Fasolada Kokkinisti and Olive Salad
A meal of white bean and paprika soup and olive salad that evokes a delicious childhood in Athens. Words and photos by Despina Siahuli.
Welcome to Vittles Cooking! Today, chef and recipe developer Despina Siahuli shares recipes for a white bean and paprika soup and an olive salad from her childhood in Athens.
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Fasolada Kokkinisti and Olive Salad
A meal of white bean and paprika soup and olive salad that evokes a delicious childhood in Athens. Words and photos by Despina Siahuli.
My first job in London as a cook was in 2012, at a sourdough bakery nestled under the arches in the east of the city. People from all walks of life danced together under those arches to create beautiful food. I felt lucky to be exposed to a plethora of new ingredients and culinary traditions, but after a while my food didn’t make much sense to me. I started to default to using too many ingredients, and not always in the right way.
This continued until I took some time to think more deeply about the flavours I grew up with and to define what they meant to me, both as a cook and as a person. I began to read old-school Greek cookbooks filled with recipes that used only the most basic ingredients, with no photos and only the vaguest measurements, leaving much of the work to the cook’s instincts and experience. I spoke with my family about the dishes we grew up eating and started to recreate them, cooking for markets and restaurants and at home for friends and family.
My grandparents moved from rural northern Greece to the big city in the 1960s, planting their roots in Exarchia, my favourite neighbourhood in Athens. My whole family were workers, and for most of my childhood, we lived hand to mouth. My mother married my father at a very young age but moved close to my grandparents, so we all grew up together. Meals were often frugal. We ate meat and fish only once or twice a week. The rest of the time, we subsisted on wholesome, delicious meals of vegetables, grains, and legumes. I remember the smell of my grandma’s fries sizzling in the same oil she had used to cook her peppers the day before, the taste of lentils eaten straight from the pot, warmed up on the radiator.
This way of cooking – simple but full of warmth – became the foundation of my approach in the kitchen. For me, good food isn’t about excess or complexity, but about care and an understanding of ingredients. It’s about making the most of what you have, cooking with patience, and letting time bring out the best in every dish. I carry these values with me, whether I’m making a pot of beans or a festive lamb roast.
One of my family’s favourite meals is fasolada kokkinisti – white beans cooked with tomato (‘kokkinisti’ means ‘reddish’) and paprika. Growing up, we made it using sweet paprika and a touch of boukovo (a Greek sweet and spicy red pepper variety), ingredients that are much loved in Thessaly, the region both of my parents come from. In this variation, I have used dried sweet pepper flakes instead of boukovo – a child-friendly substitute, in the hope that Iris, my three-year-old daughter, will grow to love beans as much as I do – but feel free to add a pinch of chilli flakes if you like.
For my family, fasolada is always an excuse for a little feast. Alongside the beans, we would usually have olive salad, for which I’ve also provided a recipe, tinned or smoked fish, and plenty of bread, of course. Oh, and a whole onion – my grandfather would crush it with his fist before dipping each piece into sea salt flakes.
Fasolada
Making fasolada takes time, so prepare it on a day when you can slow down and truly enjoy the process. It’s simple yet deeply comforting. If you fancy making a big batch, the effort will feel even more rewarding – beans freeze well.
Serves 4–6
Time 2½–3½ hrs