Thursday, April 01, 2010

Fasting food

During Holy Week, most Greeks (even those who haven't fasted during Lent - ahem) cut out meat from their diets and eat food that is plainer and less rich than usual. When at home this involves various types of soup (fish, lentil, chickpea, beans, you name it) and things like vegetable stews, boiled potatoes and pasta. Not terribly inspiring, but I guess that's the idea. This is what we eat when we go out for a meal at a taverna:


Every good meal starts with a generous bread basket. This one also includes some mini-sandwiches. Not sure what the filling was, but it was suitable for those fasting from dairy, so it definitely wasn't cheese, and it was also very spicy.


Then comes the salad. Vegetables in Greece are for the most part seasonal, and it's too early for tomatoes, so we had lettuce instead.


Meat is substituted by seafood. Grilled octopus is a delicacy worth fasting for!


Fried squid is another popular dish.


This is prawn pilaf, a dish made with rice, tomato sauce, herbs and prawns.


As you would expect, there are also several vegetable dishes. Fried courgettes are served with garlic dip.


So is boiled beetroot. Beetroot is usually served with a yoghurt sauce, but for fasting purposes this is replaced by a generous helping of garlic dip, made with mashed potatoes and crushed garlic. Smelly but nice.


These are patties made with fish roe, the same stuff that's used in taramosalata. Very salty and (according to hubby) very much an aquired taste.

11 comments:

Trotter said...

Hi Tinsie! Fasting with prawn pilaf, I wouldn't mind... ;)

Thanks for your support to Blogtrotter Two, now departing Miami by air; my Easter egg for you... ;). Have a great weekend!!

Puss-in-Boots said...

I could fast with that lot...easily! Fish roe...oh, bliss, I adore that! Yep, I'll go to Greece for Lent and fast next year.

Happy Easter to you and your family.

palmtreefanatic said...

wow! look at all that yummy food:)

stromsjo said...

Now there's an expression to cherish: a delicacy worth fasting for ! ;)

Shionge said...

Hey what a great intro about fasting food in Greece. I'll love to try that someday :D

Tinsie said...

Hey guys, glad you liked my culinary post! Personally I'm not into eggs and lamb and the kind of stuff that is eaten after Lent, I'd be happy for the fasting period to last a bit longer :-)

ShadowFalcon said...

The pic of the seafood is making my mouth water

Karen said...

Ahem. :-)

I'm going to have to broaden my seafood repertoire for the Greece trip. I have never eaten most of what you picture in this post.

Tinsie said...

@ ShadowFalcon: Mine too! We had a lot of seafood in the run up to Easter, but this was by far the best. It really tasted as good as it looks.

@ Karen: You won't be disappointed, it's delish! Plus, it's really easy to get burgers, steaks, pizza, pasta and all manner of veg dishes, so if you find you can't stand the idea of octopus or squid, you won't go hungry.

Anonymous said...

olo: xronia polla tinaki ...alithos anesti!perases kala? ego teleia piga pindo kai periks aytis ....

Tinsie said...

Mia xara! Kaname polla xiliometra alla aksize ton kopo :-)