Whenever I write a sailing plan for summer, I make a mental note to talk about local cuisine. The food pieces in my blogs helped me to discover that many Greek and Turkish dishes are identical – they differ only by name. Given that Greek and Turkish people lived side by side for centuries, intermarried and shared recipes, this is not surprising.
Kalitsoundia, the small Cheese Pies, are baked not fried
When working last Christmas on my brochure for the trip Rhodes - Crete - Peloponnese I wondered whether there was anything to write about. Had covered Greek and Turkish dishes extensively in previous blogs. Luckily, my assumption was wrong. The cuisine in Crete is surprisingly different. There are dishes with Minoan roots. Some recipes go back to Roman and Byzantine time. Others show Venetian influence. Last but not least there are Ottoman dishes, often found as street food .
Dakos, the ideal appetizer before eating a full Cretan Meal
Let’s start with Dakos. Its base are barley rusks topped with tomatoes, cheese and olive oil. Some cook books say that this dish was invented by local shepherds using their old bread. But until 100 years ago, hard bread was an everyday issue. Farmers baked only once a month. Dakos though reminds me of Bruschetta, the Etruscan or Roman bread-based dish. Ordinary bread is used today for Bruschetta – we toast or fry it to make it harder. It is then topped with sliced or quartered tomatoes, garlic and olive oil. Or toppings as we please. In the old days, there were many dishes for hard bread. The tradition survived to the 2nd half of the 20th century. As kids, my brother and I ate old bread in warm milk for breakfast (“Milchmocken”) and used grinded hard bread to stretch meat balls when cooking. My favorite dish were “Fotzelschnitten” made from bread slices, eggs, apple compote, cinnamon and sugar. Have not had this dish for a while. Maybe Venetian sailors brought Etruscan Bruschetta to Crete where it became Dakos?
Never thought that Snails could be prepared like Clams
My next dish are Chochlioi Boubouristi (fried snails). This dish could go back to Minoan time – albeit I have not found written evidence, Only know that in antiquity snails were eaten everywhere in the Mediterranean. The Romans loved their snails. It was a rather expensive delicacy though. Reminds me of France where snails are on the menu of luxury restaurants. Served in garlic butter they are yummie. Chochlioi Boubouristi are prepared a bit differently though – almost like clams for spaghetti vongole. The snails are left for two days with no food so they poop themselves clean. Then rolled in flour until white, fried in hot olive oil before being doused with white wine. Sometimes coriander or parsley is added. I guess we need to bring the tiny snail forks from French restaurants with us this summer.
In this recipe, Stamnagathi are an extra but they are good stand-alone veggie
Next is slow booked or braised lamb with stamnagathi, a Greek variety of wild chicory which grows in the mountains Crete. Stamnagathi has high levels of Omega-3, vitamins C and E and is packed with vital minerals and iron. Braised lamb is also a quite old recipe. Livestock were a farmer’s savings and status. Goats and lambs were carefully husbanded. Only older animals were eaten – those who could not reproduce any longer. Their meat was anything but tender. In Swiss Army days, when our daily food budget per soldier was below 2 Francs, we often bought old cows which were cooked for two days – made delicious stews, goulash and minced mea. I guess the Cretans use the same technique to cook their sheep and goats. Add stamnagathi and braised veggies and you get a very healthy and nutritious dish.
Stamnagathi from the high Mountains of Crete
We now get to Kalitsounia – small cheese pies which are often eaten as snacks. The Kalitsounia are made with Cretan sheep or goat cheese to which they owe their delicate flavor. Cheese in Crete deserves its own blog though. There is so much more than just Feta. Kalitsounia were made by shepherds who lived with their livestock up in the mountains. It was their portable food when venturing to higher pastures. Nobody can precisely date the dish – since made from local sheep or goat cheese it possibly was around from the moment these animals arrived on the island by 6’000 BC. Contrary to many other cheese pies, Kalitsounias are not fried but baked on a tray. I guess we found our snack for apéro time.
Kalitsounia, the famous small Cretan Cheese Pies
The last dish I am going to cover today is Gamopilafo, a rice dish similar to risotto. Have not been able find out where this creamy rice dish flavored with lemon, butter and animal broth came from. We know that Alexander the Great brought rice back from his India campaign and that rice was well known to the Romans. But Greece and Crete lack the wide river valleys necessary to cultivate this water based plant. It thus must be a imported. Maybe from Mesopotamia? Or did the Italians bring it when they occupied the eastern part of the island during the Second World War? That larger quantities of rice is eaten by Greek people is a new phenomenon which started only under the Marshal Plan in 1948 when it was included as food aid by the United States. Will have to solve this riddle when on the island. Am sure we will meet chefs who know.
For Reasons I have not figured out yet, Gamopilafo has become
A traditional Dish that is served at Cretan Weddings
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