Bread

The reason I insist on baking bread is that in the UK bread is either not good or expensive for what you get. In addition, I believe that baking bread is one of those ancient skills, it has a certain mystery, it is a ritual and a basic function of human existence. After the sermon, here's the recipe:

Ingredients

Roughly 800gr flour (I used strong white flour)

1 sachet dry yeast (if you have sour dough, hats off to you)

A pinch of salt

1 tsp sugar

Sesame seeds 

Poppy seeds

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in about 400ml of lukewarm water. Allow it to rise and froth for about 15 minutes. Run your flour through a sieve and into a large bowl. Mix in the salt. Slowly add the water/yeast and knead, until you have a nice, workable dough which is not too moist or dry. Add flour or water to bring it to that desired consistency. Cover it and allow it to rise for about 30-45 minutes. I put mine next to the radiator.

I made little bread rolls, as my electric oven (fan) bakes these better than big loaves. Make your bread/rolls by cutting off enough dough. When you're done shaping it, dab one side with a wet towel and then dip it in a flat plate where you'll have mixed your sesame and poppy seeds. Place your bread on a lightly oiled and floured oven tray. Cover and allow to rise for another 15-20 mins. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 200 degrees. 

Bake your bread for about 25-30 minutes (if small rolls) or about 45 for a larger loaf. Again, ovens vary so trial and error will probably determine these for you. 

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Pasquale's Mussels and Spaghetti with Mussels

Not my recipe this time, but rejigged and reblogged from Ιστομαγειρέματα. Thanks to postbabylon for this.

How to clean and prepare live mussels
Take the mussels and pull gently but firmly the little 'beard' they have. When you do this, the mussel closes.
DISCARD the ones that haven't closed after a few minutes. Give them a good wash, cleaning them of barnacles and whatever dirt they may have. Ready to cook.

For Pasquale's Mussels (serves -in our case 2 +2 next day)
1 kilo of mussels
1 large onion or 2 small ones, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 can of tomato + 1 carton of passata (if you have nice and over-ripe tomatoes it's clearly better)
2 whole dried chili peppers (or chilli flakes)
Salt & pepper
The original said sugar, but I didn't put because I used...
...1/3 of a bottle of medium white wine
Fresh parsley if you have it, chopped

In a large saucepan sauté onions, garlic and chili peppers in some olive oil. Add the tomatoes with a drop of water (if you're using passata) and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes, or until it's reduced. Add the mussels, wine and salt & pepper, and allow to cook for about 15 minutes (they say 5 for mussels but I'm not taking any chances). All mussels should have opened by now. DISCARD any that haven't opened-getting food poisoning isn't worth it :-)

Serve with some rice and sprinkle your freshly chopped parsley on top.

Spaghetti with mussels (or mussel sauce)
You will have either a fair quantity of mussels left, or maybe just the sauce.

Re-heat the mussels. In another saucepan boil some spaghetti. Drain the spaghetti and return to the saucepan. Using a soup ladle, take the mussel sauce and mix it with the spaghetti, until you're happy it's enough. Serve the spaghetti with the mussels on top. Italians in general don't go for grated cheese with seafood, but Mrs M. grated some parmesan none the less.

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Pizzas pizzas pizzas

In Cypriot here.
My friend Antonis was here for a few days and one night we made a few pizzas with Federica's dough recipe.
600 gr. of village flour made 3 large ones.

Pizza the First

We topped the first pizza with:
Courgettes, cut in strips and grilled in advance
Anchovies
Artichokes (from a jar)
Olives
Mozzarella

Pizza the Second
For the second one we roasted in advance half a butternut squash with some butter, garlic and sage leaves in the cavity. When it cooked we melted it onto the pizza base (instead of tomato) and topped it with:

Sage leaves
Red onions
Brie (in place of goat's cheese)
Balsamic vinegar

Pizza the third
We made the third one in two halves with whatever was left. Half we topped with anchovies and the other half with ham. Then we added:
Fresh tomatoes
Artichokes
Red onions
Parmesan rind
Mozzarella

I made the snail for my little girl with the rest of the dough. She had fun, I baked it and she ate it (until we go back to Cyprus for some real snails).
The pizzas were lovely. I'd invite you round but we polished them...

