greek lamb with grilled tomato and halloumi cheese

I wake up from my nap, and I'm in Greece.

What a strange feeling.

After 6 months in Israel, Lisa came to meet me and after a couple weeks of travel,

we flew to Kos. The plan is to hop around some of the Dodecanese islands for 10 days

or so, and then fly back to Montpellier. We spent last night at the Ben Gurion 

airport in Tel Aviv and arrived in Kos bedraggled, struggly messes.

It's also raining. Didn't expect that. 

It took us at least an hour to find our hostel. Once arrived, we immediately

collapsed onto our beds and, now, a few hours later,

we're awake and ready to explore Kos.

The air is damp and cool from the rain and it gives Kos Town a

 raw, clean beauty.

Still, I hope the sun shines brighter tomorrow.

 We wander a bit, following our noses until we find a little restaurant

on some random side street. I order lamb, Lisa has moussaka and we

split a plate of dolmades in an egg lemon sauce.

We order tap water but the waiter says we'd better not, 

and gives us bottled water on the house.
The lamb comes with fries, creamy tzakiki and rice.

I am not exaggerating when I say that I have never tasted lamb like this.

It's...sweet. But savory. Tender and nuanced with flavor.

I am positively bowled over.

So is Lisa:

Now THAT is a happy face.

Yeah. I like Greece.

Greek lamb with tomatoes, cheese and tzaziki

Halloumi cheese is hard to find, and a bit expensive, but it

is entirely worth it. It's a cheese from Cyprus that has a uniquely

firm texture, which lends it to grilling, frying, baking, etc. I also love

the flavor- salty,  but not as strong as feta. I suppose

you could use mozzarella, but it just wouldn't be the same!

Ingredients

For the lamb:

4 lamb shoulder blade chops

2 fat cloves of garlic

1/2 lemon

Olive oil

A handful of fresh oregano, chopped

A sprig of rosemary, stripped

A bit of salt and pepper, to taste.

For the cheese and tomatoes:

1 ripe tomato, sliced thickly

1 block of halloumi cheese, sliced thickly

Olive oil

Fresh oregano to garnish

For the tzaziki:

1 cup Greek yogourt

A handful of dill, chopped

One smallish cucumber, chopped 

Fresh mint, optional 

Preparation

First, deal with the lamb. Combine all ingredients in a large container and rub all over the chops with your hands. If there are any little openings, be sure to get some garlic in there! Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.

On a big piece of aluminum foil, arrange your cheese and tomato slices. Drizzle over some nice olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper and fresh oregano. 

 Then, make a parcel with the edges of the foil. It should look a bit like a longish tent.

Fire up your grill! I would add the cheese and tomato parcel first. Cook the lamb chops about 4 minutes on each side, or however you like it. 

While everything is grilling, combine your tzaziki ingredients. It's really about taste, so take a nibble and see if you want more dill, or some salt.

Such an easy meal and it's so pleasing. Be sure to serve with lots of lemon wedges.

I used to eat lamb shoulder steak ALL THE TIME in college because it was so cheap and delicious! This was when I was dreaming of/planning to go to France and I always made them in my little apartment kitchen with walnut oil, rosemary and garlic. 

And for some reason, I always tend to eat this with zucchini.

Καλή όρεξη! 

Cena in Contrada

The evening air is fragrant with early summer. 

Anna and I arrived a few hours ago and almost immediately met up with Nicco, a friend of Lisa's. Our decision to come to Siena was so last minute that we didn't realize the Palio was only days away. We are only passing through, a short day before continuing on to Bologna.

Nicco meets us for a drink and invites us to join him at a dinner festival held for his contrada, dell'Onda.  Ah, one of my favorite things about Italy is the food festivals. Evenings of long tables and endless food and wine that fades into a party for the whole community under one blanket of stars.  This one is especially exciting, brimming with pre-Palio excitment and pride. The sun is just beginning to set as we drink wine in a courtyard, meeting lots of friendly, happy people and watching the moon rise. A full moon is rising. Splendid. Nicco buys us olive ascolane; hearty fried, green olives stuffed with meat, spilling out of a crisp paper cone. 

After our aperitivo hour ends, the gate opens and we are led down to dinner. We walk down a twisting staircase that overlooks the tables. It's spectacular. All above and around us are beautiful buildings, blue and white flags for the contrada. People are filling the area quickly, carefree, giving bacetti and hugs, finding their seats. 

