Greek Tzatziki

This is a classic Greek side dish, which can be served with meat and vegetable dishes, as well as accompanying souvlaki or gyros.

Ingredients

1 cucumber
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon medium wine vinegar
300g full-fat strained Greek yoghurt
100ml extra virgin olive oil
½ tablespoon finally chopped dill leaves

Preparation

Remove the skin of the cucumber and grate it. (not finely)
Finely grate the garlic.
Salt the cucumber and leave it in a colander for half-an-hour and then drain well.
Put it in a bowl with the garlic and the rest of the ingredients.
Mix them all well with the help of a fork.
Put the dip in a bowl, add salt and decorate it with few dill leaves.


If you've tried this recipe, please rate it!

Eat and Enjoy!

Greek Leek Pie (Prasopita)

Normally I'm not too fond of the sharp taste of leeks, but in this recipe there is none of that sharpness and what you get is a juicy and delicious pie that you can have by itself with salad, or as part of a buffet meal - or even as just a quick snack.

Ingredients

For the dough

200g hard flour
30g butter
½ teaspoon salt
Water

For the filling

1kg leeks with most of the leaves chopped off so that all of the white part and just a little of the green remains
200g regatto cheese thickly grated
100g ricotta cheese
50g full-fat fresh cream
30g butter

Preparation

Dough

Use the flour, salt and enough water to make pliable dough.

Roll it out to a diameter of 30cm

Melt the butter and spread it over the dough.

Fold the dough in half and butter it once again.

Fold it yet again and re-butter.

Fold it one last time and butter again.

Take the ball of dough that you now have, cover it in cling film and let it rest in the fridge for 1 hour.

Filling

Rinse the leeks well and chop them into approx. 1-2cm slices.

Boil them in salty water for 10 minutes.

Drain them well.

In a bowl, add the cheeses and butter to the leeks and mix well.

Set the mixture aside.

Remove the dough from the fridge and spread it evenly in a buttered oven pie dish 30cm in diameter.

Spread the filling evenly over the dough.

Pour the fresh cream over the top of the filling.

Bake in a pre-heated moderate oven for 40 minutes, placing it in the lowest part of the oven so that the dough underneath will be well baked.

Eat and Enjoy!

Greek Tirokafteri (Spicy Cheese Dip)

This is a traditional spicy cheese dish, which can be served as a meze with ouzo or beer, or as a dip. It is quick and easy to make. Garnishing with chopped sweet red peppers (see photo) is optional, though normally it is not done. The red peppers do add a refreshing flavour to the dip, though.

We specify that you should use young, tender chili peppers - the reason for this is that if you don't, then you will have to grill the peppers until they colour and then remove the skins. With young, tender peppers, this is not necessary.

Ingredients

3 young, tender green chili peppers (approx. 15-20cm long)

250g feta cheese

125g Greek anthotiro cheese (ricotta if you can't get it)

2 teaspoonfuls lemon juice

100ml extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp sweet red peppers chopped for garnish (optional)

Preparation

Wash the peppers, remove the stalk and the seeds.

Put all the ingredients in a liquidizer and mix them well.

Place it in a bowl and sprinkle with some olive oil and garnish with chopped sweet red peppers if you so wish. 


If you've tried this recipe, please rate it!

Eat and Enjoy!

Greek Pasta Flora Tart

This is a traditional Greek sweet, which I remember from childhood always being served with the coffee or juice whenever we went on family visits. It is more often than not baked in a square or rectangular dish, but can also be baked in a circular shape, as you can see from the photo.

The fruit in the recipe here is quince - for the simple reason that it is my favourite! - but other fruit can also be used, most notably sweetened grapes in syrup.

Ingredients

325g butter
150g icing sugar
3g salt
2 eggs
1 vanilla essence
Grated rind from 1 orange
½ kg soft flour
1 tin quince fruit in syrup

Preparation

Beat the butter and the sugar well in the mixer and then add the salt, vanilla essence, orange rind and eggs one at a time and beat for another 5 minutes.

Change the attachment on the mixer, and use the one for kneading.

Add the flour to the mixture and knead until you have pliable dough.

Take the dough and wrap it in cling film and place it in the fridge for 1 hour.

When you remove the dough from the fridge, divide it into 2 parts.

Butter a tart dish and evenly spread half the dough in it.

Drain the syrup from the quince fruit and then spread the fruit over the dough, just enough to cover it.

Take the remaining dough and, with the help of flour, knead it into long strings roughly the thickness of your little finger. Use these to make a criss-cross pattern on top of the fruit.

Bake it in a moderate pre-heated oven for approx. 30-40 minutes, until the tart turns a slightly golden colour.


If you've tried this recipe, please rate it!

Eat and Enjoy!

Clean Monday Table

Well, we had a lovely day for the Clean Monday holiday this year, sunny skies and enough wind to help our nephews with their kite flying which is the tradition every year on this day.

I've posted a photo of the table with the traditional dishes that mark the beginning of Lent. It didn't stay long like that - everything soon got eaten up! The recipes for Butterbeans Plaki (Gigantes) and Traditional Greek Pickle (Toursi) have already been posted and we'll be posting the others gradually. Some of the dishes you can see are -

Taramosalata

Octopus with macaroni

Cuttlefish with spinach (Soupia & Spanaki)

Squid (Kalamaraki)

Tzatziki (Yoghurt & Garlic)

Traditional Greek Pickle (Toursi)

Butterbeans Plaki (Gigantes)

Special Lagana bread

Macedonian Halva

Soft Halva

Ade! Ke to Hrono! (And next year!)