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Butternut squash soup

Κυπριακά δαμαί

We had a bit of a dodgy lunch yesterday, so for the evening meal we wanted something simple and soothing. We had a butternut squash in the fridge so I looked up some soup recipes. This is what I ended up with:

Ingredients
1 medium size butternut squash, diced
1 large potato, diced
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, very finely chopped
Dill (either fresh or dried-I used dried)
Vegetable stock or good old water
Olive oil
Salt
In a large saucepan firstly sauté the garlic and onions in olive oil. Toss in the squash, potato and dill and turn for about 1 minute until they are coated with oil. Add your vegetable stock (or water) and salt and allow to boil for about 20 minutes, or until squash and potato are soft. Use a hand blender to blitz the ingredients, getting a nicely thick soup. Serve. If you have fresh coriander, chop some and sprinkle it over your plate. We had this with rye sour dough bread, worked a treat.

Hamsili Pilav (Rice with Black Sea anchovies)

A lovely Black Sea dish, lovingly prepared by Mrs Blackbeard. Κυπριακά δαμαί.

Ingredients
500 gr hamsi/fresh anchovies
We find these in a Kurdish shop round the corner. I guess you could use sprats or small sardines even...
2 cups of rice (I used paella rice-anything will do)
Mint
1 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Fish stock if you have
Olive oil

Execution
In a saucepan, lightly fry the garlic and onion in olive oil. Add the rice and give it a stir. Add plenty of mint. You can use dill instead, and even pine nuts-we just didn't want little Blackbeard choking on them. Add 2 cups of water/fish stock for every cup of rice, add salt and allow to cook slowly until all the water is absorbed.

If the hamsi are not cleaned, clean them and open them up, removing the central bone. Lightly oil an oven dish and make a layer of hamsi with the skin side down. Also cover the sides of the dish, creating basically a lining of hamsi. Fill it with the cooked rice and seal the thing with another layer of hamsi at the top. Drizzle the top with olive oil. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 200 degrees. Eat.

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Pasta with courgettes and fetta cheese

From Pasta with courgettes and fetta

Στα κυπριακά δαμαί

Ingredients (for 4 hungry ones)
500 gr of pasta of your choice
3-4 small courgettes
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
200gr of fetta cheese
lots and lots of dried mint
salt

Execution
Chop the garlic very finely and dice the onion. Cut the courgettes and have your mint and cheese on stand by. Lightly fry the garlic and onion in some olive oil on a low fire for a few minutes. Add the courgettes and stir them lightly until they are nicely coated with the oil. You don't need much olive oil at all, just enough to be able to saute the onions in. I sometimes peel the courgettes, as their skin might be bitter if they're not very fresh. Crush the mint in the courgettes. Add some water to the frying pan, just enough to half-cover the courgettes, and then cover the pan with a lid, allowing it to lightly simmer for about 20 minutes. This way your courgettes become steamed rather than fried, which makes the dish nice and light. Stir it a couple of times and when the courgettes are nice and soft, add the fetta, all crumbled, and stir for 1-2 minutes. Turn off and set aside. You'll notice I didn't add salt to the sauce-the fetta more than compensates for it.

For the pasta, just bring some salted water to the boil, add your pasta and cook for the designated time. Drain it and then add the sauce, giving it a good stir. You'll notice I didn't add salt to the sauce-the fetta more than compensates for it.




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Roast chicken

This is a nice and simple recipe.

