G is for....

Continuing the Greek glossary for food and drink related vocabulary. The accent is shown by the letters in bold italics.


gastronomy - gastronomeea (the English word came from the Greek)

ginger - piperoreeza

grain - siteera

grape - stafeelee

gravy - zomos

grill (n) - schara

grill (v) - pseeno

I Got 3 Awards!

Well, this blog just 3 awards! They were given to me by Portuguese Menu - a blog I enjoy reading. I have visited Lisbon, Portugal on short trips and I must say I really like the people there, as well as the food! I remember the the long stretch along the seashore at the old Expo site, which is full of restaurants and cafeterias. We really had a problem deciding which place to choose to eat in!

Uber (synonym to Super) Amazing Blog Award is a blog award given to sites who:
~ inspires you
~ makes you smile and laugh
~ or maybe gives amazing information
~ a great read
~ has an amazing design
~ and any other reasons you can think of that makes them uber amazing!

The rules of this award are:

~ Put the logo on your blog or post.
~ Nominate at least 5 blogs (can be more) that for you are Uber Amazing!
~ Let them know that they have received this Uber Amazing award by commenting on their blog.
~ Share the love and link to this post and to the person you received your award from.

The second award is the Brillante Weblog, again given to us by Portuguese Menu.

And the third and final award is a Portuguese Friendship Prize - "This Blog Invests and Belives in Proximity". Thank you Mize for all of these!

I would like to pass on these awards to the following blogs -

Mrs Mecomber's blogs -

New York Traveler.Net
New York Renovator
Freaky Frugalite

Babette's Blogs -

Babette's Definitely Maybe
Everything Plus the Kitchen Sink

Layne's Blogs -

Crete Delights
Reward Rebel
Jaggy Jam

Greek Cuttlefish with Potatoes or Rice (Soupyes)

Well, I thought it was about time we started having some seafood recipes, so here's the first one. The cuttlefish - or soupyes - can be eaten this way either with potatoes (see photo) or rice as a kind of risotto. Another easy Greek recipe to prepare!

Ingredients

1 ½ kg cuttlefish

1kg potatoes cubed or 2 cups risotto rice

1 whole garlic

1 cup olive oil

Salt and pepper

Preparation

Remove the ink and the eye, rinse the cuttlefish extremely thoroughly and cut it into small pieces.

Put the olive oil into a shallow pan, add the garlic and start frying.

Add the cuttlefish and continue frying for another 5 minutes.

Add 1 litre of water plus salt and pepper and boil for 1 hour.

Then add either the potatoes or the rice and cook for a further 20 minutes.

By then the mixture will have thickened and you will have either a risotto or cuttlefish with potatoes.

If you've tried this recipe please rate it!

Eat and Enjoy

Greek Avgolemono Soup

We got a request for the recipe for this soup, so here it is. Avgolemono is a Greek egg and lemon juice mixture - avgo meaning egg and lemoni meaning lemon. The soup is made with this juice added to chicken and rice and, as well as being tasy, is also very healthy. When you are making it, it is important for the eggs to be as fresh as possible.

Ingredients

1kg whole chicken cut into 4

150g rice suitable for soups

1 medium onion whole

1 medium carrot chopped

2 fresh eggs

Celery leaves from one stalk

4 tablespoons lemon juice

Pepper freshly ground

Salt

Preparation

In a deep pan with 2 litres of water boil the chicken quarters, whole onion, carrot, celery leaves and salt for at least 1 hour or until the chicken is tender.

Remove the chicken and the onion from the pan.

Remove the skin and bones from the chicken and discard.

Cut the flesh of the chicken into small pieces and set aside.

Add the rice to the pot, cover it and simmer for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the avgolemono.

Firstly, beat the egg whites thoroughly in a mixer or even in a deep bowl with a whisk.

When the egg whites have become stiff and frothy, add the yolks and continue to beat until they are completely mixed.

Put the lemon juice in a jug and add to it 2 cups of liquid from the pan.

Slowly pour this juice into the egg mixture, whisking continuously.

When the rice is cooked, remove it from the heat and add the chicken back into the pan.

