Salmon in the oven, moussakas with spinach and besciamel with yoghurt, cockerel with homemade pasta, and traditional sweet cherry preserve for dessert. Must tries are the macrobiotic salad, and the healthy soups with nettle, pumpkin, ginger and coconut milk, or in the summer months tomato soup with cool cucumber, mint and yoghurt.

Address: Kalamiotou 19, Monastiraki, Athens 10560

Phone: 210 322 2458

www.melilotos.gr

By Nelly Paraskevopoulou

10best.com

Do you have a recommendation or recipe to share? Send it to us at ideas@xpatathens.com!

At a press conference regarding the possible VAT hike, SETE head Andreas Andreadis on Monday described such a move as fiscal suicide. Citing the analysis of economic scenarios for 2015 by SETE Intelligence, he stressed that the implementation of the measure would generate a negative domino effect in the economy, reducing GDP by over 2 percentage points, and that it would also have a dramatic impact on the labor market, as for every million tourists missed out on, some 30,000 jobs would be lost. Andreadis added that the impact on the flow of tourists would amount to 2.5 million fewer next year and even greater losses in 2016.

Andreadis warned that if the VAT rate on accommodation doubles, hotel enterprises will be forced to renegotiate with tour operators, rendering Greek tourism less competitive and pushing millions of tourists toward the country’s competitors. He reminded reporters that Turkey has an 8 percent VAT rate for tourism accommodation and catering, while Portugal’s amounts to 7 percent, and Italy’s and France’s stand at 10 percent.

To read more, please visit ekathimerini.com

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra virgin Greek olive oil
450 gr sausages, outer skin removed, cut into large chunks
1 tsp chopped basil
½ cup Mavrodafni or other sweet red wine
6 cups chicken broth
1 butter stick (1/2 cup)
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 cup Carnaroli rice mix with mushrooms
1 cup grated parmesan cheese

Instructions

1 Heat a large, nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the sausages and sauté for about 5 minutes, until they begin to brown.
2 Add ½ cup of Mavrodafni. As soon as it evaporates, remove the skillet from the heat and keep aside.
3 Keep simmering the broth. Melt butter and add a little oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Sauté the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes. Season with salt. Add the rice and stir for 2 minutes.
4 Add 1 cup of the broth. When it is absorbed, add another cup, repeating the same process until most of the broth is absorbed by the rice. Return the sausages and basil to the rice. If necessary, add a little bit more broth. Add half of the cheese and stir.
5 Serve the risotto with the remaining cheese on the side.

Serves 6

greek food - greek cooking - greek recipes by diane kochilas http://www.dianekochilas.com/