Ingredients:
1 chicken, cut into pieces
1 kilo of potatoes
3-4 ripe tomatoes
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
Rosemary
1 glass of white wine
ground cinnamon
salt
pepper

Place the chicken, potatoes, onions, tomatoes and garlic in a baking tray. Add the rosemary and wine. Top up with some water until it's all half-covered. Add salt, pepper and a light sprinkle of cinnamon, not too much as it can be a bit overpowering.

Cover with foil and cook in the oven for roughly 1 hour, perhaps a bit longer. Remove the foil and cook for another 25 minutes to allow it all to brown a bit. Serve with a lovely salad and bread. Open yourself a very cold KEO to go with it.


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Meatballs with mash

From Meatballs with mash

Ingredients (for 4)

For the meatballs:
500g minced meat (beef, lamb, pork or a mixture of whatever you fancy-I used lamb for this one)
1 onion, very finely chopped
bread crumbs, about 1/2 glass (cous cous will do if you don't have bread crumbs)
a generous handful of dried mint
1 egg
cinnamon
nutmeg
salt
pepper
1 can of tomatoes
2-3 bay leaves

For the mash:
1 kg of potatoes
1 block of fetta cheese
Milk
oregano
olive oil
Optional: chilli flakes, fresh peppers or roasted peppers

Mix well the meatball ingredients in a bowl until it's all evenly distributed. If you have time to allow the meat to absorb the flavours, even better, do it from the night before, cover with cling film and keep in the fridge. It's fine if you don't, you can make the meatballs right after mixing the ingredients.

Shape your meatballs and place them in a baking dish. Add the tomatoes from the can. I usually mix them in the blender because I like a smooth tomato juice rather than chunks. Add some water, the bay leaves and bake in 200 degrees for about 30 minutes, turning once for the bottom side to brown too.

For the mash: boil the potatoes, drain them and mash them. Add milk until you have a nice, fluffy mash. Add lots of dried oregano, the crumpled fetta cheese, some olive oil and whatever else you fancy. Don't add much salt, as the cheese can be quite salty.

Serve, enjoy.

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Spaghetti with Asparagus, Peas and Mushrooms

Simple recipe this one, but so tasty...

Ingredients (serves 4)

1-2 bunches of asparagus (the thinner the better)

a few mushrooms (chopped)

some peas

2-3 spring onions, chopped

chilli flakes

olive oil

butter

white wine

salt

500gr spaghetti

Wash the asparagus and cut off the harder part of the stem if it feels too hard to cook. Alternatively you can slice the harder part right through the middle. Cut the asparagus in pieces of roughly 2cm each (that's less than an inch you imperials).

In a frying pan, heat some olive oil and toss in the asparagus. Add butter, peas, spring onions and chilli flakes. Cook for 4-5 minutes, drizzle some white wine, add the mushrooms and salt. Turn the heat down and cover, allowing it to cook gently for another 5 minutes or so. In the meantime...

In a saucepan add water, salt and bring to the boil. Add your spaghetti and cook for as long as you like-preferably the time advised on the pack.

Drain the pasta, return it to the saucepan and tip your asparagus sauce in. Mix gently and serve with some nice parmesan cheese. I use mature anari, a Cypriot cheese. Drink the rest of the wine with it :-)

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The dining table of life

As someone who lives abroad, I always dread phone calls from Cyprus announcing losses of loved ones. It's the fate of the voluntarily (or involuntarily) displaced. They always tell you that [insert name of loved one here] is in hospital and it doesn't look too good. Half the times your loved one is already dead and they're just trying to soften the blow. It doesn't work of course, it just makes it easier on the unlucky messenger to deliver the dire news.

Just over two years ago, I lost my grandmother. She'd fallen and broken her hip bone, they operated on her and apparently it went well. 'Yiayia' was always afraid of anything remotely related to death however (she'd stopped going to funerals decades earlier), so when she was in the clinic she decided that it was probably her time to be on her way. They said that she kept saying thing like "I'll be seeing my Kostis soon" (her dead husband). I suspect that her death was partly due to her frail condition (she was 96) and partly a conscious decision-she'd simply had enough.

