What do the Greeks eat in Winter? You will find your answers at the following slides……

December: u Christmas Fast: u Start’s on November 14th, lasts 40 days and it ends December 24th….. u Forbidden: meat and dairy products u Allowed: fishes, vegetables, pasta and legumes. u Ground festivals: every one brings whatever he has prepared, the people dance and sing with musical attendance.

Christmas preparation: u Shortbreads with leaven u Kserotigana (traditional sweet of Crete) u Christmas cakes (they don’t have a usual shape every one makes his own shape) u Breads from wheat (they don’t have a usual shape every one makes his own shape) u Dakos (they don’t have a usual shape every one makes his own shape, Cretan recipe with tradition crackers, cheese, tomato, oil and oregano) u Bread rolls

One or two days before Christmas the farmers kill the pigs….. Some of them sell all of their pigs…..Some others sell the half of their pigs or they keep all the pigs for them and their relatives…..

Amathies (recipe) Ingredients: u pork’s large intestine For the filling: u pork’s lung and liver u 0.54 pounds of almonds u 0.54 pounds of raisins u 1.34 pounds of rise u salt u pepper u cumin

Instructions: u We clean the large intestine very well….. u We cut into little pieces the liver and the lung u we mix the pieces of the lung and the liver with the rice, the almonds, the raisins, the salt, the pepper and the cumin u Then we stuff the large intestine with our mix…… u Then we boil it…..

New Years Eve Traditional sweets: u Biscuits with leaven in different shapes u Kserotigana (traditional sweet of Crete)

u The girls at the villages went around the village and helped to make the biscuits… Then, they went to their relatives with little baskets full of biscuits, kserotigana, pomegranates, pears and Raki (traditional drink of Crete)

Epiphany (orthodox celebration on January 6th) u One day before we don’t eat oil, meat or dairy…

Carnival u Meat-eating Sunday u Dairy Sunday

Recipes

Fasolada (beans soup) Ingredients u Pepper u 1/2Kg (1 lb) dried beans u Salt u 1/3 cup olive oil u 1 can tomato juice u 2 tablespoons tomato paste u Celery u 3 carrots u 3 onions

Instructions u 1. Wash the beans and place them in water, allowing them to soak for a day or night. u 2. Drain the water using a colander and rinse well under running water. u 3. Add the beans in a large pot filled with enough water to cover the beans and boil, covered, for about 30 minutes. u 4. Drain the beans using a colander and put them back in the pot, fill the pot with enough water to barely cover the beans. (the amount of water will determine the thickness of the soup). u 5. Chop onions, celery and carrots and add them to the pot, along with 1/3 cup of olive oil.

u 6. Put the pot back over heat and simmer until the beans are soft. (test using a fork). u 7. When the beans are soft, add salt, pepper, tomato paste, 1 can of tomatoes and stir. u 8. Bring mixture to boil and allow an additional 20 minutes of boiling time. u 9. Remove from heat and serve hot.

Gigantes Ingredients u Pepper u 1/2 cup olive oil u Salt u 1.5kg (3 lb) tomatoes u 750gr (1.5 lb) large dried beans (Fassolia Gigantes) u Dried Thyme u Oregano u Parsley u 4 cloves garlic u 1.5 tablespoons of tomato paste u 3 medium onions

Instructions u 1. Place beans in a large bowl covered with water and leave them overnight to soak. u 2. Drain the water and place them in a large saucepan filled with water. u 3. Boil the beans in the pan for 30 to 35 minutes but take care not to allow them to become too soft. (they need to be soft when pierced with a fork but hard enough that they wont break apart). u 4. Drain the beans and set them aside in a bowl. u 5. Chop and quash the tomates in a large bowl. u 6. Chop onions, garlic and saute them (in olive oil) in the large saucepan that you used to boil the beans in, while the onions are being sauted sprinkle some oregano and thyme over them,

u 7. When the onions are golden brown and soft, pour in the tomatoes and 1/3 cup of boiling water in the saucepan. u 8. Add the tomato paste and dilute it in the mixture by stirring it with a spoon. u 9. Add salt and pepper and cover the saucepan allowing it to cook over a medium heat for 30 minutes when the sauce shoould be thicker (if the sauce thickens faster than that - then remove from heat.). u 10. Pour the beans and some chopped parsley in the saucepan and mix well together. u 11. Pour the whole mixture in a deep baking pan and place in preheated oven at 180C (350 F) for 45 minutes.

Thanks for watching….. :D Made by: Iro Vourdouba Elizabeth Anezaki Alkisti Kourti Stephanos Galiatsos