I visited Mazi restaurant a few weeks back when visiting London. It certainly left an impression on me, it was not just the excellently grilled octopus or the devilish jars of yumminess. You rarely find Modern Greek cuisine so imaginative and so well executed. Drawing inspiration from traditional Greek dishes, at Mazi restaurant you will find great cooking technique and also great atmosphere to enjoy them. Of course, for anyone already acquainted with the restaurant this is old news. The exciting part is they have collected all their best recipes in an amazing new cookbook, called Mazi: Modern Greek cuisine. There is spanakorizotto recipe below along with a book giveaway for one lucky reader.
Get straight to the spanakorizotto recipe.
Get straight to the giveaway.
The heart and soul of Mazi restaurant are Christina Mouratoglou and Andrien Carre. Their love for good food and wine gave birth to Mazi restaurant in Notting Hill back in 2012. The site of the restaurant used to be Costas Grill, a traditional style Greek taverna housed in the premises from the 1950s. It has a beautiful vine-covered garden at the back, a rare commodity in London and it makes an ideal spot to host Greek Modern cuisine, transferring it from the old into the new. The arrival of their cookbook, Mazi: Modern Greek Food comes to celebrate Greek food with recipes neatly bound to an excellent collection of Greek cuisine both old and new.
Mazi, which means together in Greek, references and revives Greece’s noble sharing tradition. The starter and main is too rigid a concept to properly incorporate all that Greek cooking is: Simple flavours, seasonal ingredients and a generous helping of merriment around the table. In the book you will find a great section of salads and raw dishes, appetizers and the famous Mazi jars. This is just a starting point and you can delve further into the culinary delights as you leaf through.
The collection of recipes in the book doesn’t feature one single region but the whole country, from the Aegean Islands to the Peloponnese and Northern Greece. You will discover the different influences form geographic neighbours or historic events, most notably the 400 year rule of the Ottoman Empires and the Venetian possession of the Ionian islands, as well as the religious observances and festivals. Recipes travel from Christmas melomakarona to the traditional Easter bread, tsoureki, from homely artichokes a la polita to savoy cabbage dolmades and signature dishes fit for Sunday lunches like the slow-cooked lamb shank with vegetable briam.
While we draw inspiration from customary practices and childhood memories, we interpret them with a modern twist.
I admit I had trouble picking one to prepare for you; the recipes are one better than the other. I decided to go for comfort food, spanakorizotto, a quick meal you can easily prepare and enjoy even after a long day in the office. It’s not exactly our traditional spanakorizo, there are subtle changes in the recipe that give it a special touch with all the hearty flavours spinach gives when combined with rice in the pot. A dish that truly interprets Mazi’s concept, drawing inspiration from the traditional and well known and breathing into it new life, with a contemporary cooking approach.
Spanakorizotto, a recipe from Mazi restaurant
Ingredients
- 60 ml olive oil
- 1 shallot finely chopped
- 320 gr short-grain Arborio rice
- 1 bunch of spring onions chopped
- ½ leek trimmed, cleaned and sliced
- 320 gr spinach washed
- 700 ml- 1lt vegetable stock
- 30 gr butter
- 40 gr parmesan cheese grated
- 20 gr dill chopped
- ½ bunch of chervil chopped
- 1 lemon for the zest and juice
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a shallow flameproof casserole dish, and the shallot and sweat over a medium heat until soft but not browned. Add the rice and cook, stirring for 1 minute. Add the spring onions, leek and spinach and cook for a further 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Pour in 700 ml of the stock and cook over a medium heat for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the rice has absorbed nearly all the liquid and is all dente, adding more stock if needed.
- Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter and Parmesan, then add all the chopped herbs. Finally add the lemon juice; check and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.
- Divide the rice between individual bowls, crumble some feta cheese on the side and serve garnished with grated lemon zest.
- Crumbled feta cheese to serve.
As Greek cooking goes, all good things need to be shared. I am running a giveaway of the new book Mazi: Modern Greek Food. Please check below the giveaway terms.
