.
FOOD HEROES
Ariadne of Vasa
Before we re-located to England in 2011, our last meal out was at Ariadne’s at Vasa. And, on our recent visit this year, our last evening was spent at her taverna. After more than 20 years of running her own show, now admitting to “nearing 70 years old”, Ariadne is considering what she calls “retirement”.
“I like to buy a little house in the centre of the village (Vasa),” she told me, “maybe one or two rooms for people to stay, and maybe four or five tables downstairs, where I can cook a little for my friends.” Can I make a booking now, Ariadne? When this plan comes to fruition, she said, she hoped her two sons would carry on her taverna on the “Old Road” to Vasa.
The “Friends of Ariadne”, of course, would number many hundreds of people from a number of countries. Some would remember bitter winter evenings maybe 20 years ago round a roaring fire in the old school building in Vasa with hot dishes of the real Cyprus coming steaming from Ariadne’s kitchen – and summer ones, too, under the vines covering the yard outside, listening to the happy chatter of contented diners, sniffing the wafts of barbecue smoke and enjoying Ariadne’s mezze table.
It was there one day in September 2006 that Mary and I joined Victor Papadopoulos with his special guests, the family Guigal, often quoted as “the best winemakers on the planet”, for a truly memorable lunch. This was just one of hundreds of lovely times at Ariadne’s – sometimes simply the two of us, others with friends, and one or two slightly riotous assemblies of what one might term “Affinity Groups” (such as supporters of our donkey sanctuary!)
Cypriots and foreigners alike travelled from as far away as Larnaca and Nicosia to eat here – and still do.
It was about the time of the Guigal lunch that Ariadne had moved to her new-build taverna on the old road to Vasa, when I wrote a review, all of which would apply perfectly today. This is an extract:
“I have remarked on this lady before – she is truly one of the best cooks of proper Cypriot food I have ever come across. Not quite able to take on all of her magnificent Mezze, we selected instead some Ariadne specials: rice-stuffed courgette flowers, meat stuffed vine-leaves (no-one does them better), a village salad, fresh bread and a pot of yogurt that tasted more like sour cream, followed by pork kebabs and grilled chicken, accompanied by a house speciality, tiny jacket potatoes, slightly crushed and then deep fried and finished with red wine. By now replete, we were preparing our departure when the good lady brought along the dish she knows is my favourite: courgette flowers, stuffed with cheese, covered in a dreamy light batter and deep fried. How could we refuse? This is exquisite.”
Three cheers for Ariadne, who is not just a true Cyprus Food Hero, but a local one as well, noted for her quiet and unassuming work helping the elderly and disadvantaged of her locality.
Ariadne’s Restaurant, Vassa Old Road. Open every day. Booking recommended, telephone 2594 4064
***
Ariadne’s Slightly Crushed New Potatoes
Ingredients
4 – 6 baby potatoes for each person
Oil for deep frying
Red wine
Salt and pepper
Sesame seeds
Method
1. Wash potatoes, removing any ‘eyes’ and dry.
2. Take a deep heavy pan and heat the cooking oil (enough to cover the amount of potatoes you are going to put in).
3. With a cleaver, or clean mallet, ‘bonk’ the potatoes until they split just a little.
4. Sprinkle with salt.
5. Put spuds into the hot oil and fry until cooked through.
6. Drain most of the oil, leaving a little on the bottom.
7. Pour in some red wine, just to cover the bottom.
8. Sprinkle sesame seeds over.
9. Put back on high heat and stir potatoes in the wine/oil, making sure it cover all the potatoes, until wine has evaporated.
Serve hot.
PORK CHOPS PATROCLOS
Cyprus pork is generally very tender, so it doesn’t need much cooking. As a rule, you cook such meat either for a little while or for a long time. So pork loin or chops just need 2-3 minutes each side if you’re grilling, but for stews you need more time for the meat to get through the ‘tough’ barrier and out the other side, at least 30 minutes. I “invented” this recipe for my first cook book some years ago, and it never fails to please.
You will need a frying pan and an oven roasting pan with lid or foil cover. The size of our pork chops being what they are, you will probably have to brown them in batches and your oven pan will be a large one.
Ingredients for six servings
6 pork chops
3 tbsp flour
Salt and pepper mixed with the flour
2 tbsp olive oil,
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
2 large green salad onions, chopped
1 large clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
450 g ripe tomatoes, peeled, de-seeded (if you wish) and chopped
1 large green pepper, de-seeded and sliced
2 tbsp tomato purée
1 tbsp chopped tarragon or basil
1 good wine glassful of dry white wine
Method
1. Heat oven to 180ºC.
2. Trim the chops and cover both sides with the seasoned flour.
3. Heat oil and brown chops on both sides in a non-stick frying pan.
4. Remove them from the frying pan and put into a medium sized roasting pan. Keep warm.
5. Add a little more oil to the frying pan and then stir fry the onion, salad onions and garlic for a couple of minutes, then add the pepper and stir fry for two minutes more.
6. Add the tomatoes, tomato purée and the herbs.
7. Simmer for five minutes stirring regularly.
8. Season well, and pour the wine in and stir.
9. Pour the tomato/wine mixture around the pork, cover the pan with foil and cook in the oven for around 40 minutes.
Wine Accompaniment
As my tribute this week is to Ariadne of Vasa, my wine to go with the pork chops is one from a nearby vineyard: Argyrides Maratheftiko. This quirky local grape has many faces, each one fashioned by a different winemaker and this is a stylish individualistic offering, a powerful red that is one of my favourites.
Next week, my Food Hero is Sam Kazzaz of Limanaki, Pissouri Bay, fame.
