P is for ...

Continuing the Greek food and drink glossary. The bold italics show where the accent is.


pancake - teeganeeta (soft g)

parsley - mydanos

pastry - zeemee

peas - bizelia

peach - rodakeeno (soft d)

pear - ahladee (soft d)

pepper - piperi

pie - peeta

plaice - glossa (soft g)

plum - damaskeeno (soft d)

pomegranate - rodee (soft d)

pork - heereeno

potato - patata

poultry - poolerika

prawn - gareeda (soft g & d)

pumpkin - kollokeetha

Greek Artichokes With Fresh Peas (Anginares me Bizelia)

Another recipe with artichokes - I love artichokes! For those of you who also like them, you can check out the other two recipes I have posted so far - Artichoke Pie and Artichokes a la Polita. This is again a nutritious dish, easily prepared.

Ingredients
6 medium size young artichokes
½ kg fresh peas
3 new potatoes quartered
3 spring onions finely chopped
2 fresh garlic cloves chopped
1 tablespoon fresh mint chopped
2 tablespoons fennel chopped
3 lemons
120 ml olive oil
Lemon juice
300 ml water
Salt and pepper

Preparation

Discard the outer leaves of the artichokes and then rub them with 2 lemons.

Place the artichokes in a bowl with juice from 1 lemon.

Put the oil in a pan, add the onion and the spring onions and stir for 1 minute.

Add the garlic and continue stirring.

Add the remaining ingredients and stir so that they are all covered in the oil.

Add the water.

Simmer until the potatoes are cooked and all the liquid has been absorbed and the food remains with just the oil.

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Eat And Enjoy!

Greek Spinach Pie - Spanakopita

As with cheese pies, there are many types of spinach pie - spanakopita - in Greece. We previously posted a recipe for one that was shaped like a coil - see here. This one is the more classical spinach pie and can be eaten as a side dish or is a very tasty and nutritious snack by it self. The recipe shows how you can make the filo pastry yourself - it's always tastier than the ready-made stuff.

Ingredients

For the dough

300g all purpose flour

40 ml olive oil

1 tablespoon ouzo

Salt

Lukewarm water – enough to make a pliable dough

For the filling

1 kg spinach

250g feta cheese

6 spring onions

1 bunch fennel – finely chopped

2 tablespoons fresh mint – chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt – but taste first as feta cheese is salty

For the egg wash

1 egg well beaten with 200ml milk

Preparation

Dough

Place all the dough ingredients in a bowl and knead well for 10 minutes.

Divide the dough into 6 balls of equal size.

Cover them with cling film and let them rest on a lightly floured surface for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling.

Filling

Finely chop the spring onions and put them in a pan with water.

Finely chop the spinach and add it.

Add the mint, fennel and a little salt.

Bring to the boil, stirring well.

Remove from the heat and put the mixture in a colander to drain well.

Press the mixture with a spoon in order to remove as much liquid as possible.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl.

Crumble the feta cheese and add it to the mixture along with the olive oil.

Stir and then set aside.

Dough

When the 1 hour has passed take 3 of the balls and, using a wooden rolling pin, open them into flat circles 15 cm in diameter.

Lightly brush the first ‘filo’ with olive oil and place the second one on top of it.

Lightly brush this one with olive oil and then place the third filo on top.

Sprinkle flour on top.

With a rolling pin open out the dough with the 3 filos until you have a large circle enough to fill a medium size oven dish and cover the edge.

Brush the oven dish with olive oil and place the dough in it, covering the edge.

Take another ball of dough and with a little flour and the use of the rolling pin, open it out into a circle which is the same size as the oven dish, but not including the edge.

Place this in the oven dish on top of the first layer.

Now spread the filling evenly on top of these layers.

Take another ball of dough and again open it out to the size of the oven dish.

Place it on top of the filling and brush with olive oil.

Take the final ball of dough and open it out to the size of the oven dish plus enough to cover the edge.

Place it on top of the others and join the extra at the edge with the edge from the bottom layer, using olive oil so that the edge of the whole pie is nicely sealed.

Brush the top of the pie with olive oil.

Lightly cut the whole pie into square portions, but without cutting down to the bottom.

Brush the pie with the egg wash.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius. For about 1 hour, until it has a nice golden brown colour.


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Eat And Enjoy!

Hippocrates On Food

Hippocrates 460 - 359 BC

"Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food"

Greek Bean Soup - Fasolada

This is a simple and extremely popular dish - some people say that this, in fact, is the real Greek national dish! It's very easy to prepare, the only time-consuming part is soaking the beans overnight. nd it's tasty and nutritious, ideally eaten with fresh bread and olives.

Ingredients

½ kg haricot beans

1 large onion grated

2 carrots diced

1 tablespoons roughly chopped celery leaves

1 red hot chilli pepper

½ tablespoon tomato paste

150 ml slightly concentrated tomato juice

150 ml olive oil

Salt and pepper

Preparation

Soak the beans overnight.

The next day put the beans in a deep pan with enough water to cover them.

Boil them, but before they come to the boil remove with a wooden spoon the froth that comes up to the surface.

After they come to the boil simmer for 15 minutes.

Remove the beans and drain them in a colander.

Put them back in the pan and add enough boiled water to cover them. (about 2 fingers above the surface of the beans)

Add all the remaining ingredients and simmer for 1 hour or more – until the beans are tender.


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Eat and Enjoy!