GREVENA
So, it is not strange that the old traditional recipes include pork fat in the place of olive oil and sour juice from apples or unripe grapes instead of lemons.
Leeks are ubiquitous menu items-leek pies (prasopita), fried leeks (prasotigania), dough with leeks (prasozymi) and more.
Foods that make their way to the dining table in Grevena include prasotigania which is pieces of pork cooked in a pan with leeks and plenty of red pepper.
Other treats are the easy and quickly made pastry or flour pie, fried urda (myzithra cheese) with butter and eggs, mushroom stew, batter with batzos cheese, trahana pie, onion pie, chicken or lamb with petoura noodles and trahana soups (a type of frumenty-like unsweetened pasta).
Also common are all kinds of vegetable pies; sweet saliaria, wedding sweets made with filo pastry and nuts; langitas, a kind of crepes long before crepes were known in Greece; beldes, a pudding made with grape juice mixed with flour, and sweet soutzouki, made from grape must and walnuts.
Some local flavours and dishes have now almost disappeared, but they used to be the norm and integrated into the daily diet of the family. These include boukouvala, grated bread crumbs along with grated feta which are worked in a towel until they become a dough ball, an ideal snack and a children’s treat. Other foods included paparas - meals made with fluffed up stale bread with the broth of either wine, meat fat, trahanas or garlic.
Visitors to the area today can enjoy delicious local meats cooked in various ways, although the pork, lamb or mutton roasts (kontosouvli), which are locally called kebabs, definitely top the list of favourites.
As would be expected, there are all kinds of pies, with or without crust, variations of fried dishes with pork, sausages or chicken, and, obviously, dishes with mushrooms, seasonally fresh but also dried.
In the tavernas of most mountainous villages, chances are pretty good that visitors will encounter well-cooked game meat, especially during the hunting season.
Fried and cooked wild boar, hare in batter - something like the Arcadian hare (or beef / pork) stew with nuts and garlic-, but also feathered game, grilled and cooked, are some of the old and very popular recipes dished up to this day in homes and tavernas.
The restaurants in town serve mushrooms, wild and cultivated, in a variety of dishes. In addition to their baked, fried, pie and soup renditions, there are also creative versions, such as mushroom pickles, spoon sweets, and jam. There is also a mushroom liqueur.
Flavours from Grevena
The cuisine of the mountains
The cuisine of Grevena reflects both the composition of the area’s population as well as its local produce. Residents, nomadic livestock breeders such as the Vlachs and Kopatsaraioi, and refugees after 1922, have all left their culinary footprint, as did the cold climate which does not allow the cultivation of olives or citrus fruits, but, instead, favours legumes and vegetables such as leeks.So, it is not strange that the old traditional recipes include pork fat in the place of olive oil and sour juice from apples or unripe grapes instead of lemons.
Leeks are ubiquitous menu items-leek pies (prasopita), fried leeks (prasotigania), dough with leeks (prasozymi) and more.
Foods that make their way to the dining table in Grevena include prasotigania which is pieces of pork cooked in a pan with leeks and plenty of red pepper.
Other treats are the easy and quickly made pastry or flour pie, fried urda (myzithra cheese) with butter and eggs, mushroom stew, batter with batzos cheese, trahana pie, onion pie, chicken or lamb with petoura noodles and trahana soups (a type of frumenty-like unsweetened pasta).
Also common are all kinds of vegetable pies; sweet saliaria, wedding sweets made with filo pastry and nuts; langitas, a kind of crepes long before crepes were known in Greece; beldes, a pudding made with grape juice mixed with flour, and sweet soutzouki, made from grape must and walnuts.
Some local flavours and dishes have now almost disappeared, but they used to be the norm and integrated into the daily diet of the family. These include boukouvala, grated bread crumbs along with grated feta which are worked in a towel until they become a dough ball, an ideal snack and a children’s treat. Other foods included paparas - meals made with fluffed up stale bread with the broth of either wine, meat fat, trahanas or garlic.
Visitors to the area today can enjoy delicious local meats cooked in various ways, although the pork, lamb or mutton roasts (kontosouvli), which are locally called kebabs, definitely top the list of favourites.
As would be expected, there are all kinds of pies, with or without crust, variations of fried dishes with pork, sausages or chicken, and, obviously, dishes with mushrooms, seasonally fresh but also dried.
In the tavernas of most mountainous villages, chances are pretty good that visitors will encounter well-cooked game meat, especially during the hunting season.
Fried and cooked wild boar, hare in batter - something like the Arcadian hare (or beef / pork) stew with nuts and garlic-, but also feathered game, grilled and cooked, are some of the old and very popular recipes dished up to this day in homes and tavernas.
The restaurants in town serve mushrooms, wild and cultivated, in a variety of dishes. In addition to their baked, fried, pie and soup renditions, there are also creative versions, such as mushroom pickles, spoon sweets, and jam. There is also a mushroom liqueur.
