Rice-filled Pumpkin | You've Got Meal!

It took for us to make our own blog in order to start cooking pumpkin, but the wait was worth. Growing up the only way we actually ate pumpkin was in (a very nice) pie, that, I have to admit, is one of the best smelling dishes I’ve ever seen. But bringing this seasonal ingredient to a salty dish was something I wanted to do for a very long time and I started with the stew posted last time. This time, the dish is a little flashier and it can certainly make you feel badass in front of your guests. Honestly, bringing a neat looking pumpkin filled with a spicy, creamy rice to the table has to score some points with the company you keep. 

Let’s start of with the ingredients that I used for filling a pumpkin about 1,3-1,5 kilo pumpkin: 
about half a cup of risotto rice, 
1 medium onion, 
3-4 cloves of garlic, 
1 medium beet, 
4 tbsp capers 
1 chilli, 
cinnamon, ground cumin and cardamom, 
salt, pepper, 
75 grams of butter, 
olive oil and 
100 grams of grated Parmesan. 

And of course the above said pumpkin and its insides. A couple of things about the ingredients: I decided to fill the pumpkin with a risotto style rice and, also, add cheese to this combination, but you can easily turn this recipe in a vegetarian star by using soy or coconut milk/cream, in which case a slightly more oriental touch of aromas could be in case. For the pumpkin, pick a healthy, sturdy one, with no visible marks or soft areas – those can give you trouble in the oven. You need to remove the insides of the “beast” before beginning, but don’t throw it away, you’ll integrate it in the rice. Also, make sure you don’t throw the top of the pumpkin, you’ll use it later.

• To start things of, cook your beet in the oven. First wash the root vegetable, pat it dry, place it on a piece of tin foil, splash a small amount of olive oil on the beet, some salt then close the foil on the vegetable, creating a wrapper that still holds enough room for the steam to build in there. The cooking time depends on the size of the beet, in this case it took 45 minutes. The vegetable is done when you can easily stick your knife through it. When the beet is done, remove the foil, let it cool down then finely cut it -  set aside. 
• Next, start making your risotto by cooking the finely diced onion and garlic for a bout 4 minutes on high heat, in some olive oil. Next add the beet,  the capers and the pumpkin insides (you won’t be able to use all of it, so keep around 1 cup of the finely diced pumpkin “entrails”). Cook the vegetables for another 3 -5 minutes. Add in the rice and all the spices and cook them for a minute before adding the liquid – use only stock or add wine, if you feel like it (1 part wine to 3 parts stock, make sure you simmer the wine down before adding the rest of the liquid).You need to cook the rice to about 90% done, so make sure you taste your rice -  it should take around 20 minutes on a medium high heat. 
• Remove the rice from the stove, add in the butter and mix things. 
• Next, start filling the pumpkin with the creamy rice – add a couple of tbs. of rice and top those with a heavy layer of cheese. Keep going until you’re almost at the top -  don’t completely fill the pumpkin up t the top, it will need some space to bubble up when the insides  start cooking. 
• Place top on the pumpkin and put in an oven tray, with some oven proof paper, on medium heat and cook for about 30 minutes. 
• You can choose to serve the pumpkin whole and cut it at the table or slice it yourself before plating, either way make sure to add some green to the dish with some chopped  parsley or oregano or basil or thyme or mint. Pick one already. And then eat, you’ll like it. 

Oh, and I can’t end this recipe without making this point: you can always use bacon in cooking the rice, just saying, no pressure……

Thassos, Greece- Day 7

We have reached our last day in Thassos and I feel sad even when I am writing this, is like my vacation being over all over again.

This will be a pretty short post, because we went to Thassos City, Limenas for the second time, to be done with the shopping.

We did have  a lot more time to visit it than the previous time, so we started with shopping and then walked around and had some early dinner.

We bought some other gifts and mor of the stuff we previously liked a lot, like pine and orange honey, dried olives and some fig candy.

We relaxed a bit on a pier, also looking for a restaurant, then decided to visit the old theatre. You are supposed to climb a lot of stairs to reach it and it was pretty exhausting.

Unfortunately, on our way, we discovered a sign, saying the that the theatre could not be visited because it was being restored. Ironic, but we kept climbing hoping we would still get to see something.

