Mint & lemon iced tsai tou vounou!!

We’ve been in Greece now for over a week.  

We’ve been to the beach a few times..Evangeline has made new friends and met her cousins for the first time..

 we went to the outdoor play centre a couple of times......

had a chicken souvlaki from an chicken joint that and Greek Aussie opened up last year....

had a couple of sessions of icypole making with the kids and went out for a drink once!!!…Mum is arriving in early August so I can get out a bit more..  Not to worry it’s left me time to cook and experiment with all the produce that we are growing and being given daily. 

Our “bakse” , a Turkish origin word for garden, comprises of banana chilies, peppers for stuffing, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, zucchini, basil, mint, parsley, grapes, purslane & plum trees.  Our neighbours have their plots of land out of the city grow their veggies and raise chickens etc.  So every morning Kira Roula who lives next door brings Evangeline fresh eggs.  

Our neighbour who lives opposite, who after 20 years of living in Germany has come back home, brings over peppers, corn, tomatoes, pears….I don’t mean a few here and there I mean bags full….I even got a plate of moussaka the other day…Delish!!!!

In terms of experimental cooking I have made ouzo battered stuffed zucchini flowers with olives, piperies florinis, feta loukaniko & mint .  Today’s recipe is a twist on my favourite lemon iced tea….

Mint, lemon iced tsai tou vounou

Lemon syrup

1 cup sugar

½ cup honey

½ cup packed mint

4 cups water

1 cup lemon juice

Add sugar, honey and water to a pan and simmer.   Add mint and lemon juice.  Simmer for about 10 minutes

For the tea

½ bunch of tsai tou vounou (20 g)

1 litre water

Boil and leave to steep until cool.  Keep in an empty bottle of water in the fridge

Mix 1 cup of syrup with 500 ml of cold tea and 1 can of soda.  Pour in jug with ice fresh slices of lemon and sprigs of mint and ice!!!

Enjoy xxxx Carol