Ingredients
- 2 Local rusks (dakos)
- Olive oil
- 2 tomatoes grated
- Oregano
- Salt
- Homemade cheese (tirozouli) or feta cheese.
- A black olive
Recipe steps
1. Wet the rusks in water (shaking off any excess water) and cover it with a towel for 5 minutes.
2. Put it on a plate, pour it olive oil and little salt. Rub origano in your hands and sprinkle it on the rusk.
3. Carefully lay out the tomatoes on the rusks.
4. Then add mizithra above.
5. Lastly add the black olive oil above in the center, like the eye of an owl.
6. Sprinkle with olive oil.
Tips and tricks
- You can add more olives or kapari or kritamo for more bitterness and saltiness
- With the years, the presentation of “koukouvagia” has been evolved so as to look more with the eye of the animal owl (koukouvagia in Greek). This is why the ingredients are placed with care in circle over the “paximadi”. First the tomato, next the local cheese (mizithra) and a black olive in the middle.
Bon appetite – Kali orexi
The History
How the “koukouvagia” takes its name?
The history starts in the decade of 1950 in Rethymno. There was a tavern at the suburbs of the town, where all the forbidden pleasures were gathered there: gabling, smoking, women.
The conservative society of these days did not allowed such shops inside the town.
In this tavern they made round rusks which were offered for quick and stimulant meal. They were offered wet in olive oil and with the known goodies on them.
The rumors say that the owner was called Koukouvagias, a known name back then.
Other rumors say that in the area there were many owls (koukouvagia in Greek) that were witnesses of all the night walkers in the area every night.
The only certain fact is that the name “koukouvagia” end up to be the morning codename for all the gentlemen of the high society by saying to each other “Let’s go for koukouvagia at night”
Nice story
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