A Taste of Roda

Volume 2, Issue 2

May 2009

Greece was under Turkish rule but Corfiots were enjoying something of an agricultural and commercial boom, which left them with a legacy of unique culinary specialities that have been handed down throughout the centuries. Pastitsio is just such a dish.

The base of this baked dish uses long, thick

beauty being that if there is plenty left over, then that’s OK! If you think it is superb straight from the oven, you should try it cold with salad the next day – it’s even better.
It is possible to find pastitsio

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Not to be confused with pastitsada which uses beef fillet and is served sprinkled with grated cheese, pastitsio is the archetypal Corfiot layered dish with a strong Italian influence. We have had questions on the forum of Roda Online asking at which restaurants around the village pastitsio can be found, and the good news is that several chefs have it on the menu and others produce it really fresh and make it an occasional daily special.

From the 12th to the 16th centuries, the ruling Venetians changed the character of Corfu forever. At this time, most of

Clear, bright & golden coloured with the delicate aroma of pine, served in small tumblers and drunk in copious amounts – this is perhaps the most famous of all Greek wines, ’retsina’. Many wines need specially shaped glasses to enjoy their subtle bouquet, but not retsina as its resinous quality is at its best when it is served really cold. It is the perfect accompaniment to many of the robust and

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flavoursome Greek dishes laced with herbs and feta cheese and so it has been for almost 3000 years when

clay amphorae were used to transport wine and which were sealed with resin to prevent

spillage and exclude the harmful effects of its enemy, air.
Retsina was very much the drink of Athens and, until land for cultivating grapes became scarce, the sabatiano grapes were grown in the country and brought into the city for fermentation. So desirable was the aroma of resin, that producers added a little to each

batch to mimic the taste that had been enjoyed by their forefathers and every taverna had barrels full of retsina for its customers. It was only some fifty years ago that the retsina we know today became available in bottles. If you like wine but have never tried retsina, give it a go this summer with the meze of your choice – you may find that you have been missing out on one of life’s little treats.

tubular pasta such as bucatini or rigatoni and it could even be made with penne. With subsequent layers of minced beef cooked with tomato and then topped with a béchamel sauce, the infusion of flavours is nothing short of spectacular. You can use kefalotiri, kefalograviera or pecorino cheese, and even parmesan would do. Many Greek dishes are made for the whole family and are cooked in a large round pan called a ‘tapsi’, the

at several of Roda’s eating places. These include Pangalos Taverna, Smiley’s Restaurant, Mary’s Taverna, the Dolphin, Roda Park Restaurant. If it is not on a menu of a favourite restaurant then you can always ask, many of Roda’s restaurants will only be too delighted to make it as a special, given a day’s notice.

Greeks live longer, and that’s a fact. One reason is the consumption of fish to the extent that Greece is the biggest producer of Sea Bream & Bass in the Mediterranean. Restaurants serve locally farmed Sea Bream as one of the popular choices, but almost everything else on the menu depends on what was caught by local fishermen that day.