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20 Greek Recipes from Santorini and the Cyclades
Volcanic soil and almost no rain gave the Cyclades their own ingredients: Santorini's tiny intense tomatoes, split-pea fava, capers, and cheeses aged in the wind.
Volcanic soil and almost no rain gave the Cyclades ingredients of their own. Santorini has small, intensely sweet tomatoes and the yellow split peas that make fava. The islands have capers, and cheeses aged in the wind.
The cooking stays close to those. Fava is simmered to a puree and dressed with raw onion, capers and oil. The tomatoes go into fritters with mint. Mykonos ferments a sharp, spicy cheese. Sifnos has two chickpea dishes here, and bakes its lamb in wine and dill.
From the sea there is grilled octopus, octopus braised in wine, and lobster with pasta. For dessert, the honey cheesecake of Sifnos, made without a crust.
Every recipe on Kalliopi's Kitchen carries the dish's Greek name and a pronunciation, its region where that is meaningful, ingredient quantities in both metric and imperial, and an honest note on what commonly goes wrong. Nutrition figures are calculated estimates and are labelled as such.
1. Yellow Split Pea Puree
Fava Santorinis · Φάβα Σαντορίνης · FAH-vah san-to-REE-nees
There are no fava beans in it. Greek fava is yellow split peas, and Santorini has its own protected variety, grown there for thousands of years. The peas collapse by themselves, and a wooden spoon gives a silkier puree than a machine. It comes warm, under raw onion, capers and a pool of oil.
Yiayia’s tip: Skim relentlessly. The foam in the first ten minutes is where the muddy taste lives. Take it all off and the finished puree is noticeably sweeter and cleaner.
Make Yellow Split Pea Puree2. Grilled Octopus
Htapodi sta karvouna · Χταπόδι στα κάρβουνα · htah-POH-thee stah KAR-voo-nah
Octopus on a line outside a taverna is the picture everyone knows, and the drying does help. What makes it tender is a long, gentle simmer in the liquid the octopus gives up, with no water added. The grill only finishes it, in about four minutes. Raw on the fire, it turns to rubber.
Yiayia’s tip: Frozen is better than fresh here. One of the few cases where this is true. Freezing does the tenderising work that would otherwise take beating or luck.
Make Grilled Octopus3. Chickpea Fritters
Revithokeftedes · Ρεβιθοκεφτέδες · reh-vee-thoh-kef-TEH-thes
A keftes rebuilt around chickpeas, with onion, herbs and cumin, and no mere stand-in for the meat one. They belong most to the Cyclades, where chickpeas are an old staple crop, and to Lent on the mainland. Chickpeas hold more water than people expect, so the mixture must be dry. Chill the patties before frying.
Yiayia’s tip: Cook dried chickpeas until very soft. Well beyond salad tenderness. A proper long simmer softens them enough to mash easily without extra binders.
Make Chickpea Fritters4. Santorini Tomato Fritters
Ntomatokeftedes Santorinis · Ντοματοκεφτέδες Σαντορίνης · doh-mah-toh-kef-TEH-thes san-doh-REE-nees
Santorini's tomatoes grow in volcanic ash and get almost no rain or irrigation, so the fruit is small, sweet and concentrated. These fritters exist to show it off. There is barely any flour, only onion and mint, the traditional herb where other Greek fritters take parsley or dill. Do not press them as they fry.
Yiayia’s tip: Use the ripest, most flavourful tomatoes you can find. There is very little else in this dish. A bland tomato gives a bland fritter.
Make Santorini Tomato Fritters5. Mykonos Spicy Whipped Cheese
Kopanisti Mykonou · Κοπανιστή Μυκόνου · koh-pah-nee-STEE mee-KOH-noo
The real thing is fermented on Mykonos, has protected status, and is nearer in strength to a strong blue cheese than to feta. Fermenting it is dairy work, not kitchen work, so this version whips soft cheeses with chilli and a splash of ouzo or tsipouro. Spread it thickly on bread or a barley rusk.
Yiayia’s tip: Taste and adjust the chilli as you go. The heat is meant to be genuinely noticeable, not a background note, but it is easier to add more than to fix an overly spicy batch.
Make Mykonos Spicy Whipped Cheese6. Vegan Olive Oil Cookies
Ladokouloura · Λαδοκούλουρα · lah-thoh-KOO-loo-rah
Cookies made for Lent, when butter and eggs are both off the table. Olive oil does all the work of the fat and gives a crumbly, slightly dense cookie with a faint fruitiness that butter does not have. They were vegan long before anybody called it that.
