Still Life for Lunch, Truffles for Breakfast.

How to indulge in a month of celebrations with modesty and zeal? Crudites (and champagne). There is nothing austere about eating a still life for lunch. You want at least six things to make a lavish plate, several of them, despite the name, not raw. A little love brings out fabulous things. (Also all that endless chewing makes you feel like a goat, and it is very hard to say anything at all, clever or otherwise).  A few simple steps make a platter that's all glamour, all virtue:

Radishes- This is the most fun- branch out from retro roses to every botanical excess. A sharp knife and some ice water (opens the petals of your flowers, and shaves off a little of the radishes' bite), and it's Chihuly in a bowl.

Cauliflower- Boil in 2-3 cm salted water with some vinegar and peppercorns added (stems in the water, crowns above) for about 5 minutes, until they barely yield to a sharp knife. Strain and chill quickly- put them out on the terrace.

Broccoli- The same, but salt only. Watch carefully- the steaming brings out a vibrant emerald tone. Too much, and it turns army green and tastes like school lunch. Cut off the stems and peel them- throw them in first to give them a head start.

Carrots- Never just raw. There are two things you can do. Chilling them in a mixture of one part vinegar to two parts water, plus salt and if you like some peeled garlic cloves and peppercorns (take out the garlic after 20 minutes or so unless you want them strong), transforms them from crunchy to crisp- much more delicate texture, and nice enough to enjoy on their own like a pickle. The other thing to do is treat them as above, but for a shorter time- just a minute or at the most 2- with some vinegar in the water, and maybe a garlic clove also.

Green beans- probably frozen (!) in winter- nonetheless a fresh tasting addition. Treat as carrots, but cook long enough so that they become tender and lose any raw flavor (but not until they are limp). Vivid color!

Fennel- Slice very thin wedges with the stem on, holding them together- this way each bite has some of the tender inside.

Cucumbers- Prepare at the last minute so they don't dry out or go limp. Spears are fine, but leaving them half peeled (try a zester) and sliced on the diagonal gives them a fresh look and a pleasant bite.

To these add what you like- conventional choices like celery stalks, cherry tomatoes and red pepper strips. It's a little messy but you'll have several platters worth of crudites- each one a meal that feels more like a cocktail party and leaves you svelte enough to have truffles for breakfast.

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Greek Farmer's Market Squash Meets Classic American Dessert

Part- sometimes most- of the pleasure of living abroad is the food. But there is no reason to forget a traditional dish from home. Nostalgia made with fresh things in your new world hits just the right note, like this pie- a holiday standard in our old country, usually with canned pumpkin, and perfectly fine. But it can be better- imagine silky flan enriched with roasted squash, baked in a flaky butter shell. We have fabulous winter squash in Greece- abundance is the mother of invention.

A squash always sits ready on the terrace-
a tiny Botero to catch the afternoon light.

The recipe takes a little planning, as we first need to roast the squash. There will be lots of squash- use the rest to make these gnocchi, or freeze for later.

We will need:

500 g/ 2 generous cups squash puree

450 ml/ 2 C canned milk

1 1/2 to 2 C sugar (depending on the sweetness of the squash)

6 eggs
2 or 3 tablespoons rum or whiskey 

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ginger

a pinch of ground cloves

a few gratings of nutmeg

one pie crust (this recipe will be more than enough for a very generous pie dish), rolled out.

Line your largest, deepest pie dish (we used the classic Emile Henry 25 cm/10") with the dough, trim evenly all around with kitchen shears, and crimp however you wish.

Using a stick blender or electric mixer, blend the filling ingredients, using the lower amount of sugar. Taste, add more sugar if you need it, and maybe some more spice. Be gentle- the squash has a rich, delicate flavor that would be a shame to hide. 

Bake on the oven's lowest rack at 170 C/ 350 F for 45 minutes to an hour- it will jiggle, but a knife put into the center should just come out clean. The puffed filling will settle down and firm as it cools. When cold, it slices beautifully, and this crust will be flaky and crisp- quite a trick with a flan filling. 

Feeling a little lazy? Make only the filling and bake it in one large dish or several cups in a bain marie. 

Serve either with whipped cream- freshly beaten and just barely sweet if you want some sophistication, or sprayed from a can if you want to lighten things up.

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Rich Chocolate Zucchini Cake- Health Springs Eternal (But Secretly....)

