While for the Greek Orthodox Church the Lenten period lasts for seven weeks, most people choose to fast the last week leading up to Easter.
It is then when devotees around the world withdraw from several pleasures of the body and the mind in preparation for the resurrection; to receive the blood and body of Christ on the early morning hours of the Paschal Sunday, the most sacred observance of the Greek Orthodox calendar.

Even though the 33 three days before Easter call for a vegetarian and on the last week even vegan diet for the strongest at heart, the abundance of meat-free recipes in Greek culture, ensures Lent does not take such a toll on our day-to-day lives.

The food is cooked on certain days if one goes by what the church advises. Holy Thursday is a day no cooking is done, only the boiling and dying of the red eggs.

Orthodox Christians can have food that does not include animal products. On Good Friday and Holy Saturday they should not have oil or wine.

Here’s a couple of delicious go-to Lent recipes from two of our favourite food bloggers:

Revithia sto fourno – baked chickpeas by Kiki Vagianos
A cast-iron pan is a great option for this dish or, of course, the more traditional clay pot if you’re lucky enough to have one in your kitchen. The cast iron just heats every bean through to creamy perfection and I swear, bakes the flavours of the onions and rosemary right into each pea. Truth be told, this is a flexible recipe in terms of bakeware as I’ve used a regular old 9×13 cake pan many times with great results.

Ingredients:
450g dried chickpeas (soaked and boiled until tender) or 4 x 425g cans
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cups reserved boiling liquid from chickpeas or liquid from can
1 tbsp dried chopped rosemary
2 tsp salt
2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
2 ½ cups caramelised onions

Method:
Boil soaked chickpeas for one hour until tender. Reserve two cups boiling liquid before draining. You can do this up to three days ahead and keep both cooked chickpeas and reserve liquid covered in the refrigerator.
When ready to bake:
Layer bottom of casserole dish with caramelised onions and crushed rosemary, salt, pepper. Layer cooked chickpeas on top. Add reserved boiling liquid and oil. Stir gently to just combine. Try to leave onions on the bottom. Cook for two hours loosely covered in 200°C oven and then uncovered for additional 1/2 hour (total cooking time 2 1/2 hrs).

*For the caramelised onions:
1.5kg sweet white onions
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp brandy
-Combine sliced onions, orange juice, olive oil and salt. Cook onions in baking pan at 100°, covered tightly, for one hour. Uncover, stir and continue to cook with lid half off for another two hours. Stir halfway through. At the end of three hours, stir onions and add a tbsp of brandy to deglaze the pan. You can store cooled onions covered in the refrigerator for up to four days.Briami, the Greek ratatouille by Elena Paravantes RD
Briami is basically chunks of vegetables cooked in olive oil, and it belongs to the lathera family. But you don’t just add any vegetable you want, there are certain vegetables that are used: potatoes, zucchini, eggplant, onion, tomato, sometimes okra and bell pepper.

Ingredients:
4 medium potatoes
1 cup chopped tomatoes or sliced or cherry tomatoes
3-4 eggplants
4-5 zucchini
1-2 onions
2 peppers (optional)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
about a cup of olive oil
about a cup of water
2 tablespoons dry mint
2 tablespoons oregano
1/4 cup parsley
salt/pepper

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C
2. Cut potatoes, zucchini and eggplant in slices. Do the same with the onion and peppers if you would like to add them to the dish.
3. Pour all the vegetables in a large bowl. Add garlic, mint, parsley, oregano and mix.
4. Mix the tomato paste with a bit of water (1 tablespoon) and add to the vegetables.
5. Add about 3/4 to 1 cup olive oil and mix well. We usually do it with our hands.
6. Add salt to taste and pepper, and mix some more (I add very little salt and add more if needed when serving).
7. Transfer the vegetables to a large, shallow pan, it should be able to fit all the vegetables in one layer.
8. Pour in a corner of the pan about 1/2-3/4 cup water and tilt the pan so that it spreads, but don’t pour it over the vegetables. Pour more later if it seems like they are becoming dry.
9. Cover with aluminum foil and roast for about an hour.
10. After an hour check and see if the vegetables are cooked (you should be able to stick a fork in them easily).If they are cooked, remove the foil and roast for another 1/2 hour until the potatoes start turning golden brown.
11. Let it cool and serve with bread and feta cheese. You can also serve cold.

