What to eat in Arta

The gastronomic guide of the Municipality of Arta describes dishes that suit the local ingredients: oranges, chestnuts, lamb, and eel and prawns from the Ambracian Gulf. Below are the main ones, as the guide describes them.

Pies and breads

Orange pie is made with shredded phyllo, yogurt, eggs, orange zest and cold orange syrup, and is the only dessert on the list. Blatsara is a pie of cornflour cream stuffed with leeks, greens, feta and eggs. Kosmiri is a cheese pie with feta, eggs, grated yellow cheese and butter. Bobota, made of cornflour and wheat flour, is prepared with olive oil and boiled water.

Meat and game

Tsoumbleki is veal marinated in red wine and vinegar and slow-cooked with carrots, onion, garlic and orange. Arta's youvetsi is lamb baked with rice and an egg-lemon sauce. Wild boar is stewed in sweet red wine with quince, apples and chestnuts, and boubaria are lamb intestines and liver with rice and herbs.

From the Ambracian Gulf

Sardines of the gulf are baked with garlic, tomato, oil and oregano. Eel is baked with tomato, onion, garlic and bay in a sealed dough crust. Mullet is split open, salted, sun-dried and grilled, and gabari prawns are cooked with onion, garlic, tomato and ouzo and served with pasta. There is also cod with leeks.

Greens and soups

Nettle soup is made with nettles, dill, garlic chives and cornflour and served with vinegar. Gomidia are wild greens (sorrel, sow thistle, spinach, nettles) sautéed with green onion, dill and olive oil.