Still not enough Basil! How about Sea Urchins?

Every food Blog I open is full of Pesto this and Pesto that and I don’t have any Basil plants of sufficient size to make any of this most delicious summer sauce (see previous Post about automatic watering!).

Finally and to my great joy, my crazy mint plant is beginning to recover from its drought and I have some tiny green leaves pushing out – thanks to lots of water, wonderful Greek sunshine and Reiki – I talk to all my plants so why not Reiki them too for good measure! But my one remaining Basil is struggling valiantly but I couldn’t possibly start harvesting its fragrant leaves – it’s just a joy to give it a brush with my hand as I pass it to release its magical aroma! God Willing, or, more appropriately, water willing (which is effectively the same thing in my opinion) all my Basils back in Athens will be huge and ready for cutting when I get back there and there is still lots of summer weather and summer recipes waiting to be made. 

In the meantime ….. I was recently invited to another idyllic Greek island, Skiathos in the Sporades group (together with Skopelos of Mama Mia fame) and although Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth were not part of our group we had someone far more important:  A Sea Urchin specialist! Off our friend would swim, complete with goggles, snorkel, knife and net bag to pick these amazing creatures and to be a ‘specialist’ you have to know which ones will yield the tastiest flesh – are they the black ones, the dark red, the large or smaller – as long as the ‘specialist’ knows then you are in the best of hands. We would lunch everyday on our hosts’ classic yacht anchored in the bay off their beach and our ‘specialist’ would reappear with his net filled with these potentially dangerous creatures (anyone, and usually it’s a child, who has trodden on a sea urchin and got a foot full of broken spines will know exactly what I am talking about!). He would sit on the deck with a bucket of sea water to clean and open these treasures of the not-so-deep with the special gadget that makes this a simple task (and well worth investing in as using kitchen scissors is heavy going and open to a messy result).

The SPECIALIST at work!

What a glorious feast! Sea urchins with lemon juice, an assortment of fish that must have jumped out of the sea into the frying pan, egg plants, just sliced and fried, a glorious Greek salad, Feta Cheese, Olives, Country Bread, Tzatziki – all washed down with Ouzo or icy white wine. Nothing, simply nothing better as it included a fun group of dear friends who have known each other forever and, God Willing, will continue to enjoy each others company for many summers to come.

Out of the sea, a dusting of flour, into hot oil for a few seconds - perfect!

Purple & white aubergines fried in olive oil

Tzatziki, yogurt, garlic, cucumber & mint

How delicious was that!

Nothing more needed to round off a simple summer meal than a plate of chilled fruit

Refreshing melon

Then a snooze on the deck before a plunge into the incredibly warm water and a gentle swim back to the beach and tea, of course, on the terrace to watch the sunset and wait for the next delicious meal!

Summer in Greece!

Glorious Greece!

Wishing you Glorious Greek sunshine, whatever the weather, and the best of friends to share it with!