A season for tomatoes

Not a day goes by without me eating salad. It is always present on my dinner table, to accompany and complement the main dish or, at times, simply served as the main meal.

During the winter months, it's usually a green salad with thinly sliced apples or pears, pecans or hazelnuts and a pungent vinaigrette, paired with a blue cheese or a hard, Greek kefalotyri.

In the summer, though, everything changes. Tomatoes are in season. The most glorious, sweet fruit known to mankind. A fruit that's so frequently mistaken for a vegetable.

All kinds of tomatoes are used in my kitchen throughout the hot months of summer, not only in salads, but in meat sauces, shrimp saganaki, gemista (Greek stuffed tomatoes and peppers), bulgur pilafs and my scrumptious pizza sauce, which I have to share with you someday.

Roma tomatoes, beefsteak, heirloom, cherry, vine-ripened, you name it. My trips to the market invariably end up with me dragging my feet from the weight of the large bags filled with the red, summer fruit and it is worth it every single time.

This dish came about from my need to consume yet another tomato salad. I wanted to change things up from my usual and beloved Horiatiki (Greek) salad, and wanted to use up some mint I had bought for dolmadakia (Greek stuffed vine leaves) that I made a few days ago. I never throw anything away, I've told you that, right?

Mint and tomatoes are a delectable combination and mint oil is my new favorite thing to make. Olive oil, fresh mint and salt; that is all that's needed to create the most aromatic and flavorful concoction that can be used to dress a juicy barbequed steak, a piece of grilled fish and of course, this bright tomato salad.

Heirloom Tomato Salad with Mint Oil, Feta and Kalamata Olives

I can't live without feta so its addition to the salad was inevitable and of course the briny olives completed the picture. Feel free to use any other type of soft goat's cheese you prefer.

Yield: 2 lunch / 4 salad servings

Ingredients
Small heirloom tomatoes, about 400 g, or any other kind of tomatoes you enjoy
A large piece of feta
9-10 Kalamata olives, pitted if you wish

for the mint oil
A large bunch of fresh mint , about 15 g
150 ml extra virgin olive oil
A pinch of salt

Tiny mint leaves, for garnishing

Special equipment: small food processor


Preparation

for the mint oil
Pick the leaves from the mint and discard the stalks. Place the mint leaves in a small food processor and add the olive oil. Process until smooth and add the salt.

Slice the tomatoes in half, and if using larger tomatoes, cut them into wedges. Arrange them on a large plate, crumble the feta on top and scatter around the olives. Spoon over as much of the mint oil as you wish and garnish the salad with some tiny mint leaves.
Serve immediately with some good crusty bread and a chilled bottle of dry white wine or alongside your main dish.

You can keep the mint oil in the fridge for a couple of days.

In Ghent, Belgium

We were in Belgium this past weekend and we visited Ghent for the first time.

Ghent, a medieval town in the north-west of the Flemish region of Belgium, was one of the largest and richest cities in Northern Europe in the Middle Ages.

Its architecture is magnificent and most of the medieval buildings remain intact.

The Ghent harbor in the historical center. The most beautiful part of the city.
The Graslei and the Korenlei are the names of the two streets that lie along the banks of the harbor of Ghent.

Medieval building facades on the Graslei.

The Gravensteen; the castle of the Count. It was built around 1180 by count Philip of Alsace.

View from one of the castle's arrow loops.

Views of Ghent from the top of the castle.

Sint-Veerleplein (St. Veerle square) opposite the castle, where they used to perform public executions.

Vrijdagmarkt (Friday market) square, was once the main square of Ghent.
Bond Moyson, the Socialist Building and the statue of Jacob van Artevelde, a 14th century Flemish political leader.

Along the river Leie (Lys). A favorite place for a number of painters in the early 1900's.

Three medieval towers that overlook the old city of Ghent.
The Belfry of Ghent, Sint Baafskathedraal (St. Bavo Cathedral) and Sint-Niklaaskerk (St. Nicholas church).

