Cretan Lamb and Greens Casserole with Egg-Lemon Sauce / Arni Fricasse 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil 2 1/2 pounds lamb shoulder, cut into stewing pieces 2 cups coarsely chopped onion 2 1/2 pounds trimmed greens (any combination of spinach, chard, chicory, sorrel, wild fennel, vine shoots, bryony, or thistles) Salt and pepper to taste...
My friend Ilia once spent half a day in a London park turning a whole lamb over a pit of hot coals, anticipating the moment when he’d cut the crisp garlicky meat and find in every morsel the smells and flavors that would carry him back, even if momentarily, to Greece at Easter. Instead,...
Most Greeks the world over enjoy a hot bowl of mageiritsa soup after the midnight liturgy on the Saturday night before Easter. The soup, made with lamb or goat organ meats, is a perfect example of the home economy that characterizes the Greek cuisine. Nothing, in short, is wasted. The soup marks the end...
The most cliché image that comes to mind with Easter in Greece is that of a whole lamb on a spit, roasted to crisp perfection. It is not the only way Greeks enjoy their Pascal lamb, though. The Easter table all over the country mirrors the age-old wisdom of any rural people, that nothing...
Of all the exotic, aromatic spices in the world, none is quite like Chios Mastiha, the resinous, crystal granules that come from splicing open a particular tree, Pistacia lentiscus, at specific times of the year and letting its sap flow like slow-motion tears to the ground, to be collected, sorted, cleaned, and sold the...