In her final years her eyesight had started to fail her, and she gradually lost her hearing. I loved her very much though, and she always recognised me and asked me whether I'd found a wife yet (Firfiri you are not alone). She only knew how to read a little bit, hadn't gone to school, worked the fields and raised children all her life. She always sat on an old-style chair outside her door, looking at the gate. Every time I passed from there, on a bicycle (childhood), moped (teens) and more recently in a car, I'd turn my head and see the figure clad in black sitting there, enjoying the breeze. It was reassuring somehow, as if my own roots were still secure, firmly in the ground.

When my brother rang and told me the bad news, I kept my composure up until I hung up. I then cried bitterly, like I'd never cried before. By the time I heard the news they'd already gone ahead with the funeral and it was all over. I never told them this, but I was upset that they didn't at least allow me a day to get there for the funeral. I don't know, somehow I wanted to be there and go through the grieving process with the family, and especially my dad who lost his mum.

When I go to Cyprus, we always gather for family feasts. I think it was last year, or perhaps the one before, when I noticed that my brother's children are now sitting where my brothers and I used to sit when we were children, at the edge of the table. Where my parents/uncles and aunts used to sit is where our generations sits now. My parents sit where my grandmother used to sit, as if the conveyor belt of life is slowly but surely moving us from one end of the dining table to the other. The dining table itself is life. I must say that the hairs on the back of my neck stand upright every time I think of the concept. Life is a dining table, and as we grow older, we shuffle down to make space for the next generation. Figure that one out.

Every time I pass outside yiayia's house, I always look, as if I am still expecting her figure to be sitting there.

[Apologies it's a bit of a sad one-I promise you a nice recipe to make up for it]

Image by John Thomson

Cod and spinach bake

For this recipe you can use any kind of white fish, such as cod, haddock or coley.

Ingredients

Fillets of white fish

Lemon juice

roughly 250gr of spinach

Dill (fresh if possible-dried will do)

Mozzarella cheese

Olive oil

Salt

In a frying pan, cook the fish gently with the lemon juice and a drizzling of olive oil. About 15 minutes is more than enough, but make sure you have a soft, flaky fillet of fish. In the meantime throw the spinach in a frying pan with another drizzling of olive oil, salt and the dill. Let it sweat on low fire for about 3-4 minutes.

Lay out the fish on a baking dish and also add the juices from its frying pan. Spread on top the spinach and cover with some thick slices of mozzarella. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until the cheese melts and turns golden. Serve with cous cous or rice.

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Pizza!

The recipe for the base came from my friend Federica (of squash risotto fame).

For the base (serves 2):

250 gr plain flour

130 ml lukewarm water

oregano

1 sachet of yeast

1-2 tsp sugar

2 tbsp olive oil

salt

For the topping:

mozzarella cheese

passata tomato sauce

anchovies

olives, pitted and halved

OR

mushrooms (I precook these in some butter)

artichokes

OR

whatever you fancy on your pizza

(You can make double or triple the dough simply by multiplying the ingredients, except the yeast. One sachet should be enough for up to 1kg of flour I think...)

Add the yeast and sugar to the water, stir well and allow to rise for about 15 minutes. Run the flour through a sieve to avoid having any clumps. Add the frothed-up water/yeast to the flour, add the salt and olive oil and knead knead knead. Add more flour if you need to make it more workable. I also like adding oregano to my dough, it gives it a nice flavour.

Knead well and allow the dough to rise in a dark and warm place (I usually put it in the oven-oven off of course) for about 30 minutes. In the meantime prepare your toppings and have some more flour handy. Prepare a hard surface such as a table or a large chopping board for making your base. Spread some flour on the table and cut a sizeable chunk of dough. Shape it with your hands to a small, round shape. Using a rolling pin spread the dough out until you're happy with the size and thickness. I like mine not too thick, about 5mm maximum, thick enough to be a bit bready, thin enough to cook well.

