Photos of our Tasting @ Efis Deli

                                      This is Efis Deli in Glfada Athens

Tasting at Effi's Deli

This Saturday our local Deli organised a tasting of Grey Mullet Bottarga matched with wines from the Attikan Winery , Marcou.
Bottarga is a salty fish roe from the Grey mullet  that is delcious served very simply on brown bread with a squeeze of lemon juice.
The producer Trikalinos also makes a powder from the roe that was fabulous sprinkled on their own cured sardine fillets, again served on brown bread.
The wine that seemed to me to compliment these was the dry white made from a blend of Savatiano with Chardonnay.

I am not a spirit drinker but I am sure the Bottarga snacks would be excellent with Vodka.

Riedel Glasses in Athens

Last week I was lucky enough to be invited to a tasting by Georg Riedel.
I always knew that Riedel glasses were the absolute "Rolls Royce" of glasses for wine tasting, but I have never been to a "Master Class " on why  different shapes of glasses have been designed for different grape varieties.
It was an absolute revelation!!!!
How the shape of a glass can so influence your enjoyment of wine. For instance drink a Pinot Noir in a glass designed for Cabernet Sauvignon and it will taste acidic and have very little nose.
Drink the Pinot from the glass especially designed for this variety , and you get all the fruit on the nose and a wonderfully elegant wine to drink.
At the end of the evening we were all given the tasting glasses that we had been using, so full of enthusiasm we did an experiment the next evening.
We opened a bottle of Hatzidakis Mavrotragano 2007 ,this is a red wine literally translated as "Crispy Black" and tried it in a pinot glass and then a cabernet glass.
The difference in the taste and enjoyment was astounding.
In the cabernet glass it tasted very acidic with no fruit, but in the pinot noir glass it tasted balanced and full of fruit, truly wonderful.

Beetroot

Today is also market day in our nieghbourhood, and suddenly all the stalls are full of beetroot.
Small and sweet.
So they have been boiled and lunch will definetly be a salad of freshly cooked beetroot , feta cheese and red onions dressed with extra virgin olive oil and some fresh chopped parsley, eaten with a piece of crusty bread,
Simple and delicious.

Smokey Thursday

Today is known as "Smokey Thursday" in Greece. The explanation is that this is the last official day to eat meat before Lent begins. It is called smokey ,as all the traditional  meat tavernas will be packed full tonight , grilling lamb ,pork , beef kebabs  steaks and chops for all they are worth.
As a result the smoke bilges up into the sky.
Meat obviously is the main focus of the meal, but it is usually eaten with chips , bread and of course a traditional Greek salad.

Cauliflowers and Leeks

Cauliflowers and leeks are vegetables that most people would not generally associate with Greece. However during the winter months the market stalls are burgeoning with both these rather underated vegetables.
Leeks  (prassa) in Greece are used in pies (pittas) and often replace onions.
I tend to use them in hearty vegetable soups and in English style casseroles.
The cauliflwers are so fresh here, you rarely get that rather pungent smell after cooking.
Effi , who runs our lcal deli , told me she bakes cauliflower, cut into pieces with onions , garlic herbs ,tomatoes  and olive oil in the oven.
Most Greeks boil it and serve it as a winter salad dressed with olive oil and lemon juice.
My greek husband just loves english style cauliflower cheese.

Lunch and Red Wine Tasting

Sunday was the most glorious day , so after a morning tasting Red wines at Dionysia wine fair we met some friends for lunch by the sea.
More of that later.
The reds
 Well I only tasted Greek indigenous grape varieties , as that is my passion.
Stand outs
Moraitis Sillogi Red 2007 organic
ablend of Black Aidani 70% and Cabernet. Altho this wine is oaked the fruit shines through. I am sure that this is wine its so popular at London's New Mayfair branch of Hakkasan , where it is on by the glass.
All the Mercouri reds were good , they are of course Greek classics, you get a real sense of terrior with these wines, definite black olives on the nose.
Sclavos bio-dynamic dry Mavrodaphne from Kefalonia , this wine is a real mouthfull.
Katogo Averoff- Strofilia 2010 unoaked Aghioritiko a lovely example of the characteristics of this grape variety , bursting with morello cherries and red berry fruits.
Hatzidakis funky Mavrotragano 2008. One of the most unusual and esoteric Greek reds packed with character and fruit.
Mitrivella estates, Two Aghioritikos one unoaked the other oaked, both very good and made in a modern style.
Then time for lunch by the sea with friends.
Where the first thing we needed was a long cold beer as the temp was indeed 20 degrees plus and after tasting lots of reds you need a palate cleanser.
We then dined on a feast of Greek mezes, fava, deep fried kalamari, a beautiful salad of tomatoes , cucumber , roka and capers, grilled haloumi on a sauce of figs and balsamic syrup, deep fried peeled prawns all toppped off with the greek classic dessert of loucoumades (tiny fried balls of batter cover in cinnamon syrup )served with vanilla icecream.