Yiayia’s tip: Use a mild olive oil. A strong, peppery extra virgin can fight with the orange rather than sitting in the background as intended.
Make Vegan Olive Oil Cookies7. Sifnos Honey Cheesecake
Melopita Sifnou · Μελόπιτα Σίφνου · meh-LOH-pee-tah SEEF-noo
A cheesecake with no crust and almost nothing in it: fresh mizithra, eggs and honey. It is among the oldest sweets on Sifnos, and some accounts put dishes like it at well over a thousand years old. It bakes into something nearer a firm, golden custard than a Western cheesecake.
Yiayia’s tip: Drain the cheese if it seems watery. Excess moisture stops the filling from setting properly in the oven.
Make Sifnos Honey Cheesecake8. Lobster with Pasta
Astakomakaronada · Αστακομακαρονάδα · ah-stah-koh-mah-kah-roh-NAH-thah
The showpiece of the Cyclades, and of Mykonos above all, where the taverna price follows what lobster costs that season. The name joins astakos, lobster, to makaronada, pasta. At home a smaller lobster, frozen tails or langoustines will do. The lobster needs eight to ten minutes in the sauce, no more, or it turns rubbery.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not rush the tomato sauce. A full twenty-five to thirty minutes is what gives it the rich, concentrated depth this showpiece dish needs.
Make Lobster with Pasta9. Roast Goat with Lemon
Katsikaki lemonato · Κατσικάκι λεμονάτο · kah-tsee-KAH-kee leh-moh-NAH-toh
Outsiders think of Greek Easter as lamb. In the Cyclades and Crete, where goat has long been as common as sheep, it is on the table as often. The method is that of arnaki lemonato: lemon, garlic, oregano and a long covered roast. Goat tastes a little stronger and more mineral, and can need longer.
Yiayia’s tip: Ask for kid goat specifically. Katsikaki, young goat, is considerably more tender than older goat meat and is the right choice for this dish.
Make Roast Goat with Lemon10. Kitro Liker Serving Guide
Kitro · Κίτρο · KEE-troh
Naxos makes this and nowhere else does. It is distilled from citron leaves, not the fruit, so the fragrance is fresh and citrusy but unlike any lemon liqueur. Three versions exist: clear is the driest, yellow sits in the middle, green is the sweetest. It is a digestif, sipped very cold and never over ice.
Yiayia’s tip: Try all three versions if you can. Comparing the clear, yellow and green versions side by side is the traditional way to appreciate the full range of sweetness this liqueur offers.
Make Kitro Liker Serving Guide11. Sifnos Sunday Chickpea Bake
Revithada · Ρεβιθάδα · reh-vee-THAH-thah
On Sifnos this is Sunday food: the pot is filled on Saturday night and goes into the village's wood-fired oven until after church, twelve hours or more. Chickpeas, one onion, bay leaves, olive oil and water are all that go in. A home oven set very low does the job. Salt only at the end.
Yiayia’s tip: Only dried chickpeas will work. Tinned ones are already cooked and will simply fall apart over this length of bake. Soaking dried chickpeas overnight is not a shortcut you can skip.
Make Sifnos Sunday Chickpea Bake12. Sifnos Lamb Baked in Wine and Dill
Mastelo Sifnou · Μαστέλο Σίφνου · mah-STEH-loh SEEF-noo
Sifnos is known for clay pottery, and mastelo is the name of both the dish and its shallow pot. Lamb or goat bakes slowly with dill and red wine until the wine is a sauce. It is the island's Easter Sunday meal. A heavy lidded casserole will do, with wine only halfway up the meat.
Yiayia’s tip: Use a properly generous amount of dill. This dish is built around it. A small handful will not give the same depth of flavour as a real bunch.
Make Sifnos Lamb Baked in Wine and Dill13. Cycladic Octopus Braised in Wine
Htapodi krasato · Χταπόδι κρασάτο · htah-POH-thee krah-SAH-toh
The opposite of grilled octopus, and in the Cyclades an alternative to it, not a lesser version. Red wine, bay and tomato, a long gentle braise, and a dark sauce that wants bread. It forgives more than the grill, because there is no sear to time. Judge it by the thick end of a tentacle.
