as in Greece.

PT: What is the best thing you can remember eating?

A:  A local pastry shop serves a cake with walnuts, syrup and cream on top.

Honey soaked, nut filled pastries typical of Greece. Taken in a Kos bakery.

PT: You're throwing a party! What will you serve your guests?

A: Lahano dolmades- it's with cabbage instead of vine leaves.  A salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, olive oil, oregano and feta- this would be in the summer. In the winter, cabbage and carrot salad or potato salad. Lots of different things.

PT: What do you want to learn how to cook?

A: Good phyllo pastry. I have to find the right balance.

PT: Let's talk seasons. What do you eat in the winter?

A: Lots of food. Different sauces. Egg and lemon sauce....it's only good in the winter. Too heavy in the summer.

PT: How about summer?

A: I only eat at night,  really, because it’s so hot. Salads. Dacos (ντάκος). They're easy, from Crete. Use dry bread-rusks, and wet them and eat with tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and feta.

PT: Finally, what's your favourite food smell?

A: Garlic, even raw. Cauliflower boiling.

Stay tuned over the following week! I'll be posting recipes and photographs for dishes mentioned in this interview!

What do you eat in the winter?

"Lots of food. Different sauces. Egg and lemon sauce...it's only good in the winter. Too heavy in the summer."

Athina, Rhodes, Greece

Avgolemono soup became a staple in my apartment last year when my best friend Chloe got obsessed with it. She called it lemon drop soup and made it about three times a week. It has Greek origins and is excellent in winter, especially if you’re not feeling so great (which unfortunately is the case for me today)

Soup is not avgolemono’s only claim to fame. This rich marriage of egg and lemon is often used as a sauce or condiment in Greece. I had it spooned over dolmades when I was there, and my inspiration for this dish comes from a photo I saw in a Greek cooking magazine, where it was served over meatballs.

This soup is so simple, it’s fun to play around with! Give it a try with some shredded chicken instead of meatballs, or omit the meat altogether for a filling vegetarian soup.  

Avgolemono soup with lamb meatballs

For the meatballs:

1 lb lamb mince

1 onion, grated

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup rice

For the soup:

1 quart chicken broth

1/4 cup rice

2 eggs, thoroughly whisked

The juice of two lemons

1 cup of boiling water

1.   In a large bowl, combine all the meatball ingredients with your hands. Season with salt and pepper and mix thoroughly. Form into balls about the size of walnuts.

2.   Heat a bit of oil in a large pan. Brown the meatballs in batches. Do not overcrowd them! Set aside on a covered plate.

3.   Prepare the soup. In a large pot, bring your broth to a boil.

4.   Add rice and simmer, uncovered, until rice is tender, about 20 minutes. At about 15 minutes, add meatballs to the soup.

5.   In a medium bowl, whisk lemon juice into the eggs. Whisking constantly, add the boiling water.

6.   Remove the soup from heat. Add the egg-lemon mixture to the soup and stir to combine.

7.   Season and serve.