Holy Thursday is the day that the baking is done, the tsourekia, koulouria and the dying of the red eggs. No other jobs or chores around the house should be taken care of. Dora Kitinas-Gogos shares the two Holy Thursday recipes she swears by:

Koulourakia Paschalina (Easter biscuits)

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, plus extra for greasing cookie sheets, 1 and 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 egg yolks
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground mastic
1/4 cup orange juice
1 oz baking soda
1/2 cup milk
9 cups all purpose flour
Egg wash, made by beating one egg with two tablespoons of milk

Method:
Preheat the oven to 170 C. Grease the cookie sheets with butter.
1. Beat together the butter and sugar with a mixer. Beating constantly add the eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition. Add the vanilla, mastic and orange juice and mix.
2. Change to the dough hook. Combine the baking soda and milk in a bowl.
3. Beating constantly adding the milk mixture in three batches alternating with the flour. Knead the mixture, adding flour if necessary to form a smooth, easy to handle dough.
4. Take pieces of the dough and form them into balls about 3/4 of an inch in circumference. It will be convenient to finish rolling all the dough before proceeding to the next step
5. Roll each ball into a rod shape and fold it in half, then Place them on the cookie sheets and brush them with egg wash.
6. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes. They should have a light golden color. Not too brown.
7. Take out of the oven and let cool slightly. Remove them from the cookie sheets carefully, as koulourakia can be fragile. Stack them in layers inside cookie tins.

*Note: Koulourakia will keep for up to two months, unless you have little two legged creatures that are always hungry, that can open tins and take out handfuls of koulourakia to enjoy with a glass of milk.

Tsoureki (Sweet Easter bread)

This is a fail safe recipe; it has come to me via a friend from Thessaloniki that her mother taught her that has been in their family for generations. I have translated it from the Greek, which utilises Greek ingredients, and have substituted with what we have here; it is a large quantity as in Greece baking is not for the weak. If you want a smaller quantity, half the recipe.

Ingredients:
*Amongst the spices there is a spice called κουκουλέ (koukoule), I cant find a translation for it and therefore have omitted it, if you know what it is please include it and please let me know what it is, thank you.
3 kilos plain flour
126 grams fresh yeast
1,250 grams sugar
10 – 12 eggs
1 litre warm milk
1 soupspoon of salt
1 packet of mahlepi
1 packet masticha
2 tablespoons of seed oil
125 grams of unsalted butter
*Tips
1. Everything has to be warm
2. The butter goes in at the end
3. We don’t kneed, we only fold till everything becomes one. This is important as to much kneading, makes the gluten more glutinous and will make the tsoureki hard.

Method:
1. Dissolve the yeast in a glass of warm water adding a little of the flour till it has a runny dough consistency, cover and put aside in a warm spot till it rises
2. In a large bowel put the sugar, salt, the spices, the seed oil.
3. Add the warm milk and mix
4. Beat the eggs slightly in a separate bowl and add them the mixture
5. Add the yeast and mix everything preferably by hand
6. Add the flour gradually folding gently by hand till we have soft dough.
7. Melt the butter and add while warm but not hot and fold in gently till all the butter is one with the dough
8. The dough should be warm; we put it aside to rise covered well. I usually cover with a blanket as previous women in my family have done. Leave for at least an hour or when the dough had double its size.
9. Make the tsourekia into any shape that you wish and you might like to add a red egg
10. Put the tsourekia aside to rest for 1/2 hour, brush with an egg yolk that has been slightly diluted in warm water
11. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes in a medium heat of 170 C, the time depends on the size.

Kali Orexi and Kalo Pasha!