Yiayia’s tip: Simmer the octopus alone first. This releases some of its liquid before the sauce is built, keeping the final dish from being watered down.
Make Cycladic Octopus Braised in Wine14. Naxos Cheese and Onion Pie
Kalathouna Naxou · Καλαθούνα Νάξου · kah-lah-THOO-nah NAHK-soo
An open pie from Naxos, biggest of the Cyclades and, unusually for those islands, a place of real dairy farming. An oil dough holds the island's fresh, mild soft cheese with egg and plenty of onion. Spread the filling thin or the centre stays wet. At Carnival it comes dusted with sugar and cinnamon.
Yiayia’s tip: Chop the onion very fine. It needs to soften and sweeten fully within the baking time. Large pieces stay too raw and sharp.
Make Naxos Cheese and Onion Pie15. Tinos and Mykonos Cured Pork
Louza Tinou · Λούζα Τήνου · LOO-zah TEE-noo
Mykonos and Tinos both claim this: pork tenderloin rubbed with spices and red wine, dried in the air until firm and cut paper-thin for a meze. It has island cousins, lountza in Cyprus and noumboulo in Corfu. Weeks of patience, not days. The salt ratio is a food safety matter, not a question of taste.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not skimp on the coriander and cinnamon. This specific combination is what marks louza out from other regional cured pork, like Corfu's noumboulo.
Make Tinos and Mykonos Cured Pork16. Sifnos Baked Chickpea Pie
Revithopita Sifnou · Ρεβιθόπιτα Σίφνου · reh-vee-THOH-pee-tah SEEF-noo
The word pita promises phyllo, and there is none. On Sifnos this is cooked chickpeas mashed with onion, lemon and olive oil, plus a little flour, then baked slowly into a dense golden slab. It grew out of the same chickpea habit as the island's revithada. Vegan, filling, and arguably better after a day's rest.
Yiayia’s tip: Cook the chickpeas until genuinely very tender. They need to blend or mash down smoothly, well past the firmness you would want for a salad.
Make Sifnos Baked Chickpea Pie17. Almond Garlic Dip
Skordalia me amygdala · Σκορδαλιά με αμύγδαλα · skor-dah-lee-AH meh ah-MEEG-thah-lah
The mainland makes skordalia with potato. Several islands use ground almonds and soaked bread instead, and get a richer, nuttier dip. Almonds do not turn gluey the way potato does, so this one can go in a food processor. It is vegan, which made it useful on fasting days.
Yiayia’s tip: Squeeze the bread properly dry. Excess water thins the dip and stops it reaching a proper thick, spreadable consistency.
Make Almond Garlic Dip18. Prawns with Feta and Tomato
Garides saganaki · Γαρίδες σαγανάκι · ghah-REE-des sah-ghah-NAH-kee
Prawns in sharp tomato sauce with feta on top, finished under the grill or in the oven. Saganaki is the pan, not a cheese. Timing is the only way to spoil it: the sauce needs twenty minutes and the prawns three or four. A splash of ouzo flamed in the pan gives the taverna taste.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not let the feta fully melt. Feta softens and browns rather than melting smoothly. Pull it out while there are still distinct pieces, which is the texture you want against the sauce.
Make Prawns with Feta and Tomato19. Courgette Fritters with Feta
Kolokithokeftedes · Κολοκυθοκεφτέδες · ko-lo-kee-tho-kef-TEH-des
Every Greek island has its own version: grated courgette, feta and herbs, fried crisp and eaten hot with tzatziki and lemon. A courgette is over ninety percent water. The whole method is a fight against that, because water left in the mix means more flour, and more flour means a heavy fritter.
Yiayia’s tip: Squeeze twice. Once after the salting, then again just before mixing. Courgettes keep releasing water and the second squeeze always yields more.
Make Courgette Fritters with Feta20. Pickled Rock Samphire Salad
Kritamo · Κρίταμο · KREE-tah-moh
Rock samphire grows straight out of cracks in sea cliffs, and tavernas across the Dodecanese and the Cyclades keep a jar of it. It crunches like a young bean and bites like celery and fennel. Like capers, it gets a brief blanch, a day in vinegar and salt, then months under olive oil.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not add salt when you serve it. Kritamo has been salted twice and grows in sea spray to begin with. Taste before seasoning anything you put it in, including the salad it goes on top of.
Make Pickled Rock Samphire Salad
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