Our cake- black, rich, and so moist it is nearly juicy- promises nothing but pleasure. Delicate, nearly weightless, it is nonetheless filled with every good thing. Tea-time revives; seven pieces with a glass of milk (it happens often with hungry teenagers) make for a substitute meal (so many eggs!). The cake is all indulgence, all health: olive oil, eggs, wheat germ, oat bran, whole wheat flour, and of course a lot of zucchini. This is our other "summer cake,"-  perfect with summer's zucchini, just as nice with the golden squash of fall-

Of course there is some sugar, but as the cake took shape- having cocoa added, taking out some flour, adding the wheat germ and wheat bran, making all the flour whole wheat- we cut it down too. Whole wheat flour and wheat germ are naturally quite sweet; the cake needs less sugar than it does when you make it with white flour. Winter squash are even sweeter than the zucchini. 

The only not so indulgent thing about the cake is its modest height- the thinner the layer, the lighter it rises. The fat finger-width of batter in your largest pan rises to a perfectly nice height; it's just not very dramatic.

We will need:

400 g/ 2 C sugar
85 g/ 1 C cocoa powder
240 g/ 2  C flour- whole wheat pastry flour works very nicely
2 teaspoons each of salt, baking soda, and baking powder, put through a fine mesh strainer into the flour
80 g/ 1/2 C wheat germ
50 g/ 1/2 C oat bran
6 eggs
360 ml/ 1 1/2 C olive oil
400 g/ 4 C zucchini, grated on the large holes of the box grater and loosely packed
lemon zest

Orange and chocolate is a delicious and classic combination. Using lemon zest instead is unexpected- more floral than citrus, giving some balance to the richness of the cocoa. Finely grate the zest of half a lemon (or an orange) and blend it with the sugar in a large bowl to release the fragrance. Add the eggs and the oil, then the cocoa and blend. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and blend again:

Then add the grated zucchini, which adds quite a lot of moisture. If using winder squash, divide into workable pieces and slice the thick outer peel off in segments:

Grate as you grate the zucchini. This is a much harder job.

Line a large pan with non-stick baking paper- we used the sheet pan that fits directly into a standard European oven. Bake at 180 C/ 375 F for 30-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. 

Let cool before slicing- for such hearty ingredients, it has a fragile texture. This makes an enormous cake, but as it is perfect anytime, and as everyone likes it so much, you surely will not find it too large.

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Fig and Date Bars with Orange Blossom Water- Nice to Share.

These rich bars with just five ingredients can be made easily in any quantity you need. They are perfect for sharing with as many people as possible, and in this case hopefully for leaving a sweet taste of Greece in the mouths of those coming through here under very difficult circumstances. One of the five ingredients is packaged cookies (!) it saved a lot of time. We want quantity, and our petite Euro-sized oven would hold us back. 

We were hoping to make something that feels like a treat but provides more than purely aesthetic sustenance. These are nothing but dried figs and dates and some sesame seeds, bound with the beautiful perfume of orange blossom water, and held together by a layer of crushed cookies on the top and bottom to make them tidy to eat, and a dusting of powdered sugar so they look more like a confection than a hunk of dried fruits and seeds. Pretty on the outside, healthy on the inside.

This is a recipe that can be incorporated into a weekly schedule and our weekly budget, and that can be doubled or quadrupled, to keep giving throughout the season. It also makes a nice project for small children, combining two of their favorite things- being kind to others, and getting their hands dirty. In our case I have my daughter Mei Mei and her friends to wrap them during study breaks (the are all in high school) and deliver to organizations that can pass them along to the border. 

For each large pan (42 X 28 cm), we will need:

1 package of plain square cookies- we used the double ones
1 K/ 7 C dried figs, cut up
500 g/ 4 C dates, pitted
120 g/ 1 C sesame seeds
2 tsp. orange blossom water
some powdered sugar for dusting

1. Crush the cookies. Line a large pan with non-stick paper and oil it very lightly, and spread half of the cookie crumbs evenly on it:

2. Pit the dates- this is very easy. Oil a pair of kitchen scissors and use them to cut the dates into rough pieces, removing the tough nub of stem at the top:

3. If the dates and figs seem too dry to be pulsed into a rough paste in the food processor, you can steam them very lightly- put just a spoonful or two of water into a pot, add the figs, and turn it on to high, covered. As soon as it boils (almost instantly) turn off the heat and let them steam for just a moment.

4. Put half of the dates and half of the figs and half of the sesame seeds into the food processor together with a teaspoon of orange blossom water and pulse until a coarse paste forms. Put into a bowl and pulse the other half and more orange blossom water, then mix the two halves gently so the texture is uniform.