Spread some of your passata* on the base. Add your toppings but don't overdo it. Less is more. If you put too much on top the dough won't cook well, especially in the middle. Put some slices of mozzarella around the top. Put your pizza in a preheated oven for 20 minutes and bingo. Not only very easy but considerably more tasty than any crap you'll get elsewhere. Try playing with different toppings.

*If you have no passata you can dilute some tomato paste with water, but don't make it too watery, just smooth enough to spread. Federica would kill me :-)

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Rigatoni with roasted peppers and fetta

I found these lovely peppers at the vegetable stall the other day and thought of a nice recipe (after talking about it with Billy).

Ingredients (serves 4)

500 gr rigatoni pasta (or whichever type you like)

3-4 long, red peppers

1 pack of fetta cheese

1/2 onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

chopped fresh parsley

some mushrooms, chopped

Chilli flakes

Olive oil

Grill the peppers in your grill for about 25 minutes, turning them once halfway through, so that both sides are almost charred (but not). In a frying pan lightly fry the garlic in olive oil and add the chopped onion and chilli flakes. When the onion is nice and translucent, add the mushrooms and stir them gently until they're cooked. Turn it off and set it aside.

Boil the pasta in salted water for as long as your pack suggests (or until you're happy with it). While that is boiling, take out the peppers from the grill, take them gently and put them on a flat surface (a plate is good). Gently pull out the stem and grab the skin and peel them slowly. You'll find that the skin comes off very easily. Cut up the peeled peppers and keep them in the plate with their juices.

Drain the pasta and return it to the saucepan or a large bowl. Add the mushroom/onion mix with all its juices. Add the peppers with their juices, the chopped parsley and, finally, crumble the fetta in as well and give it a good stir so that the fetta pretty much melts in the pasta. As the fetta may be salty, taste it before adding any more salt. Lovely.

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Chickpea & butternut squash soup

Chickpea & butternut squash soup

Ingredients

1 butternut squash, diced

250 gr dried chickpeas (soaked in water overnight)

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 can of chopped tomatoes (or some nice fresh, ripe ones if you have them)

Coriander seeds, finely crushed

Cumin seeds, finely crushed

Olive oil

Chilli flakes

Salt & pepper

Fresh parsley, chopped

In a pressure cooker, add the chickpeas and cook for about 30 minutes. After 30 minutes check them, if they're not cooked to your satisfaction, cook for about 10 minutes longer. In the meantime...

Boil the diced squash and let it rest to one side. In a frying pan shallow fry the garlic, onion and the crushed coriander and cumin seeds. Add the chilli flakes.

Open the pressure cooker, bring to the boil again without the lid and add the (drained) squash, along with the tomatoes and the onion/seeds mix. Let it cook together for about 15 minutes. Serve with a handful of fresh parsley.

P.S. In the original recipe it said to put everything in the blender. I like my soups with some texture so I ignored that.

Fish Chowder

This my take on what is a lovely, wholesome dish. I tried a lovely version in Saratoga Springs in 2007, but wanted to make a version without the bacon rind. I hate mixing seafood and meat.

Ingredients (serves 4)

For the stock

Heads of 4 sea bass

2 carrots, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

2 cloves of garlic

(if you have more fish off-cuts and heads, use them)

For the soup

400gr of white fish, I used coley, cut in large chunks

1 onion, cut in strips

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

parsley, chopped (separate the harder stalks from the leaves)

some sweetcorn

prawns (shelled)

mushrooms (quartered if small)

[shelled mussells if you have them-I didn't]

3-4 medium-sized potatoes, cut in cubes

In a saucepan, boil the ingredients for the stock for about 30 minutes. In the meantime, heat some olive oil and butter in a different saucepan, shallow fry the garlic and onions for a few minutes. Add the potatoes and parsley stalks and stir for a few more minutes.