Add the avgolemono (lemon juice and egg mixture) to the pan and give the pan a few small shakes.

The soup should be served with freshly ground pepper.


If you've tried this recipe please rate it!

Eat and Enjoy!

Greek Pastichio

Well, this dish is one of a lot of people's favourites. It's certainly a favourite recipe with the kids - young and old! If you make this for your youngsters, you shouldn't have any problem with them eating their food!

Ingredients

½ kg pasta size 10 (hollow pasta/orzo)

100g hard cheese grated

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

For the Sauce

½ kg mince

250g tomatoes finely chopped

1 large onion grated

5 cloves

2 cinnamon sticks

1 tablespoon tomato paste

120ml olive oil

Salt and pepper

For the Béchamel

1 litre fresh milk

250g butter

1 cup all-purpose flour

150g grated parmesan cheese

Preparation

Sauce

Place the oil in a shallow pan and when it is moderately hot, add the onion.

Fry gently for a few minutes and then add the mince.

Stir well and continue to fry for 5 minutes.

Add the chopped tomatoes and the tomato paste.

Add the cloves, cinnamon, salt and pepper.

Finally, add 500ml warm water.

Cook for about 1 hour, until you have a thick sauce.

While the sauce is cooking, boil a deep pan of salted water and add the pasta.

When the pasta is ready, drain it and return it to the pan (having removed the water) with a large knob of butter, off the heat.

Stir the pasta and sprinkle the nutmeg over it and prepare the béchamel.

Béchamel

In a heavy-bottomed pan gently heat the butter until it melts.

Add the flour and stir continuously.

Add half of the milk and continue to stir with a whisk.

When the mixture starts to thicken, add the rest of the milk whilst stirring continuously.

When it starts to thicken again, lower the temperature to the minimum and add the grated cheese.

Add 3 large spoonfuls of béchamel to the pasta and mix.

Place half of the pasta mixture in an oven dish 35cm long and 5cm deep.

Add all of the sauce as another layer on top of it.

Add a further layer with the remaining pasta.

On top put all of the béchamel.

Bake in a preheated moderate oven for 45 minutes or until it has a golden brown colour.


If you've tried this recipe please rate it!   

Eat and Enjoy

Greek Walnut Cake (Karidopita)

Old ladies from high Athens society used to sit in the tea and coffee houses eating this rich walnut cake as an accompaniment to their tea and gossip. It is delicious accompanied by whipped cream! The thing to be careful with is for it to be neither too dry nor too syrupy.

Ingredients
 

100g walnuts very roughly chopped
400g grated walnuts
400g all purpose flour
400g sugar
125g butter
8 eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
4 tablespoons cognac
1 tablespoon crumbled rusks

For the Syrup

320g sugar
400ml water

Preparation
 

Beat the butter, sugar, cinnamon the yolks of the eggs in a mixer for 10 minutes.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl.

Clean the mixer bowl and beat the whites of the eggs in the mixer until it becomes a meringue.

Add half of the meringue to the yolk mixture.

Mix the baking powder with the 400g grated walnuts, gradually adding the flour.

Add this mixture to the egg yolk mixture along with the remaining meringue, stirring gently.

Transfer the whole mixture to a 30cm oven dish, 6cm deep, which has been well buttered, and the crumbled rusks sprinkled over the bottom.

Spread the 100g roughly chopped walnuts on top.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, put the sugar and water in a pan and boil for 15 minutes.

Remove the cake and cut into pieces with a bread knife and spread the syrup over the top, followed by the cognac.


If you've tried this recipe please rate it!   

Eat and Enjoy!

F is for ...

Yet another post in the Greek Food & Drink Glossary series, this time for the letter F. Again the bold italics show where the accent is.


feast - fagopotti (soft g)

feed - ta - eezo

fennel - maratho

fenugreek - treegonella (soft g)

fig - seeko

fish - psarree

flour - allevree

food - fa-ee (common); troffima (general)

fowl - pooleriko

fried - teeganito (soft g)

fruit - frooto

fry - teeganeezo (soft g)