I don’t know about you but I have a mum who doesn’t like to sit down. Up at the early hours of dawn she’s already washed the floors, put up the lunches, done the washing and this is all done before the clocks have even struck 7a.m. What can I say, she likes to keep busy but more than that it’s keeping on top of things. I think I’ve inherited this from her to an extent in that I do like to keep busy and find I can only fully relax when I’ve done a lot with my day. Therefore to celebrate Mother’s Day I wanted to do something special and decided I would cook for her.
I’ve always remembered her saying she enjoys Greek and Mediterranean food after her first proper holiday in Cyprus a few years back where it was all you can eat every night and she absolutely loved it. One of her best friends was married to a Greek man too and she picked up some lovely recipes from them especially Greek potatoes! We always have these on a special occasion in our house because they are delicious but not the healthiest potatoes for you as you have to soak them in quite a lot of vegetable oil, however every now and then doesn’t hurt!
I absolutely love Greek food too and discovered some of the most delicious dishes on a holiday with Craig to Kefalonia last year. Not only was the scenery breath-taking and the people so friendly and accommodating but the food was something else. Kefalonia pie, Moussaka, beef stifado, I was completely in my element and would easily go back simply just for the food.
Therefore with this in mind I decided to go for a Mediterranean theme for dinner tonight and chose to make tzatziki with pitta to start followed by Griddled chicken, quinoa Greek salad and rosemary potatoes to follow.
For the tzatziki I followed Nigel Slater’s recipe and was pleasantly surprised at how simple it was to make. All you need is:
Ingredients:
1 Cucumber
Olive oil
Yogurt (preferably goat’s or sheep’s, strained) I couldn’t get this so used Greek natural yoghurt
2 Crushed garlic
Dill or mint
Lemon juice
A little salt