Holy Week with Athonite Recipes

source – newsbreak.gr

• By Thanos Hercheletzis

Although he had been sleepless for three days, as soon as he entered the kitchen his gaze shone. Monk Nikitas is an ascetic in the Holy Cell of Panagia Portaitissa, which belongs to the Holy Monastery of Koutloumousi on Mount Athos. For about 25 years, he has been serving as a cook and creating wonderful dishes, which are based on recipes that he recorded from old Athonite elders and others that he made himself. He uses pure and simple ingredients, products that the earth and the sea generously offer to man. Before executing each recipe, he makes the sign of the cross and thanks God.

We met Father Nikitas in the center of Thessaloniki, in the welcoming kitchen of the “Blé Taste Gallery,” where there is a traditional wood-fired oven , in which the Athonite people usually cook. There he presented us with three traditional Lenten recipes from Mount Athos.

“The execution of a recipe begins with prayer. For Mount Athos cuisine, fire also plays a special role, how you light the wood and how you maintain the temperature at the right degrees, so that the food can boil or cook properly ,” Father Nikitas tells “Thessaloniki”.

“On Mount Athos we use wild herbs and herbs in our cooking, we use simple and simple ingredients , which are particularly delicious. In my cooking, I follow traditional recipes, I cook the way our grandparents cooked,” he adds.

During the last days of Lent, Father Nikitas presents three Lenten recipes through the newspaper “Thessaloniki” : short spaghetti with octopus, wild greens with cuttlefish and shrimp soup.

The following are the recipes of the monk Nikitas from the Holy Cell of Panagia Portaitissa on Mount Athos.

Shrimp soup (for 4 people)

Ingredients: 10 large shrimp with shell / olive oil / 4 potatoes / 4 carrots / a little vitamin / chopped dill / 1 lemon / black pepper / smoked paprika / salt.

Execution: In a frying pan, pour a little oil and sauté the shrimp, after sprinkling them with smoked paprika and salt. Once they are ready, in 5-10 minutes, remove from the heat. Remove the shell from the shrimp and use it to make broth. In a saucepan, cut the potatoes and carrots into large pieces, pour in the broth from the shrimp and let them boil. As soon as they come to a boil, remove from the heat and puree the mixture with a stick blender. Add a little vitamin, add chopped dill and let it boil again. Finally, add the cleaned shrimp, after cutting them into large pieces, add lemon juice, oil, salt, pepper and our soup is ready to serve.

Short pasta with octopus (for 4 people)

Ingredients: One octopus 1.5-2 kilos / 4 dried onions / 4 spring onions / bay leaves / black peppercorns / a little white wine or vinegar / a package of short pasta / tomato paste / olive oil / garlic / oil / pepper / salt.

Execution: Put the octopus in a pot. Add 4 coarsely chopped dry onions, bay leaves, black peppercorns, a little white wine or vinegar. Cover and let it simmer in its own juice for about 40-50 minutes. Then remove from the heat and chop the octopus. Sauté chopped fresh onion, a little garlic, oil, salt and pepper in a pot. Add the octopus and deglaze with a little wine. Add hot water, tomato paste and the short spaghetti. At that moment, add a little oil so that the spaghetti does not “sludge”. Let it boil for 5-10 minutes, cover and let it absorb its juices. Finally, add a little salt and black pepper and serve.

Cuttlefish with wild greens (for 4 people)

Ingredients: 1 kilo of cuttlefish / nettles, small and thick / poppies / spades / chicory / dried onion / fresh onion / lemon / dill / garlic / olive oil / fennel / salt / pepper.

Execution: Wash the greens and divide them into the thinnest (delicate) and the thickest. In a saucepan with a little water and a little oil, we begin to sauté the thickest greens first and then the thinnest. We want them to soften and not boil. Boil the cuttlefish and reserve the broth. In another saucepan, pour the cuttlefish, add oil, chopped fresh and dried onion, dill, garlic and fennel and sauté for 10 minutes. In the broth that we reserved from the cuttlefish, pour in the greens just enough to simmer and draw out the juices. Remove from the heat, add the cuttlefish, salt, pepper, oil, lemon juice and serve.