Hair and makeup: Juliana Sergot using Lancôme and TIGI. Photograph: Pedro Alvarez/The Observer
Georgina Hayden was at a family wedding on the Greek island of Lefkada when she heard that Nistisima had been voted Best New Cookbook at this year’s OFM Awards. To say she was surprised would be an understatement, despite the enthusiastic reception for the book when it was published in March. “When I pitched the idea, I thought it shouldn’t work on so many levels,” she says. “Orthodox Christianity. Religion. A cookbook on fasting [nistisima means “fasting food” in Greek]. Would people get it? It is quite niche, but I am chuffed that they let me write it.”
Nistisima refers to all foods eaten during the cycles of fasting that punctuate the Orthodox Christian calendar. Up to 200 days of each year are spent doing this, including every Wednesday and Friday, the 50 days before Easter, and 50 days before Christmas. Meat, dairy and eggs are excluded, some believers eschew oil, but honey and seafood are allowed. For ease, Hayden, who has Greek-Cypriot roots, does not use seafood. “I want people who are not Orthodox to read Nistisima,” says Hayden, who grew up above her paternal grandparents’ restaurant in north London and whose grandmother still fasts. “I want people to understand the idea, but if they just wanted inspiration for lovely recipes, then the book could work for that, too.”
We may think of fasting in terms of what is absent, which seems counterintuitive for a writer such as Hayden, who has become known for her abundant food, but that would be wrong. Highlights of Nistisima include hareeseh, a coconut semolina cake from Jordan; varză călită, a Romanian dish of pepper-braised cabbage wedges finished with walnuts for “fat and flavour”; curvy, plump bourekia stuffed with cumin-spiced potato and mushroom. Then there’s the dramatically named Phanouropita: the Lost and Found Cake of Saint Phanourios, patron saint of finding lost things, appropriate for a book written when travel was not always possible. Facetime and WhatsApp were a godsend, allowing Hayden to talk to Orthodox Christians around the world. “There was something beautiful about the connections, friendships and stories that were made at a time when we were all stuck at home.”
The increased interest in plant-based meals is timely, although there is no insistence on expensive meat or dairy substitutes. “I’m not trying to replicate anything,” Hayden says emphatically. “There’s no fake meat, there’s no fake cheese; it’s just about saying, ‘Look, these recipes have been around for hundreds of years; they are vegan because that’s the way we have always lived. Let’s celebrate what is already there.’”
You just have to be true to yourself, Hayden says. “Why people fast became very apparent to me. I don’t talk about my faith in the book because it’s not relevant. I fast, and there are many people who do it just because they want to have familiarity and connection with their ancestors, their relatives or smells from home. There’s such an interesting range of reasons and every time I go to Greece and Cyprus there are so many things to discover,” she adds, having recently returned from Greece. “In Lefkada, I had an olive oil cake, ladopita, which was nistisimo [fasting food]. It was so delicious. I had never come across it before and thought: ‘Oh well, I’ll just have to keep writing about this subject in one way or another.’”
Recipes from OFM’s Best New Cookbook
Shchi – cabbage and caraway soup
This hearty soup is a staple of Russian cuisine. There are lots of variations depending on region and season: green shchi made with sorrel or nettles; a sour version made with sauerkraut; some with meat.
This fast-friendly version is incredibly comforting, simple and needs no adornment, apart from a slice of rye bread. However, if you are eating dairy, you could add a dollop of sour cream to your bowl.
Serves 4-6
onions 2
garlic 4 cloves
leek 1
carrots 2
waxy potatoes 400g
white cabbage 500g
sunflower oil 4 tbsp
tomato puree 2 tbsp
caraway seeds 1 tsp
sweet smoked paprika ¼ tsp
vegetable stock 1.5 litres
bay leaves 2
sea salt and freshly ground
black pepper
dill ½ bunch
rye bread to serve
Peel and finely chop the onions and garlic. Trim and finely slice the leek, then rinse it well in a colander to get rid of any dirt. Peel the carrots and potatoes, then chop them into 2cm pieces, keeping them separate.
Halve the cabbage, remove the core, and finely shred the leaves. Place the sunflower oil in a large casserole or saucepan over a medium-low heat. Add the onions, garlic, leeks and carrots and sauté for 15 minutes, until softened and sticky. Stir in the tomato puree, caraway seeds and paprika then, after a minute, add the shredded cabbage, chopped potato, vegetable stock and bay leaves.
Turn up the heat and bring to the boil. Season generously, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook on a low heat for 1 hour, until the vegetables are tender and the broth is rich. Taste and tweak the seasoning.
Leave for 10 minutes before serving. Finely chop the dill, then ladle the soup into bowls and serve scattered with dill, and a slice of rye bread on the side.
Kolokithopita – pumpkin and raisin pie with harissa
This one of my go-to nistisimo recipes if I have people round for a meal – you can get it ready in advance, it looks impressive and it tastes amazing. It is loosely based on the Greek-Cypriot fasting classic kolokotes – little pumpkin, bulgur and raisin pies – that my yiayia Martha makes. Roasting the pumpkin first is not traditional, my yiayia just uses finely chopped raw pumpkin, but I think it brings a more intense flavour to the dish, which I balance with harissa oil and dill.