 Once sat, our wine glasses are once again refilled and soon enough we're served. The boys all share their dishes with each other (and us) so everybody can try everything. Dishes get passed around, wine is flowing. People  eat, sing, laugh and dance. 

The boys suggested we get the steak and tortellini with pesto, so we split the both of them. The tortellini and is smaller and  and has a firmer, chewier bite than any I've seen before. And pesto...I can never turn down pesto. Especially in warm weather.

"Where will you go next?", asks one of the boys.

"Bologna!"

"You must eat tortellini in Bologna, where it was created. Even better than here!"

Everyone gives us advice on places to go in Italy and tries to persuade us to stay for the Palio. More food is passed around. Pasta, grilled pork chops. People are dancing, floating from table to table to visit with friends. 

Hours later, we journey back to the piazza with our new friends. We go for a digestivo and drink Sambuca and then espresso to finish everything off. Eventually, we say goodnight, goodbye and thank you. The boys assure that we are always welcome back, and we of course welcome them to visit us wherever either of us end up. Then, we walk back to where we pitched our tent that afternoon. It's gotten chilly and late.

Tomorrow we will explore Siena and, in the evening, take a bus to Bologna to meet Dora. Big day. 

"All night, those boys bought entire rounds of drinks or food for each other, us... just naturally. It's just what they do. They were all so generous," Anna says.

It's true. This night in Siena was fantastic, and what stood out most of all was the generosity. Before we arrived, and we called Lisa from the train, she immediately assured us we would be in good hands with Nicco and his friends. She was right.  They naturally take care of their guests, and each other. I love Italy. I love the people. I feel like every day somebody reaches out to me in a random act of kindness, whether it is a boy who works at the local market to our farm,  seeing us in Perugia, buying us lunch and showing us the city, a young mom calling her brother in Bari to help us organize a hostel...while giving us a lift there, or tonight, these gregarious boys who gave us such a special night.

I climb into the tent, curl up on my squeaky blow-up water raft and drift to sleep...

 Walnut Pesto

Ingredients

A good bunch of basil

A handful of walnuts, toasted

1 large clove of garlic

Walnut oil

A handful of grated parmesan cheese, optional

Salt and pepper, if you'd like 

Preparation

Get out your blender....

First, blitz up your walnuts and garlic. Add all your basil and blend. Then, slowly pour in walnut oil. When it has reached it's desired consistency, you can scoop it out and stir in some cheese, if you'd like. Season to taste.

And then you of course have the choice of serving it over tortellini. 

This may not be a complicated or fancy recipe but I love it and can not imagine summer without it. 

buon appetito!

Camarones de Nuevo México

When I first started this blog, I mentioned how, when I interview people about food, I always ask them which dish, if seen at a party, would make them say "Yay!"

The phrasing of the question may be silly, but it always seemed to translate. Everybody feels glee over certain food items, especially ones that they don't tend to make regularly. For instance, as I said in the previous entry I would have that reaction to a good charcuterie plate. 

A friend of mine from Mexico answered "camarones with garlic, butter and lime."  So delicious, so simple. I decided to give it a New Mexican spin, with green chiles! I unfortunately, but unsurprisingly could not find my beloved Hatch green chiles, so I used Anaheims. Occasionally real Hatch green chiles will pop up in markets outside of New Mexico, but it's rare, and it's not the right season anyhow...

If you've never deveined shrimp or prawns before, don't worry. It's not as fiddly as it seems, although it does take time. Rinse your crustaceans in a colander with cold water, and peel off everthing but the tails. (As you can see in my picture, I accidentally pulled the tail off a few) Using a paring knife, cut lightly down the icky dark line along the arch, and pull it out. It may come out in a couple of pieces. I found, upon doing this for the first time, that it takes a few to get the hang of it, and then it just becomes busy work for your hands.

Camarones de Nuevo México

Ingredients

1/2 lb (225 g) raw shrimp or prawns, peeled and deveined 

1 Hatch green chile, diced. (Anaheim works fine, though won't have the same kick. Another chile of your choice could also work, of course!) 

2 tablespoons butter (salted works nicely here)

3 cloves of garlic

1 lime

A small handful of cilantro, chopped  

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350º F/175ºC. 

 In a small, ovenproof dish, spread out your shrimp.