We got a pretty nice view, but that was it. No ruins, no old theatre, just some heavy machines and some stay-out-signs. :)

So we got back and went to look a restaurant that we read about on most reviews about Limenas, Muses.

It turned out the restaurant was really ok, the food was good and the service, as usual, really ok.

This was the view from the tavern. The atmosphere is greek, the decor is very traditional and you have the sea so close to you. You can find Muses (or Mouses) right next to the harbour, where you take the ferry.

We had some traditional oven baked Greek meatballs with tomato sauce and a salad with peaches and sesame.

The complimentary dessert was delicious, a gorgeous chocolate cake.

By now, everything got sad. The next day, we woke up, took all our bags out and waited for a bus to take us to the ferry.

I hope you enjoyed reading our daily vacation stories, I hope you find them usefull, I do encourage everybody to visit Thassos, it was so much fun and relaxing.

Goodbye Greece....

Thassos, Greece- Day 5

Visiting Panagia was one of the things we just had to do in this vacation. So, we actually dedicated one day to this little trip.

So we were again on the bus and in about 15-20 minutes we arrived. Panagia is a beautiful little village, let's say, that you can go to for shopping, just for a nice walk and taking pictures or to find out more about making olive oil.

I really enjoyed shopping in Panagia because you find many small, family shops, where you can buy homemade olive oil (each family says they have the best oil), homemade drinks, soaps or home accessories. 

As far as restaurants go, I have to say you can find other places with a lot more options, but the food we had was good.

Let's just start with the environment, to create a context. :) Panagia is a typical mountain village. The streets are narrow and they give you a home and comfort feeling. I have to say you can really walk a lot to see the village, you climb up and then go down a lot and everywhere you see beautiful houses, with lots of plants and grape vines. Also, olive trees, pine trees, pomegranate, lime and fig trees everywhere.

What I liked the most were the houses painted  in the traditional Greek blue or the ones with the facades constructed from beautiful local stone.

For a break we stopped at Elena's, a tavern that serves traditional food, so we went all traditional. We ordered Greek moussaka and eggplant stuffed with minced meat. 

Obviously, the moussaka had aubergines and both of the dishes had bechamel on top,  so they tasted almost the same. It was ok, although they didn't put so much effort in the kitchen to make the dishes appealing. Serving fries with everything must be really convenient, but if the moussaka had a potatoes layer, I honestly don't see the point of chips. 

Anyway, the dishes had a nice, home-cooked-meal-approach and that was exactly what we asked for, to try something cooked the way the locals would serve it in their homes, for their families.

After lunch, we rushed to a place we just had to see. It was a place where they show you how they make olive oil. In the front, there was a big room with a nice little showroom.

Here you could buy all sorts of olive oil and olive oil products. Olives, balms, small olive wood decor, soaps, olive seed bracelets, etc. here, I bought  some *healing* balms, magnets and an amazingly moisturizing olive oil liquid soap.

You could also learn more about the production process  through a screen, see some tools and other interesting things. Information is the key....even in your time off, I guess!

In the back of the building, you could actually see how the oil is produced traditionally.....

...and how it is made in factories.

Also, we discovered how smooth and amazing olive tree wood (is that how you call it?) is. Honestly, it is really cool. *childish excitement here*

We also bought some other stuff in Panagia, that we couldn't find in Thassos City, so the trip was very pleasant. We had some homemade olive oil, some pomegranate drink made with Metaxa (will try that in a super-cold evening), a lot of handmade pillow cases and a wooden Pinocchio puppet (adorable) for my nephew.

I loved Panagia, really loved it. We both did actually, we wanted to move there immediately. It was such a cozy but fascinating place, I always had the feeling that I somehow interfere in locals' lives, but they didn't seem to mind that. So full of life, but peaceful, if that makes any sense.

When we got back to our room- surprise- a storm started. The view from our balcony after the storm left you breathless. The mountains you could see above Skala Potamia seemed to be steamy, with clouds rising up in the mountains.

And, not very far away, above the water we spotted a little (I have no idea if it was little or big, just guessing) tornado. Can you see it?

We started to doubt the weather to come in the next days, but, as it turned out, we had nothing to be afraid off.

Stay tuned for the next story,