Food writer Georgina Hayden grew up above her grandparents’ Greek-Cypriot taverna in London, so she’s been steeped in the flavours and aromas of her heritage.

But the title of her fourth cookbook, Greekish: Everyday Recipes with Greek Roots, reveals that she occasionally bends the rules in the kitchen.

“I’m always trying to find ways to make traditional but admittedly laborious dishes more quickly,” she writes in the book’s introduction.

Case in point? Her simplified version of pastitsio (see below), a classic layered pasta bake her yiayia would make using four pans.

And while she may not have wanted the book to be pigeonholed as family-friendly, it is. The recipes have been tested on, and by, friends, colleagues and the toughest critics of all – her yiayia, father and young daughters. Here are three to try.

One-pan pastitsio

When I started writing this book, I set myself a challenge: to make much-loved Greek dishes more achievable. Pastitsio (or as Cypriots call it, makaronia tou fournou) isn’t particularly tricky, but it is laborious. There’s the slow-cooked ragu, the cooked pasta, and then a bechamel. How can we strip this back? By making the whole thing using only one pan. You read that right. One. Pan. Ragu, pasta and sauce. Of course, it’s not the same as classic pastitsio in terms of layers and drama. But I think it has its own dramatic appeal; the whole thing is cooked in a large frying pan, which looks pretty epic.

Ingredients

• olive oil
• 500g mince – ideally beef, perhaps some pork too
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 onions
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp dried oregano, plus a pinch
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 250g pastitsio pasta, bucatini or even penne (gluten-free if needed)
• 1 litre beef stock
• 300ml creme fraiche
• 2 egg yolks
• 100g graviera, kefalotyri or pecorino

Method

1. You’ll need a wide, deep frying pan for this dish. If you don’t have one you are confident will fit all the ingredients, make it in a large saucepan. Place your pan on a high heat and drizzle in a good few tablespoons of olive oil. Add the mince to the pan, and break it up well with a wooden spoon. Season generously, and fry for 5-8 minutes, so that any liquid evaporates and the mince starts crisp.
2. Meanwhile, peel and finely chop the onions and garlic. When the mince has started to brown, stir them in with the oregano and cinnamon. Fry for a further 5 minutes, reducing the heat a little, stirring everything together (add a touch extra olive oil if it looks dry).
3. Stir in the tomato puree, fry off for a minute or two, then add the pasta to the pan. If you are using traditional pastitsio pasta or bucatini, you may need to snap some of the pieces in half to fit them all in. It’ll be snug in the pan, but try to fit them all. Pour over the beef stock, season and bring to the boil. Cover the pan, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring once or twice.
4. While the pasta is cooking, mix together the creme fraiche and egg yolks. Finely grate the cheese and stir in most of it with a generous pinch of salt and pepper. When your pasta is ready, turn your grill to high. Gently toss the pasta and sauce in the pan together, trying not to disturb it too much.
5. Spoon the creme fraiche mixture over the top and sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese, plus an additional pinch of dried oregano. Place under the grill, not too close to the bars, and grill for 3-5 minutes, until golden and bubbling on top. Keep an eye on it as how long it takes will depend on the strength of your grill. Remove and leave to stand for at least 5-10 minutes before serving.

Serves 4

Riganada tart with anchovies

Riganada is a popular Kefalonian snack, and you’ll find variations of it across Greece. It is usually a piece of stale bread, toast or a rusk topped with seasoned tomatoes and extras including capers, olives, sardines or feta. It will always include lots of oregano, for which the Greek word is rigani, hence the name.

This tart is my riff on this dish. I like to prepare it ahead of having people round. It’s simple and meditative to make (lining up those tomato rows) and it is exactly the kind of thing I want to snack on when having a drink – satisfyingly salty.

