It’s all Greek to me

Roughly translated from the colloquial into proper English, it means “I don’t understand any of it” – and I don’t! With television screens and newspapers full of the Greek debt crisis and the euro crisis, and now the Italian debt crisis, I think most of Europe must be suffering from ‘fiscal fatigue’.

No doubt the powers-that-be will sort it out – or won’t, asthe case may be – but I did at one point feel sorry for the Greek Prime Minister. Being confronted with the full force of Mrs Merkel’s disapproval must have beenterrifying!

Greece is situated close to the Balkans, Turkey and the Middle East and it’s really a country of two halves – the rugged interior and the softer Mediterranean coast and islands.

The Greeks are supposed to have one of the healthiest diets in the world, relying mostly on fruit, vegetables, olive oil and seafood. Meat is used sparingly, but for celebrations like Easter, Christmas or New Year it plays an important part, with lamb being the favourite choice.

Having said that, lamb doesn’t appear in either of my savoury recipes today. The first one is a beef and pasta dish called Youvetsi. I probably used more beef than a Greek housewife would do, especially for an everyday family meal, but I like it nice and meaty.

The rice-shaped pasta we know as risoni is called orzo in Greece (and also, incidentally, in America) and, when added to the beef and some chopped vegetables, it makes a substantial winter supper.

Youvetsi is traditionally cooked first on top of the stove, then when the pasta is added, it’s transferred to a ceramic casserole and finished in the oven. But you can of course cook the whole thing on the hob.

Next comes some chicken with olives, feta cheese and vegetables, rolled in filo pastry and baked until crunchy. The best filo I’ve found is a brand imported from England called Theo’s. The frozen pack contains over a dozen large sheets and any leftover will keep in the fridge for a week.

In all my years of cooking, I have never made baklava, the most famous of all Greek sweets, so I thought it was about time I did. As I only needed six sheets of filo for the chicken pasties, I used the remainder to make this nutty, sticky, honey-soaked delicacy.

If you have a sweet tooth, this is certainly for you. Serve it in small portions, because it really is very sweet indeed.

The Greeks have a traditional walnut cake called karythopitta, which is also soaked in syrup, only this time the syrup is flavoured with cinnamon. I have made the authentic version, and it’s very good, but as I’m constitutionally incapable of leaving well alone, I now make it in two layers and instead of soaking them in syrup, sandwich them together with mascarpone. So Greece and Italy are not only joined in debt, they’re joined in my walnut cake as well!