Serves 4
pumpkin or butternut squash 800g
olive oil 125ml
sea salt 1 tsp
freshly ground black pepper
ground cinnamon 1 tsp
harissa paste 1½ tbsp
caster sugar 1 tbsp
fine bulgur wheat 40g
sultanas or raisins 50g
spring onions 4
dill ½ bunch
filo pastry 300g
garlic 1 clove
Preheat the oven to 220C fan/gas mark 9. Peel and chop the pumpkin into 2cm pieces and place in a roasting tray with three tablespoons of the olive oil, half a teaspoon of sea salt, a good pinch of freshly ground black pepper, the ground cinnamon, one tablespoon of the harissa paste and the sugar. Toss together well, spread out into one even layer and pop in the oven for 25-30 minutes, until the pumpkin is charred around the edges.
Remove from the oven, spoon into a bowl and leave to cool. When the pumpkin has cooled, stir in the bulgur wheat and sultanas or raisins. Trim and finely chop the spring onions and dill.
Add all the spring onions and half of the dill to the bowl and mix everything together, crushing and mashing the pumpkin pieces down a bit.
When ready to bake, heat your oven to 200C fan/gas mark 7. Brush a 22cm springform cake tin with a little oil. Lay out a sheet of filo, longest side nearest to you, and brush with oil, then top with another sheet.
Spoon one-third of the mixture in a line about 4cm above the bottom edge of the pastry, then brush the pastry with more oil. Roll the pastry and filling up like a cigar then curl it into a swirl; this is the centre of your pie. Place the filled swirl in the middle of the cake tin.
Repeat the filling and rolling process with the remaining sheets of filo and filling, adding each length to the pie spiral, so you have a coiled snake effect.
Brush the entire pie with a little more oil and sprinkle with the remaining salt. Bake for 35–45 minutes, until crisp and deep golden brown.
While the pie is baking, make the finishing oil. Crush the garlic, in its skin, with the side of your knife and place in a small pan with four tablespoons of olive oil. Gently fry over a low heat, until it starts smelling wonderful but it doesn’t burn – about 4 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and immediately stir in the remaining half-tablespoon of harissa. Leave to cool.
When the pie is ready, brush with the harissa garlic oil, discarding the garlic clove, and leave the pie to stand for at least 15 minutes.
Serve sprinkled with the remaining chopped dill.
Grilled squash with herbs and dukkah
If you’re a fan of squash but not its long cooking time then this is the recipe for you, as cutting it thinly enough dramatically cuts this down. And if you use a grill pan, or a barbecue, you’ll get a delicious, sweet-charred flavour that is complemented so well with the earthy nuttiness of dukkah. I really do recommend using homemade dukkah, it’s a total game changer.
Serves 4-6
butternut squash 800g
extra virgin olive oil 3 tbsp
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
flat-leaf parsley ½ bunch
mint ½ bunch
lemon 1
dukkah 2 tbsp (recipe below)
Place a grill pan on a high heat. Peel and slice the squash into 1cm slices, discarding any seeds. Place in a large bowl and drizzle with
two tbsp of extra virgin olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper.
Massage the seasoning into the squash, then grill the slices for 3–4 minutes on each side, until charred in parts and just cooked through. You will have to do this in batches. When ready, transfer to a platter.
While it is cooking, pick the herb leaves into a mixing bowl and finely grate over the lemon zest. Squeeze over the lemon juice, stir in the remaining olive oil, season a little and toss together. When all the squash is cooked, toss through the herb mixture and sprinkle with the dukkah.
Dukkah
Despite only recently being able to find dukkah on spice shelves in UK shops, this traditional Egyptian seasoning has been around for centuries. Translated from Arabic, dukkah means “to pound” as traditionally it is made by crushing and pounding the nuts and spices in a pestle and mortar, which is how many still make their dukkah. The amounts aren’t set in stone and can be played with, according to your taste – this is a guide and how I like to make mine.
A mixture of nuts is good; ideally, half should be almonds and the rest could be pistachios, hazelnuts or walnuts. But try it out with whatever you have. It is worth making a large batch, as it is incredibly versatile and can be used in all sorts of ways.
Serve fresh pitta with small bowls of this and extra virgin olive oil to dip into; use it to finish dips such as hummus or muhammara; or sprinkle it on soups and salads. If you are not fasting, then it is particularly delicious scattered over eggs.
Makes a small jar
nuts 150g, a mix of types
fennel seeds 1 tsp
sesame seeds 2 tbsp
coriander seeds 2 tbsp
cumin seeds 1 tbsp
nigella seeds 1 tsp
cayenne pepper ¼ tsp, optional
flaky sea salt 2 tsp, or 1sp fine sea salt
coarsely ground black pepper 1 tsp
Place the nuts in a dry frying pan over a medium heat for around 3–4 minutes, until golden and toasted all over. Place in the bowl of a food processor and leave to cool as you toast the spices.
Place the fennel, sesame, coriander, cumin and nigella seeds in the pan and toast for just a couple of minutes until you can really smell them.
Remove from the heat and leave in the pan for a minute while you pulse the nuts. Pulse a few times to roughly chop, then add the toasted seeds, along with the remaining ingredients and pulse until roughly chopped and well combined. Do not let this become too fine, or it will turn into a paste. Transfer to an airtight container.
Nistisima by Georgina Hayden (Bloomsbury, £26). To order a copy for £22.62 go to guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply
