Love Greek food? Then this one is for you!
A few months ago I attended Oliveology Greek cooking workshop and lovely Despina from Pan London showed us how to make some amazing dishes like Feta phyllo pastry pie, tahinosalata, petimezi salad dressing… I remember coming home so inspired by all these amazing ingredients and just wanted to cook for dayssss :D So here I am, finally made two of my favourite things from the workshop – Fava Dip and Wine Crackers and can’t wait to hear what you guys think about Despina’s recipes!
GREEK FAVA DIP
Delicious dip made with yellow split peas, traditionally served with octopus or sardines.
Ingredients
150g split yellow peas
200-300ml water
1 carrot
1 small onion
1 garlic clove
1 bay leaf
1-2tbsp lemon juice
olive oil
salt and pepper
Method
In a sauce pan add some olive oil, roughly chopped onion, garlic and fry them over medium heat, add chopped carrot and a bay leaf, saute for additional 5min. Don’t rinse the fava, simply add it to the pan and cover with plenty of water. Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 40-50min (plenty of time to make crackers! :D) until they are very soft. Once the fava and carrots are cooked, remove bay leaf and some of the cooking water, leaving some because fava thickens as it cools down. Use an immersion blender to puree the mixture, don’t forget to season it with salt and pepper, add lemon juice and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Let it cool down and then serve with a drizzle of olive oil, wild dried oregano and sesame seeds.
WHITE WINE & OLIVE OIL crackers
Super easy cracker recipe using only a few ingredients, done in less than 30min!
Ingredients
150g flour
60ml white wine
70ml olive oil
1tsp petmezi – grape molasses (feel free to use honey or even maple syrup like I did)
salt
–
pistachios, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, oregano, raisins…
Method
Preheat the oven to 190oC. Mix the olive oil, petimezi, pinch of salt and wine with a little whisk or fork. Then slowly add it to the flour and start working on your dough with two hands, knead until you have a smooth dough. Feel free to add more flour if needed, consistency should be similar to shortbread dough. Now you can add more dry ingredients of your choice like pistachios and raisins, sesame seeds, oregano…but preserve some so you can add them as toppings to your crackers before baking, they will look much nicer!
Place the dough between 2 parchment paper sheets and roll it out thin, top with more pistachios, oregano, sesame seeds, salt flakes…and cut the dough into squares with a knife ( I completely forgot about this step when making them this morning haha) Bake them for 15-20min, when they are done leave them to cool down before serving. They can last up to 1 month, you just need to store them in a plastic/glass container. So much better then the store bought ones! Trust me. Serve with Fava dip and plenty of wine! :D
steak & merlot 