5. The dense paste is not very spreadable, particularly on the crumbs sliding around loose on the non-stick paper. What we will do is take handfuls of the paste, pat them into slabs between our palms, and lay them over the crumbs, working toward the middle and filling in gaps like a puzzle. It is not at all difficult:

6. Coat the top with the rest of the crumbled cookies, pressing them into the fruit mixture. Set it somewhere to dry out a little:

7. Cut into bars large enough to be satisfying, roll in powdered sugar, and wrap them or put them into individual bags to stay clean and fresh.

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A Tzatziki Can Never be Too Thick or Too Rich.

Creamy, refreshing, subtle, and nutritious- ideal for all your summer tables.

A recipe for tzatiki? Of course it's not necessary- just blend grated cucumber with yogurt, add some garlic to taste, and some dill for fragrance and color and, eh... voila! But taking a little care with each step will give you a cool, creamy, subtle and fragrant spread that is more substantial and much, much better than the gyro-shop standard. The keys to an absolutely magnificent tzatziki are less garlic than you would think, more dill than you would think, and a slightly obsessive preparation. It is nothing too taxing- just mashing the garlic into a smooth pulp with salt, mincing the dill so fine that it bleeds a beautiful avocado color into the yogurt, and removing as much moisture from both the grated cucumbers and the already strained yogurt as you possibly can.

We will need:

600 g/ about 2 1/2 C strained yogurt

2 long "seedless" cucumbers

a very large bunch of dill

a garlic clove the size of an almond

salt

olive oil

First, strain the already-strained yogurt- you can line a strainer with cheesecloth or gauze. It's surprising how much liquid will be shed (the whey is healthful and delicious- save it to add it to the cucumber lassi you might make with the cucumber juice below). 

Wash the dill fronds thoroughly, squeeze them dry, and mince them fine. Then mince them again- this will help release their fragrance and color, and ensure there is no coarseness of texture in the finished tzatziki.

Garlic when raw builds in intensity over time. By all means put in as much as you like, but bear in mind that it will grow stronger, and make sure all of it mashed into a silky puree with the side of the blade of a knife- a large pinch of salt helping to break it down:

If a little dill gets mashed in with it, so much the better:

Peel your cucumbers and grate them on the large holes of a box grater. It will seem like quite a lot of grated cucumber. Put it into a fine-mesh strainer and salt it, putting the strainer over a bowl. 

After a short time, it will have shed a lot of liquid. Squeeze it to get out even more. (The beautiful green liquid in the bottom of the bowl is salty but delicious- I have blended it with tomato juice, and also made a cucumber lassi over ice)

In order to ensure the garlic is well distributed, blend it first with a small amount of the strained yogurt and then blend that garlic-scented yogurt with the rest. After this, stir in the squeezed-out grated cucumber and the minced dill. There should be plenty of salt from the cucumbers and the garlic paste, but test once again, and stir in a little olive oil for silkiness. Drizzle some more over the top too, just for the pleasure of the three lovely shades of green.

If there are grilled meats this is always on the table. But in just a few weeks when it is too hot to eat, this makes a very agreeable way to keep from fainting, with a heel of crusty bread and maybe a tomato cut up on a plate and sprinkled with salt.

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Fava- Pretty Is as Pretty Does.

Fava- a puree of yellow split peas cooked until they are falling apart and served cool with some herbs and lemon- is a dish that is really much tastier than you think it might be. Or so I thought. My dear Aunt Meri visited in September and we went to the Saturday market on Kalidromiou in Exarchia and I pointed them out- dried split peas with a saffron yellow color rather than our usual green. I said how they are typically prepared and the said "Oh that sounds delicious!" And I thought "not really, but better than you think" We made them that night and my aunts and uncles just scarfed them up like they were octopus or oysters or chocolate or something really, really good.

The garnish does a lot for it. It is a gentle, neutral flavor that takes very well to generous handfuls of chopped herbs, some green onions, a handful of big capers. The fava puree itself also takes well to seasoning- minced sauteed onions, salt and pepper, a bay leaf- these are all absorbed smoothly and give the dish some dimension, even as it remains soothing like a mound of mashed potatoes with butter on them. 

For little trouble and almost no expense, fava fills out the table with healthy satisfaction, and no inconsiderable beauty- shimmering golden yellow and verdant with the handfuls of herbs. They do need a little time to cook, but are quicker than most of the other legumes.

We will need:

a large onion, diced

a little olive oil for the pan

250 g/ 1 C yellow split peas

625 ml/ 2 1/2 C water

5 ml/ 1 tsp/ salt

some grindings of black pepper

a bay leaf

later:

lots of chopped parsley, some dill if we like, some green onions, and olive oil and lemon juice. Fancier things, like fat capers or pickled onions, are very nice against the mellow background flavor.