Ingredients

• 400g ripe vine tomatoes
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 red onion
• 500g puff pastry
• 1 large egg
• 30g anchovies or sardines, in oil (or capers for a vegetarian version)
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• olive oil (optional)
• a few sprigs of oregano or basil

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190C fan-forced (210C conventional) and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Finely slice the tomatoes with a sharp knife (I find a small serrated knife is best), so they are less than 5mm thick. Place in a large colander and toss the tomato slices with ½ teaspoon of sea salt. Leave the colander in the sink. Peel and finely slice the red onion. Roll the puff pastry into a rectangle, about 32cm × 25cm, and score a border 2cm from the edge. Transfer to the lined baking sheet.
2. Whisk the egg with a splash of water and brush the border of the pastry twice. Lay three or four rows of the sliced tomatoes inside the pastry border, nestling in slices of onion as you go. When it’s all done, lay on the anchovies or capers. Sprinkle over the dried oregano and drizzle with two tablespoons of the oil from the anchovy tin or jar (or use olive oil).
3. Pop the tray in the oven for 25-30 minutes, until the border is golden all over and nicely risen. Leave the tart to cool, then tear over the oregano or basil leaves and cut into thin slices. Serve at aperitivo time — basically, this is really nice with a glass of something very cold and a bit fizzy.

Serves 8 as a snack

One-pot chicken thighs and rice

I honestly don’t think there is a chicken marinade I love more than lemon and oregano, with proper seasoning and plenty of olive oil. Here, they marinate the chicken, then the marinade and chicken juices season the rice.

Ingredients

• 6 large chicken thighs, skin-on and bone-in
• 2 lemons, plus extra to serve (optional)
• 4 tbsp olive oil, plus a little extra
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp sea salt, plus extra to taste
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper, plus extra to taste
• 20g unsalted butter
• 75g vermicelli (or fine rice noodles)
• 250g long grain rice
• 750ml chicken stock

Garlicky dip

• 2 red chillies
• 1 garlic clove
• 200g feta
• 150g Greek yoghurt
• 100g mayonnaise
• 40g kefalotyri or pecorino

Method

1. Place the chicken thighs in a large mixing bowl. Finely grate in the zest from one lemon. Squeeze in the juice, then add two tablespoons of the olive oil, the garlic powder, dried oregano, sea salt and black pepper. Toss together well, really massaging the flavours into the chicken skin. (If you can, marinate the chicken in advance, and store it covered in the fridge for a couple of hours.) When you are ready to cook the chicken, preheat your oven to 190C fan-forced (210C conventional).
2. Take an ovenproof frying pan or flameproof casserole that’s wide enough to comfortably fit the chicken and drizzle in two tablespoons of olive oil. Add the chicken thighs, skin-side down, and place on a medium heat. You want to start in a cold pan, so that the fat renders and the skin starts to turn golden. You’re not cooking it through at this stage. When the skin is bronzing and starting to crisp, remove the chicken and leave, skin-side up, on a plate.
3. Add the butter to the pan, crush in the vermicelli and fry for 3-4 minutes, until deep golden-brown. Add the rice and stir thoroughly for a couple of minutes, so it gets coated in the butter, then pour in the chicken stock. Season generously and bring to the boil for a few minutes, then nestle in the chicken, so the meat is submerged in the stock but the skin is above the surface, so it can crisp up. Place the pan in the oven and cook for 35–40 minutes, until the rice is tender and the chicken is browned, crisp-skinned and cooked through. (Check it after about 15–20 minutes, and top up with 200ml of water, if it looks like it’s drying out.)
4. While the chicken is in the oven, make the garlicky dip. Halve, deseed and finely slice the chillies. Peel and finely slice the garlic. Place a small pan on a medium heat, add enough oil to just cover the base and fry the chillies and garlic for a minute or so, until lightly golden, then remove from the heat. Break the feta up in a bowl and mash in the Greek yoghurt. Using a fork will be easiest, it’ll bit a little grainy but keep going. Stir in the mayonnaise and finely grate in the kefalotyri. Finely grate in the zest of the remaining lemon. Stir the fried chilli and garlic into the feta dip and squeeze in the juice of half of the lemon. Mix everything well. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding more lemon, salt and pepper as needed.
5. Serve the chicken and rice with the dip on the side or drizzled over the top, perhaps with some lemon wedges. However you have it, it’s very good.

Serves 4

This is an edited extract from Greekish: Everyday Recipes with Greek Roots by Georgina Hayden, Bloomsbury Publishing, RRP $54.99. Recipe photography by Laura Edwards.