A Weekend of Wine and Food

A busy weekend!!! There were two Exhibitions in Athens to visit, the Trade Exhibition "Food and Drink" and the Bi-Annual Athens Wine Fair "Dionysia" that is for the Trade and the Public.
Friday evening we paid a brief visit to the Food Exhibition , altho this event attracts the big boys there were some very interesting small producers there too, with some great products.
Stand outs were:
 The Graviera cheese made by the Cooperative from the island of Naxos. This was nutty , tasty, with a great texture , something like a cross between a top Gruyere and a aged English cheddar. Absolutely the best greek cheese that I have tasted.
 In a recent compition of Top 100 World Cheeses it came 9th.
Honey Spread from Cyprus. Using honey as a healthy base , they have added, carob, hazelnuts , almonds, creating products that are a very healthy and tasty alternative to jam, especially good for children.
There were some great Olive Oils and we were really impressed by the Olive Oil from Zakynthos made again by the Cooperative there.  Funky pink packaging.
Also the Olive Oil made by the Cretan Producer Vassilaki, absolutely delicious, with packaging that was chic and stylish.
Finally a Micro-Brewery based in Corfu, making Real Ale, Bitter and Lager they were all absolutely top quality.
Saturday saw us rock up for the Wine Exhibition , this was an opportunity to meet old friends , taste the new vintages and also meet some new producers.
One hundred and twenty wineries had tables, this is not for thr faint hearted.
Saturday was White wine Tasting.
Stand outs
2010 Vintage of Nassiakos Mantinea
2010 Vintage of Gentillini Single vineyard Robola (20% oaked but so delicate )
                       It just gave the wine a little more roundness and depth.
2010Vintage  Moraitis Paros (100% Monemvasia)
2010 Vintage Moraitis Sillogi organic (Assyrtiko/Malagousia) suddenly everone is talking up Malagousia , so well done to Roxanne Matza who was the main protagonist of this variety.
2010 Skouras Cuvee Prestige White ( a blend of Roditis & Moscofilero) this inexpensive white is consistantly a pleaser.
2009 Hatzidakis Nyteri ,WOW what a wine, not a quaffer , but big powerful , pineapple/grapefruit beautifully balanced and this was only the tank sample!!!
Hatzidakis 2010 Santorini and his Organic Cuvee 15 again thoroughbreds . Of course I may be a little biased as I have been working with Haridimos Hatzidakis for 10 years now.
Domaine Evharis Assyrtiko 2009, probably the best Assyrtiko outside of Santorini.
We also tasted quite a few good dry Muscats , excellent quaffers on a hot day.l

Wine Road of Macedinia Wine Fair

Last week I spent a very pleasant evening at the Wine fair showcasing wines from Northern Greece.
My favourite wine was probably "Ramnista" from the Kir Yianni winery. It is made from one of Greece's most famous red varieties Xynomavro, translated it means sharp or tart black.
This wine is elegant , the strong tanins having been tamed and guess what its also pretty good value for money. This red has great character.
I also liked the "Malagousia " made by Gerovassiliou and of course the "Ovilos" from Biblia Chora , a great blend of Semillon with Assyrtiko.

This weekend coming is the annual Athens Wine Fair, where all the new vintages are out to taste so I will report on that.

Samos Sweeties

I thought it was time to talk a little about wine. The dessert wines from the island of Samos are world famous. They are all made from the indigenous variety muscat petit grain. They continuosly win medals and trophies in International Wine Compitions, Two yearts ago the Grand Cru and the Anthyemis won Trophies in the prestigious Decanter compition in the UK.

A glut of lemons

Now is the time of year, not only for oranges but for lemons too. All the lemon tree branches are laden with ripe fruit, too many to use. A good friend delivered a large bag of fruit , fresh, picked from the lemon tree in his front garden.
So, I spent all day yesterday making, jam, a couple of lemon meringue pies and lemon curd, the latter two being more English than Greek, I have to admit.
The lemon curd is safely stored in the fridge waiting for a decadent moment, the pies eaten as we had friends for dinner last night andthe jam waiting to be stored away.
I will post jam rcipe as its so good and several people have asked for it. This is again an adaptation from a recipe from "Falling Cloudberries " by Tessa Kiros

Lemo& Vanilla Jam
6 Lemons , washed , de-pipped ,thinnly sliced and then cut into quarters.
1.25 kilos Preserving Sugar.
1.25 litres water
One vanilla pod halved length ways.
A large heavy bottomed pan

Put lemon quarters into the water and bring to boil and simmer for about 40 minutes, then add sugar & vanilla pod on a low heat , dissolve the sugar and then bring to a boil. Cook away for about 30-40 mins until setting point is reached. This jam sets very well due to the high pectin content.
Cool a little before putting into sterilised jars. I like to cut the vanilla pod into pieces and put one in each jar , so that as the marmalade matures it is infused with the beautiful aromatic vanilla, which some how gives a touch of class to this clean fresh jam.
This quantity makes about 6 jars jam.

Olives

Its Saturday morning and we have just returned from our local deli. ,where they had  out to taste black olives stuffed with almonds, made into a sweet.
I know this sounds bizarre but they are truly delicious served with a soft greek cheese such as anthotiro.
The salty , oiliness of the olives balances the sweetness perfectly. A great find to serve with pre dinner drinks.
Today Haridimos Hatzidakis is coming over with some samples of his just bottled 2010 "Santorini". I can't wait to taste it.
Will report

More oranges

waiting for my guests to arrive, the casserole is in the oven, so I thought that I would add a few more words on oranges.
The fruit bowl is burgening with seasonal oranges si I thought that i would just put this cake together. its origins are definetly mediterranean , perhaps not greek, who knows.
It is a combination or 2 oranges and one lemon ,boiled for about an hour then drained and pureed. The puree of fruit is then added to 5 eggs beaten with 2 cups of sugar, and finally you mix in 5 cups of ground almonds with a teaspoon of baking powder.
Bake at 180c until a skewer comes out clean. I then decorated it with caramelised clementines.
I have also made this using more puree 3-4 oranges less almonds and some self raising flour.Greeks wouls probably substitute some semolina
Any way it makes a really good cake when oranges are sweet and plentiful
ps remove any pips from the fruit before you puree.
It will be tonights dessert served with some plain greek yoghurt.
The maincourse is a simple casserole of beef with loads of leeks and carrots, served sprinkled with fresh parsley and plain boiled broccoli.

Dirty Ginger / Good Food & Fun

Last night we met some friends at a bar serving great food , Dirty Ginger. It is situated in the trendy , reclaimed industrial area of Athens , Gazi.
This area is buzzing with great restaurants , bars and coffee bars and full of young people.
We ate simply tasty Greek dishes all served with a modern twist.
My husband raved about the kokoretsi. A traditional dish of offal encased by intestines. It was so dainty and delicate looking rather like a boudin blanc. I stuck with a  succulent chicken kebab, marinated in a harissa dressing with a  wonderful side salad of tabouleh.
The executive chef is a very dynamic lady, Effie Giallousi, who not only runs this busy restaurant , but is the author of several popular cookery books.
To drink ,we had the new vintage (2010) Biblia Chora White a wonderful blend of Sauvignon Blanc and my favourite Assyrtiko, followed by a Xynomavro made by Kir Yianni. They both hit the spot perfectly. All in all a great evening.