Kukla's Kouzina Greek Cooking and Food Blog

Bright Week Kouzina

4/29/2019

It’s a supercalifragilisticexpiali-yummy blog!

by Jackie Marzella, Joanne Staikopoulos Marzella & Kelly Salonica Staikopoulos

Christos Anesti! Χριστός ἀνέστη! Christ is Risen!

Are you full yet??? No? …well you will be because it's Bright Week and that means it's a fast-free week. It’s the week right after Holy Week and Pascha, and that also means that Lent is over—so we're putting out the bacon, the filet mignon, the hamburgers, and the pizza. That’s right, we're eating all of the foods we couldn’t have during Lent.

In the Christian Orthodox Church, Bright Week is also referred to as Renewal Week, a week that is completely fast-free, having just come off of 50 days of fasting during Lent and Holy Week. So what does that mean? You guessed it…meat, meat, and more meat for a glorious seven full days. During this time we reflect on our spiritual journey through Lent, Holy Week, and the Resurrection. We also reflect on the foods we haven’t been able to eat, like meat and dairy.

Bright Week begins on Easter Sunday when we feast on magiritsa (a creamy Greek soup made with a lamb’s head) and/or chicken-based avgolemono soup (for those who don’t care for magiritsa…or lamb’s head), followed by a main course of lamb with tzatziki—in our house we like to make two different versions: leg of lamb roasted in the oven with potatoes, and grilled lamb chops riganata (with oregano)…mmm, don’t you just want to lick your chops? The lamb is joined by spanakopita, moussaka, or pastitsio, and we close out the meal with delicious tsoureki (braided sweet bread) and a customary custard dessert (like pasta flora or galaktomboureko). Check out last week’s blog, Greek Holy Week & Pascha~Easter Foods, for a slideshow of our Pascha menu. The festivities include dancing, especially in Karpathos, where the colorful traditional dress takes center stage.

As we continue to celebrate our Lord’s Resurrection, we focus on this greatest and most important feast, the celebratory “Feast of Feasts.” Thus, we do not abstain from any foods, but remain in a state of rejoicing for the entire week, emphasizing the glory of the Resurrection or Pascha, our Lord’s “New Passover” from death to life!

It’s no coincidence that our spiritual life and foods are somehow intertwined. Our spiritual life lends itself to a proper diet, sometimes through fasting and discipline. Once we have celebrated the Resurrection, it’s time to be merry and, yes, eat.

Some of the foods we enjoy this week (following Pascha Sunday’s feast at home) include Monday’s juicy hamburgers (sometimes we make lamb-burgers stuffed with feta cheese and topped with tzatziki), Wednesday’s glorious roasted chicken (our lemon-oregano recipe is the family favorite), Friday’s papoutsakia (meaning “little shoes” that are meat-stuffed baby eggplants topped with béchamel), and of course leftover “lamb and potatoes" in between (that’s the best of all...mmm leftovers!).

Following Bright Week, we resume our normal fast on Wednesdays (the day Jesus was betrayed) and Fridays (the day Jesus was crucified). Our next spiritual celebration will be Pentecost.

We hope you enjoyed Bright Week Kouzina. The recipes for the foods we talked about here will be featured in our upcoming cookbook. Stay tuned for more uniquely Greek and Karpathian food ideas that you can add to your kouzina pantry.

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Until then~
Kali orexi! Good appetite!

Kelly, Joanne & Jackie (the girls in Kukla’s Kouzina)