Author: Chef M

We love to make a big batch of these spicy nuts to snack on for the few free afternoons we get to share with friends. The nuts get warmth from the cinnamon and cloves, smoke from the cumin, and a kick of spice from the cayenne.

Cherries and sour cherries abound on the north side of Ikaria and we pick them in June by the kilo to make this delicious spoon sweet. The flavor of sour cherry spoon sweet is both, well, sweet and tart. The cherries taste a little like dried cranberries. They are small, with tiny pits that require patience to remove. The syrup ends up being very dark, almost black, and it takes extra care to make it. If you are inattentive at the final few minutes of simmering, you can easily burn the whole batch and end up with a caramelized sweet…

Loukoumades are a special-occasion dessert and we enjoy them most at the monasteries of Theoktisti in Pygi and Mounte in Raches after the liturgy on several saints’ name days during the summer.