Cooking in Crete

[bazfaz]

Renting an apartment with a kitchen presents great problems in Crete. It is not just the kitchen is a challenge; the raw materials are different. I look in the butcher;s shop and do not recognise what is on offer. In the supermarket I puzzle over the packaging. I can decipher the letters but I only recognise a minority of the words.

Greece has let its economy go to hell after joining the euro. A country that used to be cheap to visit has become expensive. The only things I find cheaper than France are oranges, bread, ouzo and feta. That could be a balanced diet, but restricted.

Tonight I made long tin green peppers blackened on top of the electric cooker with garlicky yogurt; fried sole fillets (frozen, probably from Vietnam) and beetroot salad; clementines to finish.

The beets were interesting. They were wonderfully fresh with unwilted leaves (I bought them on Tuesday and if I hadn't been so exhausted I would have cooked the leaves that night). I peeled the beets, grated them raw, and made a dressing of lemon juice, mustard, olive oil, salt and a buit of sugar. Chopped parsley on top.

That recipe is a cheat on a Nigella Lawson one I have never cooked but certainly will do. She uses toasted mustard seeds and (I think I remember it) dill leaves.

[lagatta]

I can't understand why wine would be more expensive in Crete, crap economy or not.

Unfortunately fish is not so hard to understand. Fresh fish was expensive in Italy too; the overfishing in many parts of the Mediterranean is dreadful.

[Deleted]

Did you see any crappy convenience and/or frozen foods at the supermarket that might indicate a drift in eating habits in Greece (which would push up the price of the traditional fresh foods)?