Remove the fish heads from the stock and pure it in with the potatoes, adding hot water if necessary. Add salt and pepper. Boil for about 15 minutes or so. When the potatoes are cooked, take some out, mash them and leave them aside. Add the mushrooms, prawns and sweet corn and cook for another 10 minutes. Add the chunks of coley and simmer very gently for about 10 minutes (or until you're happy with it). Return the mashed potato in the mix, stir gently, turn off and allow to stand for about 10 minutes. Serve with a sprinkle of the fresh parsley and crusty bread.

(note: I chose not to use milk or cream as I find it culturally challenging to mix dairy and fish. Soups don't always have to be cloudy.)

Stuffed Marrows

I found these lovely marrows...here's the outcome:

Ingredients (serves 4)

1/2 kg of minced meat (beef or lamb)

1 large marrow

1 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

lots of mint

Olive oil

Tomato aste

Salt & pepper

Ground cinnamon

Ground nutmeg

Shallow-fry the onion and garlic in a pan. Add the minced meat and the mint and cook slowly. Add some tomato paste, cinnamon and nutmeg. Salt and pepper. In the meantime, cut the marrow in pieces roughly 4-5 cm thick (see pic). Hollow the pieces out by removing the seeds with a spoon. For the tips it's OK if there's no hole, make them like cups.

When the meat is ready, put the pieces of marrow flat in a pan and fill them with the minced meat. Fill them as much as possible. Add hot water in the pan, carefully and from the side so as not to make a mess with the filling. Add enough water to roughly half cover the marrow pieces. Allow to boil lightly, with the lid closed, for about 30 minutes. Check if the marrows cooked with a fork-if they're soft, they're ready. Serve them by carefully picking them up with a spatula underneath so the filling doesn't fall out.

Serve with cous cous or salad (or even both).

Lentils with aubergines

I pretty much made this up as I had some aubergines I had to use.

Ingredients (serves 4-5)

Lentils (I always measure by soup bowl, in this case 1)

2 aubergines cut in chunks (see pics)

2 celery stalks, finely chopped

1 onion, cut in strips

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

4-5 bay leaves

2 cans of chopped tomato, or a kilo of very ripe tomatoes, chopped (keep the juices)

Olive oil

Salt & pepper

In a large saucepan, boil the lentils for about 30-40 minutes, until you're happy with them. In the meantime, shallow fry the garlic, onions and bay leaves, add the aubergines and celery and stir so they're nicely coated with oil. Keep cooking like that for about 10 minutes. Add the tomato plus some water, salt & pepper and let it simmer gently for 30 minutes or so.

When the lentils are cooked, drain them and throw them in with the aubergines (if the aubergines are ready). Turn off and allow to rest for a while (the longer the better), so that the lentils can absorb the juices of the aubergines... I didn't have fresh parsley but if you do add some nicely fresh, chopped parsley just before serving.

Serve with a generous portion of set yoghurt, yummy!

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How to make the most of a chicken

(apologies to my vegetarian fans :-) )
I bought a chicken from the butcher the other day. I chopped the chicken into the following pieces:
2 legs/thighs
2 breasts
2 wings
2 back pieces

Using these I made a number of dishes. Firstly, I shallow fried (with minimal olive oil) the 2 legs/thighs and breasts, adding garlic, onions, celery, carrots, chilli flakes, cinnamon powder, nutmeg, salt and pepper. I threw in a bit of white wine, some mangetout/sugarsnap peas and then added a pack of passata tomato sauce (a can of tomato will do) with some water and let it simmer covered for about 40 minutes.

Secondly, for baby Blackbeard, I put the wings and back pieces into a saucepan and boiled them with broccoli and carrots for about 30 minutes. This of course created a nice chicken broth.

I took two cups of the broth and mixed them with two cups of cous cous to accompany the chicken. Taking some more broth I boiled some star-shaped pasta for baby. I boned some of the chicken I boiled, mashed broccoli and carrot and mixed it with the pasta. She loved it.

