At the New Year's Eve party, we all want to have all the best, to bring in the New Year with plenty and to be like this all year round in our home. Even the salads that accompany the meat are rich and special.
WILD SALAD
This salad for me is one of the most delicious salads - salad with potato and egg or ‘field salad’ as we call it in Crete.
STAMNAGATHI SALAD
Today my girlfriend Vicki Liodakakis from Malevizi brought me these wild greens because she knows I love her. Vicki is a young girl who three years ago quit her job as an accountant in Heraklion and returned to her village to grow tasty herbs. The ground was laid by her parents who had entered production a few years earlier.
BULBS
‘Ascordula’ is an onion-like wild edible bulb that is boiled. It is considered an excellent appetizer, on its own or as an ingredient in salads to give more flavor.
BLACK-EYED BEANS WITH OCTOPUS
What was the nice saying our good teacher at school used to say? "Bean by bean you fill the sack", which means that we should not be impatient to achieve our financial goals.
SALAD WITH FIGS AND ‘XYNOGALA’ (SOUR CREAM CHEESE)
The 15th of August ended with the great feast of the Virgin Mary. Praise be to her as we ate and drank well at our festival. We always dance traditionally in the festivities they set up in our villages, but the summer visits to the beach continue.
ARTICHOKE SALAD WITH CARROTS
In the spring, when colors and fragrances dominate, it gives us a feeling of euphoria, joy and hope. It’s a time when nature rejuvenates, sprouts and gives us fresh fruit.
BOILED VLITA (PURPLE AMARANTH / GUERNSEY PIGWEED)
And yes, why not? This is the most delicious boiled summer salad with the entire summer garden on your plate. You can combine this edible green everything with meat, fish, a quick omelet, with plain boiled eggs, with a little feta or Cretan rusk bread.
CHICKPEA SALAD WITH ROAST VEGETABLES
What about a salad full of color and aroma?
SALAD WITH MANTILIDES (ANTHEMIDA)
I never tire of talking about the Cretan diet, the eating habits our grandparents had, how they cultivated their fields and gardens to produce healthy food, how they took care of hens and rabbits in their coops, how they raised the pig to slaughter it at Christmas, how they milked their goats to have fresh milk in their house, how they came out with their basket to gather greens, snails and mushrooms, how they prepared the oven for baking sweets and foods, how they made myzithras and trachanas and a thousand other things. What can I do?
LETTUCE WITH ARTICHOKE AND RADISH
One of my favorite salads of this season is lettuce with artichokes and radish. I love to combine with fish especially.
CHICKEN SALAD
Want a salad to accompany delicious food to the festive table? This one will become your favorite. Cool, delicious and aromatic, it fits perfectly with whatever you choose to combine it with.