Appetizer:
Cucumber with yogurt and herbs
INGREDIENTS
- 3 - 4 cucumbers
- 10 - 12 fresh spearmint leaves
- 5 - 6 sage-apple leaves (or the equivalent in dry form)
- 225 ml yoghurt
- Juice of half lemon
- 1 bunch parsley
METHOD Rinse and peel the cucumbers. Cut in pieces. Mix with a mixer the rest of the ingredients. Pour the yoghurt sauce over the cucumbers. Serve cold.
Dessert:
Firikia Glyko: Whole Apples in Light Syrup
Firikia Glyko - Apples in Light Syrup
pronounced fee-REE-keeyah ghlee-KOH
Small apples are cooked in a light syrup with cinnamon and cloves to create a delicious and traditional spoon sweet. In Greece, firikia apples are a favorite for this recipe because they are small, sweet, and have a wonderful aroma. To substitute, choose the smallest, sweet apples you can find. Cooking will vary slightly depending on how soft or crisp the apples are.
Cook Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Ingredients:
- 5 1/2 pounds of small sweet apples (preferably firikia), peeled <
- 11 cups of sugar
- 10 1/2 cups of water
- 2 sticks of cinnamon
- whole cloves (2 for each apple)
- 1/2 cup of brandy
- juice of 1 large lemon (about 3-4 tablespoons)
Preparation:
Place one clove in the top and bottom of each peeled apple. Place all ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil, occasionally stirring gently with a wooden spoon. When full boil is reached, lower heat to the lowest setting to maintain a light boil without covering (low or medium low), and cook for 1 hour 15 minutes.
Five minutes before cooking ends, stir together brandy and lemon juice and add.
Allow apples to cool completely (or until lukewarm to the touch) in the pot before removing.
Remove apples carefully with a slotted spoon and serve one per person, with a little syrup.
Yield: approximately 24 small apples/servings
Notes:
- To make smaller quantities, reduce all ingredients proportionately, but use at least one stick of cinnamon.
- To store, place apples in clean jars and divide syrup evenly. Seal when completely cooled.
BEVERIGE:
Cinnamon Iced Tea:
First, make some spearmint leaves in ice-cube trays while making ice-cubes. You can do this with other mints, cilantro, chives, cinnamon stick, lemon or lime zest, or any other herb or flavoring. This will add a strong taste of the herb through the subtle scent that rises from the ice-cubes. The sense of smell is the primary area that triggers, and saves memory, feelings and emotions of that moment in time for that person.
For this you will need some cinnamon sticks that are loose, not a tightly wound up. Break roll of cinnamon in half and then crush it into pieces. Do not pulverized into the familiar ground cinnamon. In a pan or pot, boil the broken up cinnamon in about 2 cups of water. When it reaches a rolling boil, let boil for about 5-8 minutes. When done, the scent of cinnamon will be through out your kitchen and attached rooms, and the water will be a very pretty pink/red color. Let cool slightly, add another 2 cups of water. This tea is sweet naturally, but adding a bit of sugar enhances the cinnamon flavor. Pouring a glass of this, adding a cube of ice with spearmint or a squeeze of lemon makes a very refreshing drink, that has no calories (without the sugar, of course), that's very refreshing and different.