Chop the onion as you like and saute in olive oil:

These are on the small side so that they almost fall apart-
 adding just their rich flavor
 but nothing to the texture of the finished puree.

Let them saute for ten or fifteen minutes, until they become translucent and take on some color. The refinement and full flavor of the sauteed onion and the bay leaf saves the puree from tasting a little '70's health-food like.

There is often enough a small stone or two in the split peas- sift through them carefully, then rinse well:

Add them to the onions along with the bay leaf, the salt, and some pepper, and put it on to a slow simmer:

Let it simmer perhaps 45 minutes to an hour- until much of the water is absorbed and the split peas are nearly falling apart- 

They lose none of their vibrance in cooking.

Take out the bay leaf and mash the split peas with a potato masher, or- if you want a silkier texture- with a blender. To keep the dish delicate, the consistency should be like the very thickest of soups rather than like a puree- it thickens up still more in cooling. Taste for seasoning and pour into your serving dish to let it set up, just when ready to serve, cover it generously with the herbs, capers if you like, and the oil and lemon, with extra lemon to squeeze on at the table.

This rounds out a table of spreads and snacks nicely, making another more substantial offering for vegetarian friends, or a glowingly pretty side dish that goes with most anything at all.

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Lunch Box of Perfection

I adore the people of the public high school my younger daughter (the one who got locked out of the house by accident in the incident that inspired the Pavlova of Guilt) goes to. As the school year is at an end I wanted to go by and wish them a happy summer and bring a box of a successful batch of cookies.

Oatmeal-raisin cookies sound like a very basic thing and they should be, but I had never quite found a recipe that gave me my personal ideal- not too sweet, soft and tender with just a little chew to it, and a gentle balanced flavor that makes them easy to eat many of- delicious, comforting, and a little like food.  I realized in the name-day cookie experiment for Charlene (our older daughter). (If you are not in the Mediterranean, you may not know this custom- it's brilliant. The Saint for whom one is named has a holiday, and everyone sharing that name celebrates on that day. So central is this social device that one would take out an advertisement in the paper in smaller cities if one were not receiving visitors on that day. In Athens, the names celebrating each day are announced in the metro! It's a hospitable region of the world; when it is your name day, you offer everyone- classmates, co-workers- a treat). These were great- just the classic toll house cookie recipe minus a little flour and with lots of oats. I thought they would be even better in the classic combination: oatmeal raisin, exploiting the raisin's affinity for rum.

Everything we need

Oatmeal-(rum) raisin cookies:

1 C/250 g butter (I used salted butter, so I did not add salt)

3/4 C/ 150 g brown sugar

1/2 C/ 100 g white sugar

some vanilla

2 eggs

1 tsp/ 5 ml baking soda

1 tsp./ 5 ml salt (if you are using unsalted butter)

1/2 C / 50 g whole wheat pastry flour (Why? For the rich flavor!)

1 C /100 g white flour

2 1/2 C / 250 g oats

1/2 C dark raisins

2 T rum

cinnamon to taste

Heat the oven to 350 F/170 C, and line 2 baking sheets with non-stick parchment.

Put the raisins in a small glass dish and microwave them with the rum on low power for a minute- they will absorb it nicely!

Then cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, add the eggs and vanilla, and then the flours with salt and baking soda. Last stir in the oats and the rum-soaked raisins, with cinnamon to taste (1/2 tsp.?). I usually like a pronounced cinnamon flavor, but the balance of the butter and the salt and the brown sugar and the rum is wonderful- the rum adds a nice mid-mouth depth- and you won't want to cover that up.

Place on the baking sheet like this:

(the oreo-sized cookie is for spacing and scale)

Now the tricky part- put them in, set the timer for 5 or 6 minutes, then switch sheets top to bottom. Time another 4 minutes or so, then check often- they should look baked, with dry tops, but hardly any color taken at all. Here is the top and bottom side of a perfect batch:

See how the bottom (on the right) is hardly darker than the top of the cookie? That is what you want- baked, but just- it should need to set up on the cookie sheet for a minute before you can even remove it with a spatula. They will continue to set as they cool.

Of course, if you let them turn golden like a regular cookie, they will just be regular oatmeal-raisin cookies (albeit with that base-note of rum), For me the delight is in their tender softness and hint of chewiness (If I were going for crisp, I would make oatmeal-walnut, or oatmeal-coconut- something that lends itself to a little snap)- everything the raisin underscores.

This is a perfect school snack, or the perfect snack to bring to a school. I made a double batch (twice the amounts listed) and that made 7 dozen nice-sized ones- one big box and lots left over (some for the kids at the coffee roaster downstairs I shop from because they keep asking what I am making with all the oats).

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