Greek Lamb Kleftiko

This delicious roast lamb dish was requested by Mandi, so here it is! Try it and I'm sure you'll like it!

Ingredients

1 kg leg of lamb in 6 portions

2 carrots

4 medium potatoes

2 small onions

2 medium tomatoes

6 garlic cloves

100 ml olive oil

½ teaspoon oregano

½ teaspoon thyme

Salt and pepper

12 square sheets of greaseproof paper – approx 30cm x 30cm

String

Preparation

Dice the carrots. Cut the potatoes into thick slices. Slice the onions and cut the tomatoes into 12 slices.

Put all the ingredients, apart from the tomatoes, into a mixing bowl and mix well.

Place 2 sheets of the non-grease paper on your work surface.

In the middle of the paper place 1/6 of the ingredients in the following order: potatoes, lamb, garlic, onion and the tomato on top.

Add salt and pepper and a spoonful of the juice from the mixture.

Bring the four corners of the paper together and tie it well with string so that it looks like a pouch (see photo above).

Repeat this process another 5 times so that you have 6 pouches.

Place them in a covered oven dish and roast in a pre-heated oven at 160 degrees Celsius for 2 hours.

In the photo below you can see what each portion looks like after roasting. This is then served on a dish.


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Greek Lahanorizo (Cabbage and Rice)

This such an easy and delicious dish! Whenever people here want to knock up something quick and tasty, Lahanorizo is usually what they decide on. It can be eaten as a main dish or as a midday (or midnight!) snack.

Ingredients

½ medium size tender cabbage

1 cup rice suitable for risotto

1 onion chopped

2 medium carrots chopped

2 leeks chopped

2 tablespoons chopped celery leaves

Juice from ½ lemon

100 ml olive oil

Salt and pepper

Preparation

Chop the cabbage into squares 2cm x 2cm.

In a shallow pan gently fry the onion in the olive oil for 3 minutes.

Add the chopped cabbage, leeks and carrots, stir and continue frying for 3 minutes.

Add the rice and stir.

Add lemon juice, salt, pepper and celery and then 2 cups of water.

Simmer for about 20 minutes until the rice is cooked, stirring once or twice.

Can be served hot or cold.


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Cuttlefish With Rice (Soopyes me Rizi)

We have previously had two other recipes with cuttlefish (soopyes) - Cuttlefish with Potatoes and Cuttlefish with Spinach. This is a recipe that uses the ink from the fish in the rice. It gives it a delicious taste and a lot of people love this dish. Again, it's not difficult to prepare.

Ingredients

1 kg cuttlefish

1/3 kg pilaf rice

1 medium onion chopped

5 cloves crushed garlic

100 ml olive oil

1 litre warm water

Salt and pepper

Preparation

Clean the cuttlefish well, keeping the fillet, tentacles and ink.

Cut the fish into pieces.

In a medium size pan gently fry the oil, add the onion and fry for 3 minutes.

Add the crushed garlic and fry for a further 1 minute.

Add the cuttlefish (not the ink) and fry for another 5 minutes.

Add the 1 litre of warm water and simmer for 45 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat, remove the cuttlefish with a colander ladle and set aside on a plate.

Add the ink to the remaining liquid and stir well.

Add the rice, which should be ½ the volume of the liquid (it may not be exactly the ½ kg listed above).

Simmer at the lowest temperature for 15 minutes.

When the rice is ready add the pieces of cuttlefish and shake the pan so that it mixes with the rice.

Serve warm.

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Greek Cheese Pie (Tiropita)

There are so many different types of cheese pies in Greece, it's unbelievable. I previously included the recipe for small cheese pies (tiropitakia) made with yoghurt dough. Now, here is another cheese pie which is incredibly easy to prepare and is unbelievably light - you almost need weights to keep it on the plate!

Delicious, and - very important - kids love it! In our experience anyway.

Ingredients

10 sheets filo pastry

½ kg full fat anthotiro cheese or 2 cups ricotta cheese

150g feta cheese

2 tablespoons melted butter

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 free range eggs

200ml milk

Preparation

Open the sheets of filo pastry and leave them out to dry and reach room temperature.

Once they have dried, crumble the filo pastry into small pieces and put them in a mixing bowl.

Add crumbled feta and crumbled anthotiro or ricotta and mix them with the filo.

Beat the eggs thoroughly and add the cinnamon, milk and melted butter to the eggs.

Add the egg mixture to the filo mixture and mix using your hands.

Butter a shallow, medium size oven dish and put the mixture in it.

Level it with your hands.

Bake in a pre heated oven at 180 degrees C for 40 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and cut into portions (see photo).


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K And L Are For ...

Continuing the Greek glossary for food and drink related words. The letters in bold and italics are where the accent goes.


kidney - nefro

kipper - renga

lamb - arnee

leek - prassa

lemon - lemoni

lettuce - marroolee

lime - gleekolemonno

liver - seekotti

loaf - frantzola

Zucchini Fritters (Kolokithopitta)

These tasty fritters are very easy to prepare and can be served as one of several side dishes - they go nicely with Tzatziki - or as a light snack on their own.

Ingredients

½ kg zucchini

1 medium onion grated

150g feta cheese crumbled

4 tablespoons breadcrumbs

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

3 medium size eggs – preferably free range

200 ml sunflower oil

Salt and pepper

Preparation

Grate the zucchini and put it in a colander. Sprinkle salt on top and leave it to drain for 1 hour.

Beat the eggs lightly and place in a mixing bowl.

Add the rest of the ingredients.

Drain the zucchini well between the palms of your hands and add to the mixture.

Mix all the ingredients lightly.

Put the oil in a frying pan and heat well.

To make each fritter use a tablespoon to take a scoop from the mixture and with the aid of another spoon push it into the frying pan.

Fry the fritters for a few minutes until they are nicely browned.

Continue until all the mixture has been used.


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Eat and Enjoy!