Not one, but two Greekish guest recipes

Destined to become staples in your kitchen.

Γεια σου!

Today, we have a very special guest joining us all the way from North London!

Greekish by Georgina Hayden has been one of my favorite cookbooks this summer. I've always considered Greek cuisine stellar for special occasions because of its elegance and crowd-pleasing precision. But what Georgina has done with these recipes—keeping her promise to deliver everyday dishes with Greek roots—is both innovative and, to me, beyond irresistible.

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A true triumph, I can't count how many pages I've bookmarked already. Georgina explains that these recipes are inspired by her Greek-Cypriot roots and Greek travels. They're designed to be easy, bursting with flavor, and sure to be cooked on repeat (in my words, they're genius). Using fewer ingredients and less stress, the recipes feature familiar Mediterranean classics with her personal twist—the type of cooking I love the most!

Such creativity: Fried sesame cheese bites, Sticky aubergine and pomegranate tart, Spanakopita jacket potatoes, Golden filo custard pie… Oh, and did I mention the entire collection of baklava-inspired recipes? Buns, cake, cheesecake, semifreddo… As if you needed more convincing to get the book, right?

I've picked two recipes to share with you that I have, indeed, cooked on repeat: one-pan pastitsio & Feta, cherry, and white chocolate cookies. I hope you try them and come back to tell me if they aren't spectacular.

To top it off, the kind folks at Bloomsbury are facilitating a three-copy giveaway for my lovely readers in the US and Canada. Now, that's news worth toasting with ouzo!

Thank you, Bloomsbury!

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I'll pick the winners at random, so let me know in the comments here or on Instagram: what's your favorite Greek dish? Or, which dish are you most excited to make once you get your hands on your copy of Greekish?

Good luck!

Recipes excerpted from Greekish: Everyday recipes with Greek roots. Used with the permission of the publisher, Bloomsbury. Copyright © 2024 by Georgina Hayden.

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Photography by Laura Edwards

One-pan pastitsio

When I started writing this book, I set myself a challenge: to make much-loved Greek dishes more achievable. To be fair, a lot of our recipes are pretty straightforward, but one request that came up time and again is pastitsio (or as Cypriots call it, makaronia tou fournou). Pastitsio isn’t particularly tricky, but it is laborious. There’s the slow-cooked ragu, the cooked pasta, and then a béchamel. How can we strip this back? By making the whole thing using only one pan. You read that right. One. Pan. Ragu, pasta and sauce. Of course, it’s not the same as classic pastitsio in terms of layers and drama. But I think it has its own dramatic appeal; the whole thing is cooked in a large frying pan and that looks pretty epic.

Gluten-Free

SERVES 4

• Olive oil

• 500g mince — ideally beef, perhaps some pork too

• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 2 onions

• 4 garlic cloves

• 1 teaspoon dried oregano, plus a pinch

• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 2 tablespoons tomato purée

• 250g pastitsio pasta, bucatini, or even penne (gluten-free, if needed)

• 1 litre beef stock

• 300ml crème fraîche

• 2 egg yolks

• 100g graviera, kefalotyri, or pecorino

You’ll need a wide, deep frying pan for this dish. If you don’t have one you confidently think will fit all the ingredients, make it in a large saucepan. Place your pan on a high heat and drizzle in a good few tablespoons of olive oil. Add the mince to the pan, and break it up well with a wooden spoon. Season generously, and fry for 5–8 minutes, so that any liquid evaporates and the mince starts to crisp. Meanwhile, peel and finely chop the onions and garlic. When the mince has started to brown, stir them in with the oregano and cinnamon. Fry for a further 5 minutes, reducing the heat a little, stirring everything together (add a touch extra olive oil if it looks dry). Stir in the tomato purée, fry off for a minute or two, then add the pasta to the pan. If you are using traditional pastitsio pasta or bucatini you may need to snap some of the pieces in half to fit them all in. It’ll be snug in the pan, but try to fit them all. Pour over the beef stock, season and bring to the boil. Cover the pan, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring once or twice.

While the pasta is cooking, mix together the crème fraîche and egg yolks. Finely grate the cheese and stir in most of it with a generous pinch of salt and pepper. When your pasta is ready, turn your grill to high. Gently toss the pasta and sauce in the pan together. Spoon the crème fraîche mixture over the top and sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese, plus an additional pinch of dried oregano. Place under the grill, not too close to the bars, and grill for 3–5 minutes, until golden and bubbling on top. Keep an eye on it, as how long it takes will depend on the strength of your grill. Remove and leave to stand for at least 5–10 minutes before serving.

Photography by Laura Edwards

Feta, cherry and white chocolate cookies

I am obsessed with these cookies, as you should be. Are you the kind of person who likes to offer your friends new bakes and say, rather hysterically, “but you’ll never guess what’s in it. No, seriously, go on, have a guess!”, all the while getting a bit too close to the poor person, knowing they probably won’t guess correctly? (You hope they won’t, otherwise they’ve just killed the punchline.) Is that you? You are my people; read on.

Putting feta in sweets isn’t a new thing, and many Greeks and Cypriots regularly sweeten soft cheeses for biscuits and cakes. Putting feta in scones and muffins set me on a path, playing with textures and flavours in cookies. The feta isn’t in there for shock value; it adds the salty edge that really lifts these biscuits. Sweet, chewy, tart, salty… I’ll stop raving — just promise to make them.

Vegetarian

MAKES 12

• 160g unsalted butter

• 100g white chocolate

• 125g light soft brown sugar

• 125g caster sugar

• 1 large egg

• 275g plain flour

• ½ teaspoon baking powder

• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt

• 100g feta

• 75g dried cherries, sour if possible, or dried cranberries

Cut the butter into cubes and add to a small pan over a medium heat. Melt the butter, then take it a little further so it turns golden-brown and starts to smell nutty. You’ll see little flecks of brown, toasted butter solids at the bottom of the pan. Meanwhile, chop the white chocolate and place in a large mixing bowl. Pour over the melted butter, leave for a minute, then stir until smooth. Beat in both types of sugar with a wooden spoon. Beat in the egg.

In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and fine sea salt together. Add to the chocolate mixture and stir until it all just comes together. Crumble in the feta, add the dried cherries and mix briefly. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper and shape the cookie mixture into 12 even-sized balls. (Not to be a geek, but I weigh the dough and divide by 12. You’re looking at 80–85g per cookie.) Place on the trays, and make sure there is plenty of room between them. Place the trays in the fridge for at least 1 hour to help the mixture firm up so the cookies don’t spread too fast — the longer you leave them the more domed and chewy they will be.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas mark 6 and bake the cookies for 18 minutes, until deep golden-brown at the edge. If you have chilled the dough overnight, they might need a minute or two longer. Leave the cookies to cool completely on their trays before serving or storing in an airtight container.