Day 1: March 14, 2016 - Koulouma 2016, Clean Monday - Κούλουμα 2016 - Καθαρά Δευτέρα

Our 2016 Koulouma meal

Kali Sarakosti!  A wonderful and blessed Great Lent to all!  We are delighted to return to our task of sharing various recipes appropriate for Great Lent and the Greek Orthodox Church.  This is our fifth year, and we hope and pray that we will be able to satisfy our readers for one more year, God willing!

Clean Monday (Kathara Deftera) is the first day of Great Lent, but it is a celebratory day.  Today was no different than in the past.  We were not able to fly a kite today, because in Toronto, there was rain and much wind, but we did think about it.  We gathered our family and several Koumbari to share in the Koulouma this year (the meal of Clean Monday).  Our Koulouma is somewhat typical if it is compared to every other Koulouma that is posted on the Internet.  The difference is that we did not focus on the shellfish and mollusks.  We focused on vegetables and dips, we enjoy the lagana, and more importantly, we focus on the family togetherness.  It is a tradition for us to gather later in the day so we feel that we are genuinely starting the journey of Great Lent together.  Here are a few pictures from our family's Koulouma gathering tonight:

Our lagana bread, cut into squares

Baby potatoes, boiled in salted water, with parsley

Kalamata olives

Pickled Pattison mini squash

Fasolakia me domata (white beans with crushed tomatoes)

Fava puree (yellow split peas) with caramelized onions

Sliced sweet tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and dill

Kapetanios brand halva with pistachios

This year, we hope to introduce you to some different foods, again, but we will also introduce variations on some of the classic foods that we enjoy throughout this fasting period.  We have tried many different recipes and many different methods so that we can bring variety to our blog.  For some, this is such a long period with great restriction.  And, for some, many meals will include pulses (beans, etc.) pasta, oatmeal, or peanut butter and jelly because they don't know what else to make or what foods fit into the fasting guidelines.  We are here to help.

So, enjoy the reading, enjoy the pictures, and enjoy the food.  We hope you find the time to leave some comments, questions, or suggestions for us.  We pray that God will give us the strength and the focus to be the best we can through this period.  Pray for us as we will pray for all of you.  And, thank you for being a part of our blog.

Kali Sarakosti!
The Great Lent Gourmet Team.