 In a pan, heat a small amount of either butter or clear oil and add your chiles and garlic. Once soft, add 2 tablespoons of butter. Melt over low heat and remove from heat. If your butter is unsalted, add some salt to it. 

Pour over your shrimp. Make sure it's coated well, then pop in the oven.

It won't require very long in the oven. Maybe ten minutes? It depends on the size of your shrimp. Just cook until they are all pink.

Squeeze over the juice from your lime, sprinkle with cilantro, and serve!

¡Buen Provecho!

Rigatoni all'amatriciana

The exhaustion one feels from constant travel is powerful, elusive, and distinct. These days, it is a memory, a relic from a hectic and beautiful time. I certainly didn't think of it which such fondness on bleary mornings after a 14 hour overnight bus, or when sleeping in an airport. I think some of the most dreadful were early morning departures. For instance, leaving Greece. Lisa and I got enticed by a restaurant that was offering a free carafe of white wine when dining between six and eight. One somehow turned into at least five free carafes...

 A quick dinner transformed into hours of drinking wine and eating mussels and bass plucked right from the glimmering sea just fourty feet away from our table. Music, laughter, and waves. The chef treated us like old friends. It was a great way to end our time the country.
But it was not a good way to start the morning. 
And that's how it always seems to be. You roll into a new city, or country, and you're just destroyed from going out on your last night, or being up all night packing, or having to be on a shuttle bus to the airport at 4 am. Or, all of the above. (Hi, Dublin!) But you take a minute, realize where you are, and get to fall in love with a new city all over again.
By some incredible stroke of luck, we managed to make our 9 am flight. After throwing the towel in and taking a cab, we found our bags were well over the 20 kilo rule. At something absurd like 10 euros per kilo! I ended up throwing away or wearing 10 kilos of extra clothes. (Before Greece, I was in Israel for 6 months, so I accumulated a lot of stuff...) 
Milan was a small stopover for us- just two nights. It was the cheapest way to fly back to Montpellier, and we figured, well, why not? We found a wonderful couchsurfing host named Massimo, and he took such good care of us. We got to his apartment, and he directed us to his balcony, instructed us to sit down and relax, and went off to the grocery store to buy some things for dinner. We watched the city, felt the warm, early June breeze, and for a lovely moment, processed the fact that we were suddenly in Italy. 

On our first night, Massimo brought us to an aperitivo, where, with a glass of wine, we had access to an entire buffet of northern Italian specialties. What a great way to start time in a new place...
We slept forever that night. Bliss. The silver lining to a hard travel day is finally getting to sleep. It doesn't matter if your hostel didn't let you check into your room until three, and it's pushing nine. (Barcelona.) It does't matter that you landed at 6 am, and your couchsurfing host didn't get out of work until twelve hours after, and it poured with rain all day. (Aahrus.) All that matters is, you are now climbing into a bed, and you get to wake up, eat something different from what you were eating yesterday, and explore. 

 When we woke up in Milan, Massimo made us rigatoni with tomatoes and pancetta: all'amatriciana. It was so good, the flavors were so clear and delightful.We had a leisurely Sunday lunch with our new friend, and then had a sunny walk around Milan, and eventually, that night, went and saw Massimo's band play at a festival! I ended up going back to Milan when Anna and I spent a month in Italy, and stayed with Massimo again! I love Couchsurfing. You make such great friends and do such fun things. 
Tonight, I made my own version of amatriciana. It's simple, easy, filling, and delicious. Massimo, if you're reading this, thank you for the inspiration! 

Rigatoni all'amatriciana

Ingredients

1/2 pound of dried rigatoni 

1 28 oz can of tomatoes, chopped and in their juice

Olive oil

1 onion

1 large clove of garlic

1/4 lb of pancetta, cut into cubes

Preparation

Bring water to a boil.

In a large pan, heat some olive oil and add your onions and garlic. Cook until translucent. Add your pancetta and cook for a couple minutes. 

Add your tomatoes, and  perhaps a little bit of water if it seems too thick.  Let it cook for 5-10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper (you won't need very much salt...)

Meanwhile, cook your pasta in generously salted water. When it's ready, mix directly into the sauce. 

I had mine tonight with pecorino. It was lovely.
Buon Appetito!

"And here in Spain I am a Spaniard..."

My first time in Barcelona was an absolute whirlwind. 

