@naf - please help, any way to correct the title of this thread?
Thought I’d post some pics of a recent Greek family dinner. Souvlaki, spanakopita and rice & orzo pilaf, among other things.
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C**p! While I meant to post pics of a recent Greek home style meal, didn’t mean to send a pic of my home. Don’t know how to get it edited out. Things went all wonky when I tried. 
Thought I’d post some pics of the trahana making process. You start with a rich egg dough, typically hydrating with sour milk, buttermilk or thinned yogurt. Break into generous tablespoon sized lumps, rolled into balls, flatten slightly. Dry in a warm room, covered, or in the oven at 100 or 125 degrees. Keep breaking down into smaller pieces and placing back in the oven. Break it down as much as possible with your hands, and when dry enough, grate over a screen or colander with large holes to get the final size as pictured. Cooked in chicken broth, it’s the ultimate Greek comfort or sick food, or at least, almost.
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I’ve never heard of trahana before! I wonder if it just wasn’t that common in Anatolia. It looks like couscous.
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Re : trahana (apologize for my week quoting skills on my phone right now)
“wonder if it just wasn’t that common in Anatolia. It looks like couscous.”
It seems more popular with my Peloponnesian friends. My island family doesn’t make it, and I never tried it until I visited a village in Arcadia. My mom never served it because I guess she didn’t like it much.
Greek shops sell it, if you want to try it.
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I wonder if some memories of trahana were a factor in Mom’s go-to meals for sick children: Ronzoni pastina, little bits of pasta boiled up in chicken broth. I’ve never seen it outside of our household.
Yes @ernie_in_berkeley, very similar to pastina, acini de pepe, or couscous, just more jagged and irregular in shape.
Yes, you can often find it in Greek shops (which are rare here in Seattle), but often times found at Greek festivals too. It’s a PITA to make, my H does it, and supplies the adult children.
We also picked up our yearly pastured lamb from the butcher’s today, as well as some other goodies - sausage, ground pork, and filet mignon. Really great meats, but out in the boonies.
Stay tuned for the start of the baking mania tomorrow!
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Just googled them, and H says his mom used to make them all the time, served with brown butter and mizithra. We’ll add them to our list of things to make. Think H had actually forgotten about them. Thanks for bringing them to our attention!
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The nut mixture for baklava. We use walnuts, pecans and almonds not ground as finely as the Yia Yia’s do. We like a little more texture. We actually tinkered with our recipe for quite a few years, and are now very happy with it.
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I do a little Greek cooking - nothing exotic. We have a new Greek restaurant opening in Annapolis MD we’re looking forward to, and a Greek festival once a year at a local Greek Orthodox church.
A chief engineer who worked for me once took me to a Retsina tasting. I felt like I was comparing slightly different kinds of paint thinner.
Agree with you 100% on the Retsina. I did have a homemade Retsina rose in Greece, that was actually on the pleasant side of drinkable, but that’s been it. Sometimes when we’ve had dinner or other parties with Greek food, people want to bring a bottle of Greek wine, usually a retsina. I say no, please, most people don’t like it!
BTW, have you ever chewed mastic? It reminds me of retsina - never need to try it again.
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@Lambchop There’s also a mastic flavoured spoon sweet/glyko.
I don’t mind a little mastic added to breads and desserts. I’ve had some upscale Greek resto desserts that use a little mastic.
I haven’t chewed it.
Chios is known for its mastic
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I know it’s widely used in Greece, made into gum and chewed over much of the Middle East. I’ve only had the gum that I know of. I don’t think any of H’s family used it in any way. If my dear belated FIL was still alive, I could ask him. I still miss him after 20 years now.
As for spoon sweets, I’ve seen them in cookbooks, but they weren’t part of the family tradition, per se.
Thanks for the info, I’ll do a little reading up.
Ooooh that looks amazing!
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In some parts, a spoon of glyko and a glass of water is served to guests, in the afternoon, afaik.
We only buy the sour cherry glyko, which we add to yogurt or spread on toast. My mom used to put aspirin inside a spoon sweet cherry when I was sick as a kid.
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