Smyrna-style meatballs
It is also called ntomatli kiofte. It is a related dish to Smyrna-style soutzoukakia, but at the same time quite different. Because the egg white tightens the mixture when cooked, if you want it…
Savory pies with greens
The most spring-like recipe for pies with seasonal greens and grated white cheeses that marry perfectly, with the crisp yogurt pastry standing out. In Smyrna, they used to make these pies with minced…
Pilaf with Limpets
Limpets, apart from being a small, tasty bite, were the best bait for catching the colorful “yalines”, “skaroyalines” and “dyli” all the way up to perches, parrotfish and white seabream. For the old-…
Muhallebi
This is one of the oldest recorded desserts, with written references dating back to the 10th century. Sometimes it is described as a cream made with rice flour, and at other times as a rich cream,…
Little pies with red pumpkin (tambouras)
Apart from being a stringed musical instrument, “tambouras” is also what we call the yellow or red pumpkin, while we use the same name for pies made with pumpkin. If you like, instead of making…
Kambak tsintme (zucchini honey)
This olive-oil-based zucchini dish is served as a meze at weddings, but also as an everyday main course together with yogurt and garlic, or as an accompaniment to fish and meat.
Handmade macaroni with dry mizithra cheese and butter
The handmade macaroni are also called “macaroni tou spartou” (of the spart), because they are shaped by hand, using the spart, or otherwise the bulrush, a thin reed around which the dough is wrapped…
Sweet acorn tomatoes (spoon sweet cherry tomato–“acorn”)
The “sweet acorns” are cherry tomatoes. The name “acorn” refers to the shape of the fruit, while the word “sweet” describes their taste, as in the case of the cherry tomato. The acorn cherry tomatoes…
Kakavia (Fisherman’s Fish Soup)
Kakavia was the food of the fishermen whenever they stopped, either to rest or to take shelter from sudden bad weather. The etymology of the word comes from “kakavi,” the bronze cauldron, and “…
Myzithra Halva (Halva with Myzithra)
A different kind of halva, with a different kind of “trahanas” made from mizithra cheese and flour. The recipe for mizithra halva was brought by the women of Smyrna. They considered it their “special…
Dried broad beans with tomato
The grandmothers on Ai Stratis used to call the island’s famous broad beans “nevrodetes” (“nerve-binders”), because, whether fresh in spring or dried in winter, they “hold you up.” The special…