So, from one chicken we have all these dishes. The tomato sauce that stayed from the chicken and peas made a lovely pasta sauce. We mashed and froze the boiled chicken and veg in baby portions. We kept the remaining broth in ice cube sachets to cook with in the future. Not bad eh?

Ingredients
1 whole chicken
2 packs of sugarsnap peas
2 stalks of celery
3 carrots (2 for the chicken and peas, 1 for the baby food)
1 broccoli
2 cloves of garlic
1 onion
ground cinnamon
ground nutmeg
black pepper
salt
2 cups of cous cous
a handful of star shaped pasta

Octopus stew

This is a dish suitable for the Greek lent, since seafood is allowed. Serves 3-4

Ingredients
2 octopuses
5-6 onions, thickly cut
2-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
4-5 bay leaves
black peppercorns
2 cans of tomato (or plenty of ripe tomatoes)
Olive oil
1/3 glass white wine
1/2 glass red wine vinegar (approx.)
Salt

To soften the octopus, cut into pieces and boil in a pan for 30 minutes and drain (keep the broth, we need it later). In the meantime...

Lightly fry the garlic and onions in a large, deep pan (which has a lid). Add the boiled octopus and the bay leaves and stir for 3-4 minutes. Add the wine and let it cook for 3-4 minutes more on low heat.

Add the tomatoes, peppercorns, vinegar and some salt, and some of that broth you had from boiling the octopus. Put the lid on and let it simmer for 90 minutes, or until the octopus is really tender. Check every now and then so that the liquid doesn't run out, add some more water if it does. If you don't like vinegar much, use less.

Serve it with rice. You can use the octopus broth to make the rice, it makes it yummy.

Cypriot Eliotí (Ελιωτή)-Olive Bread

Ingredients
approx. 400gr flour (wholemeal or white)
1 sachet of yeast
400ml lukewarm water
Olive oil
approx. 1 cup pitted olives
chopped fresh coriander (or parsley if you prefer)
dried mint
1 large onion, chopped

Add the yeast to the water and allow to stand for about 20 minutes, until it forms a foam at the top. In the meantime, prepare your flour in a large mixing bowl, or a skáffi if you are lucky enough to own one. When the yeast is ready, add to the flour with some salt and mix well. Add about 1/2 a cup of olive oil. Knead until you have a nice dough which isn't too moist. If it's too moist add some more flour. When the dough is ready, let it rise in a dark place (I use the oven-off of course) for about 30-40 minutes.

When the dough has risen, take your bowl, lift the dough and throw underneath the onions, parsley, mint, some more olive oil and of course the olives. Let the dough drop on top, press it so it picks up some of the ingredients, and then turn, turn, turn until all your ingredients are nicely spread in your dough.

Place your dough in a lightly oiled metal oven tray as in the picture. Again allow to rise for as long as you can, but no less than 40 minutes. I once left it for over 90 minutes and the result was excellent, as the dough rose very well. When you are ready, bake the bread in a preheated oven at about 200 degrees for roughly 40 minutes. If you want to check whether it's cooked well inside, slide a knife into it and check the blade when it comes out. If it's very moist it needs to bake longer.

When you're happy with it, take it out and allow it to cool for about 15 minutes before devouring. Lovely. Store well and eat again and again for breakfast, preferably accompanied by Cypriot coffee (or Turkish/Greek coffee as some people call it) and some halloumi perhaps...

Variations
In Cyprus you can find this bread with the olives in it whole, stone included. This makes the bread slightly bitter, but it balances well with the sweetness of the onion. You can also make it with white flour or a mixture of the two as you like. If you use olives kept in salt, they usually melt slightly in the kneading, making the bread even tastier. But be careful not to add extra salt, as this will make it lyssa as we say in Cypriot, very very salty. Enjoy!