At Anna’s Kitchen Table

Having the family round for Sunday dinner is one of life’s great joys! It warms my heart to cook for them and have them around my table chatting and laughing together. 

The typical Cypriot family doesn’t really ‘do’ formal three-course dinners. No measured amounts for us….more a meal served ‘family style’, with dishes served in large serving bowls, or platters, passed around the table for appreciative appetites to share. 

Don’t fancy this one? Let it pass you by…want more of another dish? Help yourself, that’s the idea. 

Yesterday I had the family round for my daughter’s belated birthday party. The first Sunday in March that we were all free. It was great – my parents, children, daughter-in-law, brother with his son, old family friends that we grew up with, free flowing wine, giggles, chat…..perfect. ❤️

Along with the typical Cypriot dishes- keftedhes, pasticho, kleftiko, we had some rather more unusual fishy dishes, which I’d like to share here with you….

Crab Salad (Kavourosalata)

(Makes enough for 1 serving bowl)

3 dressed crabs (white and brown meat)

1 very finely chopped onion

1 cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley

Olive oil, salt and lemon juice to taste. 

Mix the crab, onion and parsley, add salt, olive oil and lemon juice to taste. 

Squid stuffed with rice, prawn and chorizo. 

(Makes between 35-40 tiny stuffed squid..Allow 5-6 per person if serving as a main course)

35-40 small (3-4 inch) cleaned squid tubes

2 cups cooked rice

2 small chorizo cooking sausages, finely chopped

1 small onion, finely chopped

200g small prawns, chopped 

3 pepper (bell pepper) halves- red, yellow, green 

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 knob of butter (1tbsp)

1. Heat the butter in a small pan, add the garlic and onion and sweat for a few minutes. 

2. Add the chopped chorizo and the peppers and cook for a few minutes until the chorizo is cooked through. 

3. Add the cooked rice and finally the prawns. Season with salt and pepper. 

4.  Allow the mixture to cool enough to handle. Stuff the squid tubes and place in a baking tray, snugly. 

5. Sprinkle with olive oil (2-3 tbsp) and a few glugs of white wine. 

6.  Cook at 180 deg.C for 20 minutes. 

(Thankyou to my friend Regan, for her help with this recipe) 

Crevettes in a cream, garlic and tomato sauce topped with Fetta. 

18-20 large Crevettes (large shell-on prawns)

1 large knob butter (2-3tbsp)

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

400g sieved tomato pasatta. 

4 tbsp double cream

1tsp sugar

1 block of Greek Fetta cheese. 

1. Heat the butter, add the garlic and stir. 

2. Stir in the pasatta, cream and sugar. 

3. Lay the Crevettes, single layer, in a baking tray. Cover with the tomato cream sauce. Top with crumbled Fetta cheese. 

4. Cook in a 180 deg.C oven for 20 minutes. 

Enjoy with your loved ones. 

And enjoy spoiling them.