 Let me back up. I spent two weeks in the beautiful and remote Extremadura region of Spain last October. (I will eventually write about my wonderful experiences there, but let's stick to the story.) The plan from there was to catch a bus to Madrid and get on an EasyJet flight to Basel, Switzerland, where I would hop a train to an apple farm. 
Looong stupid story short, I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare, but the line was ridiculously long and the man behind the counter was taking his sweet time,  and by the time I got to the front of the line, they said it was too late for me to board. There were no more flights to Basel until more than a day later and I would have to pay for it again.
While crying hysterically, I noticed that there was a flight leaving for Toulouse in a few hours. Seeing as I had to buy a ticket somewhere, this seemed like the best option, so I called Lisa, and told her I was coming back to Montpellier.
Hours later, when she met me at the Gare de Montpellier-Saint-Roch, we were wearing the same outfit. I love good friends.

Usually when I went to Montpellier after being away, I gave Lisa some sort of food related gift, but since I didn't know I would be seeing her, I didn't have anything. (I did buy her some ham flavored chips at the airport) She said it was okay that I didn't get her a Spain souvenir, since...guess what! We were going to hitch to  Barcelona in two days with our friend Alissa. (It's only a five hour drive from Montpellier) Was I okay with that? She assured me that we would do it on the cheap, and soon enough I found myself making hitching signs on the blank insides of old cereal boxes...

When we finally arrived, we were exhausted and of course, ravenous. We dropped our backpacks in our hostel, and decided to go get tapas with some of the other girls in our room. (A lovely pair of sisters from Mexico!) We were presented with plate upon plate of absolutely amazing dishes and pitchers of sangria. Cured ham, manchego cheese, patatas bravas, pan tomate, pimentos de Padron, creamed mushrooms on toast, chorizo...it was heaven. Especially for girls who had eaten their lunch on the side of the road! (I can't complain, actually. We found a pomegranate tree.)

The food was fantastic and so was the atmosphere. It was such a treat for me to go out to dinner, so it felt really special.  Such a great way to start a superb weekend in this dynamic city. We spent our days walking until our feet hurt (which just meant siesta time!) and our evenings enjoying good food, wine, and the vibrant personality of the area. We went to the Picasso Museum- it's free on the first Sunday of every month, which we were delighted to discover...the line wrapped around the block but it was worth it. It also happened to be Halloween weekend when we were there. We spent our Halloween drinking calimoxo (red wine and Coke) by the water and then bar-hopping. We made friends. We sang on the Ramblas in an attempt to pay for our hostel. (Not the most successful busking adventure I've had, but both an old man and a living statue sang along with us, which made it allll worth it.) We watched a live crayfish leap off an overflowing stall of seafood at the Mercat de La Boqueria. A woman attempted to steal Alissa's wallet but took her camera case and we caught her anyway, since she didn't even try to walk away. (Worst pickpocket ever?!?) 

Wow, I am rambling on and on and this doesn't even begin to cover the fun that went on that weekend. But let's talk food.
It may not be fancy, but pan tomate is one of my favorites. It is so simple. It's a typical Catalan dish consisting of ingredients you probably have in your own kitchen; bread, oil, garlic and tomato....what's not to love?
I had other versions of it in other regions of Spain, but this is what I had more than once that weekend in Barcelona. It's fresh tasting and flavorful.  If you're serving tapas, this is something that you can add to your table with pretty much no thought.

Pan Tomate

Ingredients

A slice or two of bread- a nice country loaf is good. Cut thick slices.

A clove of garlic, unpeeled, sliced in half and lightly scored

A ripe tomato, cut in half

Good quality olive oil 

Preparation

Toast the bread. You can do this over a grill or in a toaster. I imagine sizzling it in olive oil would also be fantastic, but I think this is actually the authentic way. (But I am not sure. Don't quote me on that!) 
When the bread comes out of the oven, rub the garlic all over the bread. Don't overdo it, as it's raw and you don't want a harsh taste! 
Take the tomato and rub it generously over the bread. Use as much as you can without making the bread soggy!
Drizzle your olive oil over. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and you are good to go!
How simple? It's so good. You can really use any kind of bread. Baguette works fine. I did it sometimes on the kibbutz with sandwich bread. It's just a tried and true Mediterranean flavor combination that pleases the tastebuds!

Enjoy! And ps...I've got another tapa for you tomorrow...