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! 

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!

Athina's Chicken

Before this past May, I didn't know very much about modern Greece. Obviously I'd learned about it's incredible history, I'd read the myths, I'd enjoyed meals at the occasional Greek restaurant. That was pretty much it.   And yet, I was drawn to it. I wanted to go. My mental image of the country, patched together with snippets from travel articles in my old issues of Gourmet and the lyrics to Joni Mitchell's Carey, conjured up a romantic notion in my mind. Turquoise water, warm nights, bright stars... Greece sounded enchanting.

And how. Lisa and I decided to go together in May. We spent most of our time in Rhodes, one of the Dodocenase Islands. It was a splendid place! It's laden with all sorts of exciting and insanely fresh food.
Seafood plucked directly from the sea, lemons as big as my hand, and fragrant green olive oil as far as the eye could see. Restaurants were constantly surprising us with free treats as well; semolina honey cake, ditalini pasta with lentils and tomato, hot fluffy pita bread, even carafes of white wine.

We were in the
country for ten days and as magnificent as it was, it wasn't nearly enough time. I think to really see the country, one would need to travel for ten years. Let's take the islands, since I unfortunately didn't go anywhere in the mainland. According to Wikipedia, there are 6,000 Greek Islands, out of which  227 are inhabited. Madness! 

Rhodes was a great place, but what really made our visit special was our amazing Couchsurfing host, Athina. A native Greek who moved to Rhodes in her early thirties, Athina was one of the best people I met while traveling. She's funny, smart, and incredibly generous. She was not only a perfect host, but she even suggested for us to go to Nissyros, a tiny nearby island, and set us up with friends of hers when we arrived! (More on Nissyros in another, future post.) We stayed in her beautiful home, tucked into the labryinth-like streets of the "old town".

Athina was working a lot when we came, but she still found time to teach Lisa and I how to play the hand drum, bring us out for delicious meals, introduce us to her friends, and most important, sit around her living room with us, laughing over stories, and glasses of red wine or café frappé. 
I did a food interview with Athina and it was great. We talked for over an hour and I learned a lot about Greek cuisine and cooking.  It's a very simple and healthy cuisine, with clear flavors of fresh ingredients. As she put it, "You can taste the flavor of a tomato when you eat a tomato." I loved that.  She also gave me lots of recipes. I intend to try all of them, and will write about them, but let's start with this one. It has all the hallmarks of traditional Greek cuisine; It's simple, easy, and tastes fantastic. This is also excellent the next day, maybe even better. The tomato and chicken flavor each other so nicely, and the cinnamon adds a lovely depth.

Athina's Chicken with Tomatoes 

Okay, I know it's not the prettiest dish. Try it anyway.

Athina didn't specify measurements, so if you feel like fiddling around with it, be my guest, I also added the oregano for fun. Don't be tempted to cut the onions instead of grating them! Not only is it easier on your eyes to grate them, but it changes the structure of the dish. The onions practically melt into the background, giving you a creamy sauce! Also, I used canned tomatoes, but if you live somewhere warm where you can get fresh tomatoes that taste of something, by all means, go ahead. I haven't tried it with fresh, but if you do, let me know how it turns out!

Ingredients

1 chicken, cut into parts

Olive oil

2 onions

1 big glass of white wine (you can use vinegar instead, but use much less) 

1 tsp cinnamon 

1 tsp Greek oregano 

28 oz can chopped tomatoes 

Preparation  

In a large braising pan, heat enough olive oil to fully coat the bottom. Grate the onions directly into the pan and add the chicken. Season with salt, pepper, cinnamon and oregano. Cook the chicken, turning once or twice, until it is white, but not cooked through. 

Add the wine and cook for four or five minutes. Add the tomatoes and around a cup of water- not too much! Bring to a boil and lightly season once again.

Let everything cook for while. Stir sometimes by lightly shaking the pan. The sauce will become creamy and delicious and the chicken will be crazily tender. It could very well be the best chicken recipe I have.

This dish is wonderful with orzo and a simple salad.

Enjoy, friends. And as always, let me know if you make it!