(A camelspider: to eat or not to eat)
Just to
make the readers in the rest of Europe jealous: here on Lesvos (and in the rest
of Greece) we are fully enjoying the sun, the warmth, the sea and the food.
Sometimes I wonder whether life here on the island in the summer, when high
temperatures make it difficult to concentrate on work, consists of anything
other than swimming and eating.
But the
warm months not only bring fun. You have to learn to live with spiders,
mosquitos and many other flying and creeping insect-like objects: brrrrrr. I
just read that this year on the neighbouring islands of Lemnos and Ai Stratis
there are many more grasshoppers as usual. I have also seen here on Lesvos many
of these jumping fellows not only outside, but also inside my house. Even if
you expend lots of effort to get your house insect free, grasshoppers know how
to get in and can give you a hard time.
I can live
with some grasshoppers in the house, so the place was not hermetically sealed.
This changed yesterday when a huge wind scorpion or camel spider
tried to find his way in my house through the screen door. Now all cracks and screen
doors and windows are glued so that no nook or crannie offers the possibility
for the miscreants to sneak in.
Even just
writing about this creature gives me the creeps and I constantly look at the
screen door afraid his partner may show up to take revenge. A friend (I was too
afraid even to get close) killed this pseudo spider with flea spray (for dogs)
and, really, what a creep it was. My friend put the creep in a box, saying that
this was a very rare animal. Well, I no longer believe one word of it, because
during ten years here on Lesvos I have only once seen one and this was the
third camel spider I have seen in two months! You think we have a camel spider
plague? Read about my first encounter with this horror spider in: Creepy!
In more
than one country it is common to eat grasshoppers. As there are so many around
now maybe I should experiment with frying them. And why not, maybe this camel
spider is also a delicacy. However, as I can barely look at this horror, I don’t
think I will be able to throw him into the cooking pan. And I have to admit
that I’m not reading-up on frying grasshoppers. I prefer to grill watermelon.
The
culinary challenge I have taken up was to make flour from chickpeas. This pulse
here is mainly grown around Lisvori (Lesvos). In Greece chickpeas are eaten
cooked with or without a spicy tomato sauce. But there are many more
possibilities for this legume, like falafel or hummus . . . and plenty of
recipes with chickpea flour.
I promised
a friend who is on a gluten free diet to cook for him and that is how I got the
idea because chickpeas suit this diet. Although I nearly gave up trying to make
the flour because when I poured chickpeas into my food processor and I pushed
the button for grinding, such an incredible hard noise arose that I was afraid
the food processor would explode. So this is a warning for anybody grinding
chickpeas: put on earmuffs for the first minutes!
Grinding
dried chick peas will produce a fine flour you can use to make
spinach-egg-omelettes or pancakes. I was inspired by the Italian panella, Sicilian
fried cookies spiced with parsley. I followed the recipe for the batter but
used Greek spices: a recipe that would suit my cooking book Almost
Greek.
Because of
the wet winter the summer vegetables are only now being displayed in large
numbers in the shops: courgettes, aubergines, cucumbers and tomatoes. They are
not my favourites but I think it a challenge to find as many recipes for them
as possible — like an eggplant curry or a salad of half-dried tomatoes. Will
this be a first step to a second cookbook, a companion to Almost Greek? I am not sure. But the good news
is that the illustrator Sylvia Weve won a highly regarded price in Holland (De
Zilveren Penseel) for her drawings in a Dutch children’s book Aan
de kant, ik ben je oma niet! (writer: Bette Westera).
For those
of you who do not know the cookbook Almost Greek: it is full of stories about Greek food and
recipes using Greek ingredients, which, I am sure, will bring sunshine to your
table. There are easy recipes and some special ones like the tomato sorbet or the
grilled watermelon. And of course it contains lots of entertaining drawings of
prize-winning Sylvia Weve. You can order the book via internet (or in some
local stores on Lesvos and in Holland; see Smitaki on Facebook): http://www.smitaki.nl/?lang=en
Recipe:
Greek panella
200 gr
chick pea flour
600 cl
water
1 tsp
coriander
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp
fresh mint leaves (crushed)
3 tbsp
lemon juice
½ hot
pepper (sliced in small pieces)
salt &
pepper
olive oil
to fry
Grind about
250 gr chick peas into a flour: just grind for a few minutes, sieve out the
fine flour and repeat the process with the remaining pieces of chickpeas (the
pieces will get smaller and smaller and the noise lesser). Continue until you
obtain about 200 gr fine flour.
Put the
flour in a pan on a low heat and slowly pour the water in, stir until you get a
thick smooth mass. Add the spices, lemon juice and salt & pepper according
to your taste.
Spread the
batter onto baking paper (to a thickness of about 2 cm). Put away to cool and
thicken (2 – 3 hours).
Cut the thickened
batter in small cubes (5 by 2 cm or what ever form you fancy) and fry them in
the oil until they are golden. Good as mezès or as a side dish for a
Mediterranean dinner.
(with thanks to Mary Staples)
© Smitaki
2013
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