Greek Traditional Dishes with Modern Twists at a Local Home in Epanomi - Day Trip — CALL

Erna and her husband, Thanos, live in a seaside village outside of Thessaloniki and both share a common passion for food and hospitality. Erna is a native Austrian and has been living in Greece, where she moved after marrying Thanos, for the past 30 years. Erna first learned to cook in school, where cooking classes were part of the curriculum, and she developed a passion that started in the classroom and traveled home, where she fondly remembers recreating dishes learned at school for her family. Erna's in-laws were both professional cooks and she learned traditional Greek cooking from them. She knew she couldn’t compete with their professional cooking skills, so she started to innovate and create her own dishes, which are traditional Greek recipes with an Austrian twist! Erna and Thanos will welcome you into their beautiful home, which is filled with arts and trinkets from their travels across Europe and beyond. Erna makes everything from scratch, including her delicious freshly-baked bread. Thanos is always in charge of the fish, which is cooked to perfection! They combine flavors from their Greek and Austrian cultures with delicious results. Your meal will be served at the dining table or in the garden area, depending on the weather. You can expect to eat dishes cooked with fresh and seasonal ingredients such as fava beans, olive bread, fish with herbs and pine nuts, baked lamb, traditional pie with wild leafy herbs (such as amaranth, dock weed and dandelion), and stuffed zucchini flowers with bulgur. For dessert you might be treated to pomegranate gelee or a fig strudel in red wine sauce served with Greek yogurt. After your meal you can enjoy some coffee and homemade loukoumi (traditional sweets made from flour and sugar) while sharing travel stories. If you book a cooking experience, together with Erna you will prepare all the side dishes for your meal, such as feta or anchovies in wine leaves, fried aubergines stuffed with herbs and fresh cheese, or tzatziki with purslane (traditional strained yogurt with garlic, purslane, olive oil and lemon). All these will be made with fresh and seasonal ingredients. You can expect the cooking lesson to last about 1-2 hours and at the end you will enjoy your full meal together at the table, newly-able to recreate a few authentic Greek dishes once back home! Erna also offers an optional market tour add-on to their small farmer's market. There is a weekly fruit and vegetable market on Wednesdays; on other days Erna will take you to another small, local market where there are fish and vegetable stands.