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Other People's Kitchens. Q&A with Suzy Valtsioti


Q: Hello, Suzy. Can you briefly introduce yourself? 

A: My name is Suzy Valtsioti. I'm a writer, an artist and a foodie. I love to grow my own veggies and fruit. I write a substack publication called Sosanni Valtsioti in the Kitchen

Suzy Valtsioti's Kitchen in Greece.

Q: How would you describe the layout of your kitchen, its history and how it was designed?

A: This is a newly built house, so the kitchen is 2 years old! It is a long kitchen, it’s quite big and very simple. It has a farmhouse feel to it, and the windows look out onto the garden and the patio. It has 2 long counters and a kitchen table in the center. I have 2 armchairs near the patio balcony doors. I used to have them both facing outdoors - but I whimsically turned one around to face the kitchen - so I can keep an eye on everything and watch the TV from the armchair. I get a lot of reading done there!

Suzy Valtsioti Kitchen in Greece

Q: How much role does your kitchen play in your family's life, entertaining, writing, and testing recipes for your newsletter? 

A: The kitchen is the control center for everything! Family, and friends, all gather here. Writing and testing recipes happen on that table in the previous photo!!! I love to spend some 'quiet time' here in the kitchen with a cup of coffee after all the kitchen work is done!

Q: What are your favourite and most used kitchen gadgets? 

A: Definitely, the kitchen aid, the food processor and the small hand-held graters with a handle!

Q: Suzy, you grew up in New York and then migrated to Greece. Can you tell us more about that, and how has this influenced your interest in food and writing?

A: I grew up on Long Island which had an intense food culture. The family home on long island was multi generational with quite a few relatives and friends living with us, as those were the years when many people from our village in Greece were immigrating to America. So the kitchen at home was working 24/7 and it was always rustic Greek cuisine.

My grandfather had immigrated to America just after WW1. So he had opened an open air fruit and vegetable market along with a deli in the enclosed shop. So, food was prepared day and night there, too. And this was next door to our home. So I was always in a kitchen!

I became exposed to other cuisines as I grew older, and I was absolutely swept away with the vast array of cuisines and dishes being served on the island - Long Island was a melting pot, so there were many ethnic groups represented in the gamut of cuisines - but Long Island also had an interesting 'local specialities' thing going on! This influenced me greatly and I always wanted to write about food and incorporate it into fictional work, which I did!

Q: What is the one thing your kitchen is missing that you would love to have?

A: LOL...to be very honest, I have plenty of cupboard space, I have a small mudroom right off the kitchen...but what I didn't plan for is the 'perfect' space for the garbage bin! lolol. Seriously, it is always 'in my way' no matter where I put it. And I really didn't want one under the sink again. lol.

Q: What tips can you give us to help keep our kitchens neat & tidy and easy to manage?

A: What helps me is the space in the mudroom for all the produce, potatoes, and onions. All the fruits and veg used to cause a lot of clutter in any kitchen I had before this one.

The mudroom I have is not large, but it gives me that extra space for storing things. I suppose a pantry type of area or some shelving if one can't fit a mudroom would get the job done nicely as well!

Suzy Valtsioti's Vegetable Garden
Suzy's Vegetable Garden.

Q: How would you describe the regional cuisine where you live in Greece, perhaps compared to where you grew up in New York? Do you grow your own fruit and vegetables? Are there fresh food markets or farmers markets available? 

A: Definitely, we grow our own. This is the vegetable garden! Tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, corn, zucchini, potatoes, melons, watermelons, beans, mint, rosemary, oregano!

There are farmers’ markets once a week in different neighborhoods. They close a street for a few hours in the morning every week on the same street on the given day.

There are small greengrocers still in town, but large supermarkets are starting to take hold. Cuisine is very different from NY.

The regional cuisines in Greece do vary. Here, where I live now, they are known for the sausages, the fruits and vegetables (this is the main farmland area that produces the bulk of the produce and the meat for the country.) This is also the area that was devastated by the massive floods last year, which ravaged the farmlands and the pastures.

Suzy's Bookshelves

Q: How many cookbooks do you have, and what are your favourites? Have you written any cookbooks?

A: I have a bookshelf of cookbooks. I have compiled two cookbooks with community recipes that we made for charity. 

Here are some photos of the shelves of cookbooks. I have many favorites! That’s a good question, which are my favorites!!! I would say that I got the most wear and tear and the best learning experience for basics from joy of cooking. I absolutely loved Craig Claibornes books (The NY Times collections). 

Suzy's Grandmother's Cookbook.
This is one of my grandmother’s first cookbooks she owned in America in the 1940s

Q: Do you have a recipe, perhaps a traditional Greek recipe, that you would like to share with us?

A: I have some favorite Greek traditional recipes that I would love to share with everyone. 

Phyllo and Leek and Feta Cheese Pita.
Phyllo and Leek and Feta Cheese Pita

The first one is for *Phyllo. This is a 'go to' recipe and a must if you need to make your own phyllo. It has step by step instructions to guide you through the process.

I have a *leek and feta cheese pita which is a very light and traditional Greek meal. It’s perfect for summertime, and you can make it using the phyllo recipe above.

Gemista and Greek Lemon, Orange and Vanilla Cake.
Gemista and Greek Lemon, Orange and Vanilla Cake.

And then of course a beautiful summer meal would be '*Gemista' or Greek traditional stuffed tomatoes, peppers and eggplants.

There is a very light cake, *Traditional Greek Lemon/Orange/Vanilla Cake with a dash of Ginger! that is traditionally served with coffee, which I have added to my "*rebellious odyssey" on substack.

It is the Greek traditional version of a pound cake, with its lemon, orange and vanilla flavors coming through. I added a dash of fresh ginger which seems to be quite popular now in Greece. We grow ginger here, it's called 'piperoriza' or 'peppery root!' Ginger is finding its way into sweets. This is a light cake, without the heavy honey based syrups of most greek traditional desserts.

Thank you for sharing your kitchen with us Suzy.

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