Mrs Maria is a dear friend of my aunt Stavroula. She gave me this recipe to include in my cookbook, My Greek Family Table.Mrs Maria was born in Kos, one of the islands in the Dodecanese. Kos is the island where the father of medicine, Hippocrates, was born. The main square where Hippocrates’ platanos tree, or plane tree, stands, where he supposedly used to teach. From July to August a special festival in Hippocrates’s honour takes place in the town.
Mrs. Maria recalls being 12 years old when World War II began. First the Italians occupied Kos. They attempted to crush Greek culture by taking away their language and their faith. They closed down the churches and the schools. The situation became much worse when the Germans came to Kos. They bombed the islands and caused a lot of destruction. Everyone on the island went hungry because there was no food.
At the age of 23, Mrs Maria came to Australia by ship. Together with her husband and four children, she hoped for a brighter future. Australia had been advertised in Greece on posters and billboards as a land of opportunity, where everyone was guaranteed work and a better life. She packed very few possessions to take to Australia, among them her cherished icons and two vases from Alexandria.
Despite being very happy in Australia, there are some things Mrs Maria still misses about Greece, and she cooks many traditional Greek dishes, such as stuffed tomatoes and lamb. She feels it’s important for her to share her recipes with non-Greek Australians to ensure they survive.
This recipe is very easy to make and uses only a few simple ingredients. I asked Mrs Maria why she does not add parsley to this dish as I do. She replied that her uncle was a chef and his rule was that parsley should not be paired with meat except when added together with finely chopped onions to souvlakia.