Giveaway terms:
The giveaway will be open from today until March 24th. The winner will be selected through random.org and he/she winner will be notified directly by me. You will be able to see the results on the Sunday.
There are no restrictions as to your place of residence. In order to enter the competition and win Mazi cookbook, please follow at least one of the actions below:
- Register to the newsletter of Eatyourselfgreek.com & Leave a comment to this blog post
- If you would like a second chance to win a book, I’m also doing this giveaway on Instragram and Facebook. Just follow me there and check out the instructions on the giveaway post.
- On Facebook, Like the Facebook page of EatyourselfGreek & leave a comment.
For your entry to be valid, you should both comment and Like on Instagram, Facebook or simply comment here.
Note: your personal information is kept strictly for the purposes of this giveaway and we will only contact you with regards to this giveaway. The book will be send to the winner directly from the Publisher, Octopus LTD at the address indicated.
Good luck everyone!
From Athens with love,
Eugenia
by 
That dish looks yummy! Can’t wait to try the recipe.
Thanks a lot Lorraine! 🙂
I love Greek food, it has so much yummy flavours!
I haven’t tried this dish before, but will definitely be giving it a shot now ?
Thank you for your comment – it’s absolutely delicious! and good luck with the giveaway 🙂
Have been a massive fan of Mazi since they opened. Love the clever takes on Greek food – can’t wait to try this recipe ! Lovely photos as always Eugenia – the spanakorizotto wreath is very good ! 🙂
Thanks so much, Mazi is truly excellent and they have all their signature dishes in the book too!
My favourite, when I last went, was a deconstructed rabbit stifado – really impressive! Then there were the loucoumades …. ! Haven’t got the book yet, so …..?
This is one of the latest – they change the menu seasonally. I fell in love with the loukoumades…
This looks like a fabulous book! I’m fascinated by new interpretations of traditional food. I discover so many amazing places when I visit Athens and now a new place to try in London! Great!
Karin you will certainly love it cover to cover! Great dishes from breads to mezze all the way to main courses and desserts! 🙂
Congratulations on your new cookbook Eugenia, how exciting! Growing up, we ate spanakorizo all the time. I have to admit it wasn’t my favorite. My mom would leave the spinach rather large and as a kid the texture was a bit off-putting. Your rendition looks really tasty and as much as I love spinach and feta cheese, I will have to give this a try. I might have my new favorite dish. 😀 Congratulations again, and I hope you have been doing well!
Hi Antonia, Many thanks, Mazi restaurant have done an excellent job with this cookbook! certainly many of the old recipes that were not always as loved will get new fans with modern twists 🙂
It sounds like a great restaurant! Love the idea of traditional Greek fare with a modern twist!
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this giveaway!
Thanks Marilena, it really is a great place and it shows through their book too. Good luck! 🙂
this looks delicious. Cant wait to try the recipe this weekend!
It’s a great one Tina! thanks for joining in 🙂
Looks really interesting, I cannot wait to try it out, and to visit the restaurant the next time I am in London. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Alex, it’s a delicious recipe and a really great restaurant to try when you are next in London. Good luck with the competition!
I’ve only started to explore Greek food and this looks delicious, wish Mazi would open a branch in Norwich!
Hello Elizabeth, Greek food is delicious and nutritious, glad to have you on board! Mazi might not open in Norwich soon but you can the book can bring Mazi recipes to you! good luck!
Hi dear! Spanakorizotto looks delicious and the books looks really interesting!
😉
Thank you Evi! it’s a small gem of Greek cuisine 🙂
This sounds wonderful! Just recently I prepared a spinach risotto that is similar to your Spanakorizotto. It was delicious and I imagine that yours will be at least equally good. I will most certainly give it a try. Thanks for sharing.
Hi John, so good to hear from you! it’s a really good one, Mazi restaurant really go for nothing but perfection, and such an easy dish as well! We should definitely compare notes 😉