Ghent's public theater building.

Strolling around Ghent.



Our trip of course included lots of chocolates and beers, like last year. When in Belgium...


See you soon!

Mango sorbet

These days:

I have free time to make pites (savory Greek pies) with homemade phyllo. S, a lover of pies, is ecstatic.

I can't stop watching the Olympics and Michael Phelps in particular, winning medals. I think he's adorable and I'll be rooting for him tonight.

I'm wearing my new red lipstick all the time. Red rules.

We're traveling around Holland by car, music playing loud, me singing louder, enjoying the scenery and beautiful colors of the flat Dutch countryside.

Sun, everywhere.

I cut my hair; finally. It was very long, now it's at shoulder height. The hairdresser asked me if I wanted to keep some of it. I looked at her like she was nuts and she got it. Who keeps their cut hair, people?

I take photos of everything, all the time.

I have free time to make jams. Wild peach, nectarine, strawberry. The refrigerator is filled to the brim, it's starting to fall apart. Seriously. A shelf broke yesterday.

I can't stop eating this sorbet. Mango sorbet.

The markets here in Holland are bursting with fresh mangoes at the moment and of course I couldn't resist them.

My first thought was to make a chutney but then I reconsidered. I wanted to taste the fruit in all its glory and what's more enticing, irresistible and refreshing than an iced sorbet eaten on a scalding hot day. If it's a popsicle, even better. No bowls, no spoons, no waiting around for it to come to room temperature to scoop it. You grab it out of the freezer and eat it, just like that.

Mango Sorbet Popsicles

Light, fresh and full of mango flavor. The sugar highlights the taste of the fruit and the lemon tames its sweetness, giving a pleasant acidity to the sorbet.
You can use lime instead of lemon, if you prefer it.

How to pick a mango
First, you need to know that the color of the mango is not an indicator of its ripeness. Whether it's greenish, red, yellow or orange, it really doesn't matter.

How to tell if a mango is ripe:
a) Touch it. Take it in your hands and give it a gentle squeeze. If it gives slightly, it's ripe. If not, move to the next. If the mango is very soft, it's overripe. Very ripe mangoes tend to go all stringy so they're not ideal for sorbets.
b) Smell it. If the mango (especially if you smell it towards the stem end) has a sweet smell, it's most probably ripe. If you can't smell anything, move on to the next.

Keep mangoes at room temperature and not in the fridge. If they're too ripe, refrigerate them but you should eat them very soon.

Yield: about 15 popsicles (50-60 ml each)

Ingredients
2 large, fresh, ripe mangoes, about 1 kg
250 g icing sugar
Juice of 1 lemon (40-50 ml), freshly squeezed

Special equipment: food processor, 15 vodka shot glasses (50-60 ml capacity), wooden popsicle sticks


Preparation
Rinse and peel the mangoes. Be careful when you peel them because their flesh is slippery. Cut it into chunks and squeeze the pit with your hands to release the juices from the flesh that is stuck around it.

Add the mango chunks in the food processor along with the icing sugar and the lemon juice. Process until smooth and give it a taste. If you find it too sweet, add more lemon juice. Pour into the vodka shot glasses or any other popsicle mold you're using. Add the wooden popsicle sticks and put the glasses in the freezer. Allow the sorbet to set. It will take about 4 hours, depending on the strength of your freezer.
Keep in mind that if you're using larger molds, the sorbet will take more time to set.

Alternatively, you can pour it into an ice cream machine and then in a suitable container and into your freezer, thus making simply a sorbet and not pospicles.

Taking out the popsicles from the shot glasses is a piece of cake as long as the sorbet has set properly inside the glass. Run the sides of the shot glass under cold running water and holding the wooden popsicle stick with your hand, turn and pull the popsicle out of the glass. You might feel some resistance at first but it will eventually come out.

You can keep the sorbet in the freezer for up to 1 month.