Traditional Greek Cristmas menu

GREEK CUISINE STARTER BAMBO MAIN COURSE PORK MEAT WITH POTATOES BAKED IN THE OVEN

DESSERT SOUSAMOPITA (SESAME PIE) DRINKS OUZO TSIPOURO RED WINE RETSINA

BAMBO (Traditional starter from Soufli,a village in North Evros)

INGREDIENTS • • • • • • • • • • •

Intestines 1 kg beef meat 1kg pork meat Beef liver (300 gr) 2 leeks chopped A little salt rice (2 handfulls) black pepper, oregano, cumin, bahari, salt (as much as you like),

a little red pepper 1 small glass of water in the mixture(to make stuffing easier) 1 funnel

INSTRUCTIONS 1. Cut the meat in small pieces, capable to fit the funnel that we are going to use for the stuffing.

2. Cut the leeks in very small pieces.

3. Mix the meat with the rice ,the leeks, the spices and the water. Use a small teaspoon to stuff the intestine (do not forget to tie one end or else...).

4. When we finish the stuffing we remove the funnel and we tie the other end very tightly too.

5. Bake, or better, boil the bamboo in a pot piercing it from time to time with a small niddle. Keep the fire low, it usually takes hours to boil it slowly.

6. Bambo is eaten right after Christmas Mass and as a starter at Christmas meals in Evros.

PORK MEAT WITH POTATOES BAKED IN THE OVEN (Traditional main course in Evros & Greece) INGREDIENTS (For 6 people) • 1,5 kilo pork meat (leg) • 1 onion (with its skin) • 1 clove of garlic • some twigs of thyme • some twigs of fresh oregano • parsley • a can of beer • olive oil, salt, pepper • potatoes (peeled and cut in large pieces) • rosemary • orange juice from one orange 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

INSTRUCTIONS Wash the meat, rub it with the salt, pepper and olive oil. Also pierce it here and there and put small pieces of garlic in it.

Take an oven tray, put at the bottom the fresh thyme, oregano and parsley. Place the meat on them and put the onion in too.

Put the meat in well heated oven. Pour a can of beer above it and bake it until it’s ready. It depends on the size of the meat piece.

Cut the potatoes in big slices, sprinkle them with the rosemary, salt ,pepper and the orange juice and put them in a separate oven tray or in the same tray with the meat.

The dish can be served with a sauce: a drained yoghurt, one chopped fresh onion, olive oil, salt, pepper, a little mustard. Mix the ingredients very well and serve.

SOUSAMOPITA ( SESAME PIE) Traditional dessert in Evros) Evros INGREDIENTS • • • • • • •

250 gr

crusty leaves of dough 250 gr sesame 110 gr margarine 3 spoonfulls grinded toasted bread 1/2 spoonful cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon grinded clove sesame

For the syrup • ●220 gr sugar • ●180 gr honey • ●2 spoonfuls amaretto or brandy INSTRUCTIONS 1. Melt the margarine in a pot.

2. Brown slightly the 250 gr of sesame, pestle it and mix it with the spices and the grinded toasted bread.

3. For the pie: Cut the leaves of dough at the size of an oven tray. Coat the tray with some margarine, lay two leaves in, coat them with margarine too.

4. Put a little from the sesame mixture on the leaves, lay another leaf, coat it with margarine and sprinkle it with a little of the mixture. Continue until the mixture is finished, spread on top three more leaves and plenty of sesame.

5. Bake it at 200 degrees for about 45 minutes.

6. Prepare the syrup in a separate pot and pour it over the pie. The syrup must be hot and the pie warm.

7. Cut it in pieces and serve.

***CHRISTMAS

DAY

IN GREECE***

“The feast of Christmas on December 25th is for all Christianity and for us Greeks the most important and most joyful feast of all, along with the Celebration of Christ’s Resurrection (Easter). This of course has an explanation since this feast signals the coming of the Messiah to the world. By His birth, Jesus sends a message of Peace and Joy that brings a note of optimism to the world. The previous days with the Christmas Carols, the ornaments and all the other preparations lead us to Christmas Day, a day of family feast and warmth.

On Christmas morning the members of each family go to the Christmas Mass in church and celebrate with the other believers the birth of our Saviour. They also receive the Holy Communion after having fasted for forty days beginning on November 14th. When they return home, the children open their presents that are waiting for them under the Christmas tree and then all the family takes its place round the Christmas table that the housewives have been preparing for days before Christmas. The table is laid mainly with food such as pork meat in the oven, stuffed chicken or turkey and sweets like sousamopita (sesame pie), melomakarona, kourambiedes, baklabas, kantaifi and “bambo”, the traditional appetizer of Thrace.

After lunch the members of the family pass their time with pleasant activities. They discuss, laugh or, other times, play games. In the afternoon sometimes they go for a walk in the city, admire the houses full of ornaments, the lighted city or walk by the Crib and the city’s Christmas tree in front of the Lighthouse.

In the evening the family is assembled once again round the Christmas table, sometimes only with members and other times with a big company of relatives and friends. The Christmas atmosphere with the decorated tree, the traditional Greek boat and the decorative Christmas lights supplements the joy that is in the atmosphere. The family has fun until late at night with interesting discussions or under the sounds of traditional songs. Many times they give each other symbolical Christmas presents that express the love they feel for each other, similar with the love that Virgin Mary feels for the newborn Christ but also for all of us as we are Her children, as well” Description by 6th Grade student Gioti Panagiota- Vasilia