Greek Cooking: Vefa's Kitchen

In preparation for our honeymoon to Greece next summer, I’ve been trying out Greek recipes. Vefa’s Kitchen, published by Phaidon who also publishes the Italian Silver Spoon Cookbook, has an amazing collection of recipes.

For a romantic dinner one night, I tried the Pot Roast Lamb with Lemon. I bought the lamb at Knight’s Market in Ann Arbor and cooked it in my Dutch oven. It was tender and flavorful, but I do think that the flavors could have been stronger. Lemon juice and oregano were the main additions to the dish.

I love a challenge to prepare a new dish, but the risk is that it doesn’t always work out perfectly. The Christmas Honey-Dipped Cookies were delicious (and clearly lasted forever since I made enough for our apartment complex), although the dough didn’t work out for me. The recipe called for rolling it out and stamping out the cookies. My dough wouldn’t roll and simply broke apart. I formed little balls with my hands and baked them that way. With the baklava-like-honey syrup poured on top, they were delicious, although I’m guessing not very authentic.

If you have suggestions for Greek recipes to try or what went wrong with my Christmas Honey Dipped Cookies, I'm all ears!