A few words about our menu from our 'chef de cuisine' Sophia Zbinovsky Braddel (in close collaboration with Rowan Beasley & Katerina Mansfield).
As with every DAI Confluence menu, we aim to use farm-fresh produce to highlight local recipes and seasonal produce. For March, this process could not have been done without the help of Marina Christodoulidou and Katerina Mansfield, our Cypriot friends who have shown us the most delicious and soulful food sources.
On first day of KITCHENS, we are very lucky to highlight our co-chef Katerina and her practice by having her completely take over the menu for lunch and dinner at SPEL, accompanied by her sous-chef Rafaella Christofi.
This time, we are choosing to support:
- Giorgos Shammas for all of our extra virgin olive oil from his private production coming from the village of Kampia
- Ανδρουκλερό winery which is providing a dry red wine from the Pitsilia region, aged in a clay amphora for a few months and then moved to an oak barrel for at least 2 years.
- Tsangarides winery for our Xinisteri white wine from the Paphos region, with notes of melon and citrus.
- Karpos Stavraki Athieniti, where we will get our nuts, seeds and spices.
- Heracleous from the village of Lympia for our goat/sheep halloumi & anari cheeses and yoghurts.
- Seeds of Happiness for our organic gluten free bread
- Farmer Andreas Serdaris from the Oxi market,
- Stephanie Polycarpou for an organic bitter orange non-alcoholic drink, from her family’s citrus orchard in Alambra
And other various vendors from the local open-air market.
Of course as chefs working in our patchwork kitchen for the first time, we are hesitant to share the entire menu plan due to the fact that our menu is not, in fact, a true “menu”, rather it is a collection of ideas that guide us, but as soon as the first DAI dinner is served, it becomes a living thing that we adapt with- –changing shape with leftovers, or fruits that are delivered underripe, or the weather turning gloriously warmer.
This is the beauty that comes from working with living things, and feeling the trust of a community. We are endlessly grateful to you for giving us this trust.
We do want to share, however, some dishes that have inspired us immensely and that in all likelihood, you will be tasting over the course of this Confluence:
- Fried kolokythokeftedes - zucchini balls with fresh mint and feta cheese)
- Portokalopita - an orange-soaked filo cake
- Pizeli yiaxni - green peas stewed in tomato sauce with carrots, potatoes, aromatics and mint
- Fasolada - a bean soup that is the national dish of Cyprus
- Vegetable moussaka
- Brandy Sours, artichokes, grilled halloumi, village salad, carob syrup, fava puree, towers of lemons, and of course, lots of creamy tahini.