Greek Eggplant Dip (Melitzanosalata)

Mmm!! One of my favourites! Smooth and tangy. This is traditionally made with Greek strained yoghurt but can also be made with mayonnaise instead. Try both ways and see which you prefer - with mayonnaise it has a slightly thicker, richer taste.

This is a side dish which can be served with any meat, fish or vegetable dish.

Ingredients

3 large eggplants
300g strained Greek yoghurt or mayonnaise
3 medium-sized cloves of garlic
2 tablespoonfuls extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon
Salt

Preparation

Wash the eggplants and make a few deep cuts in their skin with a sharp knife.

Bake them whole in a very hot oven for approximately 1 hour until the skin is burned and cracks if you tap it with your fingers. It is important to be burned because that gives a special smoky taste to the dip.

Allow them to cool and cut them in two lengthwise.

Scoop out the white flesh and try to remove the dark seeds.

Put the flesh in a colander, add salt which will remove the bitterness from the eggplants and lemon juice which will help them to remain white.

Allow them to stand and drain for an hour.

Mash them as much as you can with the help of a fork, do not use a blender.

Add the yoghurt (or mayonnaise), the crushed garlic and the olive oil and stir them well.

Place them in a shallow bowl and decorate them with parsley leaves and a few drops of olive oil.


If you've tried this recipe, please rate it!

 

Eat and Enjoy!

Traditional Greek Pickles (Toursi)

Greek pickles can be eaten as a side dish at any time, but are usually associated with Clean Monday, when Lent begins before Easter. They are delicious with Gigantes  which is also traditionally eaten on Clean Monday. The pickles can be prepared in 1 day, so there is time to get them ready for Clean Monday, which is on March 10 this year.

Ingredients

1 medium size cauliflower
2 medium size turnips
6 carrots
6 small cucumbers
6 long sweet red peppers
6 long spicy green peppers
1 celery stem
1 litre wine vinegar
1 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons thick salt
5-6 well sealed ½ litre jars

Preparation

Rinse the vegetables well.

Peel the carrots.

Cut the cauliflower up into small florets.

Cut the turnips into approx. 1cm x 2cm cubes

Chop the rest of the vegetables, apart from the green peppers, diagonally into 1cm slices.

Place all of the vegetables in a basin with the salt and leave overnight.

Next day, sterilise the jars by placing them for a few seconds in a pan of boiling water.

Fill all the jars with the vegetables only and not any remaining liquid.

At the top of each jar place the long spicy green peppers.

Fill the jars with ¼ water and ¾ vinegar and then cover the vegetables with olive oil at the top.

Seal the jars.

Fill a large pan just over half full with water and bring to the boil.

Place a cloth at the bottom of the pan and place the well-sealed jars upside down on top of this.

Simmer for 20 minutes.

Remove the jars and leave them to cool.

Once they have cooled, you can store them for later use or eat immediately.


If you've tried this recipe, please rate it!

Eat and Enjoy!

Greek Spinach Pie with Homemade Filo Pastry (Spanakopita)

Spinach Pie, or Spanakopita, comes in many forms in Greece. This recipe is for individual round, 'coiled' pies - see the photo. It also tells you how to make the Filo pastry yourself, without having to buy it frozen from the shop.

Ingredients

For the Filo Pastry

½ kg strong flour
150g vegetable margarine
1 teaspoon salt

For the filling

1kg fresh spinach
1 bunch spring onions
1 bunch aromatic spring herbs (in Greece, kafkalithres, paparounes, mironia etc)
1 bunch fennel
½ kg feta cheese
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 level teaspoon salt


Preparation of Filo pastry- 1st part

Mix the flour with the salt and enough water to make the dough pliable but not moist.

Knead the cough well and then divide it into 9 equal parts

Make a ball from each of the parts.

Leave the balls on a dish with flour for at least 1 hour, covered with cling film.

In this time, you can prepare the filling

Preparation of the Filling

Clean the spinach and discard all the hard outer parts, leaving the leaves and the soft stems.

Rinse it well under cold water.

Clean the spring onions, spring herbs and fennel.

Cut them all into ½ cm pieces.
Place in a deep pan and add just 1 level teaspoon of salt.

Allow it to cook in its own juice for a few minutes – just to soften.

Drain well.

Crumble the feta cheese and add to the mixture.

Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil.

Set aside and allow to cool.

Preparation of Filo pastry – 2nd part

Flatten 3 of the balls so that they have a diameter of 20cm

Place these one on top of the other, spreading melted margarine between each of the 3 layers. When you have done this, cover it with cling film and set it aside.

Repeat this process, so that you have 3 filos with 3 layers each.

Take the first one and, with a rolling pin flatten it out so that it has 60cm diameter.

Spread butter over it.

Spread 1/3 of the filling you have prepared evenly over the surface.

Make a hole in the centre and fold the filo from the centre outwards so that you end up with a circular ‘tube’ with the filling in it.

Cut this anywhere, so that you have a single long cylinder.

Cut this into 7 equal parts.

Take the parts and roll them each into coils (see photo at top).

Place them in a shallow, buttered oven dish.

Repeat the process with the other 2 filos.

Spread margarine over all of them and bake them in a preheated moderate oven for 40 minutes or until they have a golden colour.


If you've tried this recipe, please rate it!

Eat and Enjoy!