Traditional Greek New Year Cake - Vassilopitta

In Greece we traditionally have the Vassilopitta cake at New Year. A coin or special good luck charm called the floori is placed in it and whoever gets the slice with this in it supposedly has good luck all the year. Slices are not only cut for the people there, but also for the House, God, Christ and whoever else you wish. Obviously if God or Christ's slice has the coin or charm, it doesn't mean that they're going to have good luck (!) but that you will feel their influence all year.

There are different ways that people make Vassilopitta - probably as many as there are Greek grandmothers! - but this is one that we like. The photo is from last year's cake as you can see, this year's hasn't been made yet.

Vassilopitta

Traditional Greek Christmas Sweets

Christmas in Greece would not be Christmas without the traditional sweets Melomakarona and Courambiedes. And it's always so much more satisfying to make your own. Here, then, are the recipes for both of them.

Courambiedes

Melomakarona

Eat and Enjoy!

Greek Cheese Bread (Tiropsomo)

This a lovely bread with Greek feta cheese. It's a wonderful accompaniment for any dish, but especially for Greek Bean Soup - Fasolada - along with olives. It's light, but tasty and nutritious and if you've never eaten it, do try it - I'm sure you'll love it!

Ingredients

250g hard white flour
250g feta cheese crumbled
5g dry yeast
½ teaspoon honey diluted in water
100 ml olive oil
½ teaspoon oregano
½ teaspoon salt


Preparation

Put the flour in a mixing bowl and sprinkle the salt evenly over it.

Create a small dip in the centre of the flour and add the yeast diluted in tepid water along with the honey.

Mix the yeast and honey in with some flour and then let it rest in a warm place for 15 minutes.

Add enough tepid water to make a pliable but not sticky dough.

Knead it in the bowl enough to make it into a ball and then transfer it to a working surface and knead it for at least 10 minutes as you knead for bread.

Put it back in the bowl, cover it with cling film, put it in a warm place and let it rise to double its size.

Brush a shallow 36cm oven dish with the oil and place the dough in it, flattening it with the palm of your hand so that it covers the whole of the bottom of the dish.

Sprinkle the crumbled feta cheese evenly over the dough, pressing it in with your fingers.

Sprinkle the oregano over it.

Brush the edges well with the olive oil and pour the remainder over the feta.

Let it rise uncovered in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Bake in a preheated oven at 250 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes or until it has a golden brown colour.



Eat and Enjoy!

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Greek Roast Turkey Chops

This is a very simple recipe for the preparation of turkey chops. When it is roasted, a covered oven dish is used. It is really tasty served with pilau rice or can be served on a buffet table.

Ingredients

1 turkey leg cut into chops
5 cloves garlic chopped
½ teaspoon oregano
60 ml olive oil
Juice from 1 lemon
300 ml water
Salt & pepper


Preparation

Put all the other ingredients in an oven dish and then add the turkey chops.

Cover the dish and roast it in a pre heated oven at 250 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, lower the heat to 150 degrees Celsius for 2 hours.

Note: Be careful with the bones. The meat will be very tender and the bones may break into smaller pieces, so be careful if you have young children.


Eat and Enjoy

Greek Cookery Classes 2010

We are happy to announce that we are offering Greek Cookery lessons in Corfu next year. We'd like to thank everyone that participated in our poll - whatever the response - and you can now get full details of the programmes at the blog Greek Cookery Lessons - Corfu 2010, which will be regularly updated with the latest information.

Early Bird Registration
There is 100 Euros discount for those who book before
31 December!

I hope that those of you who answered Yes on the poll (and anyone else, of course!) will be able to make it. Remember, these are small, friendly groups of 6 people at the most, so we may not be able to accommodate everyone - get your booking in!

Looking forward to seeing you in Corfu next year!

Greek Spinach Patties

These patties are really easy to make and are a tasty side dish or snack as well as being extremely nutritious.

Ingredients

1 kg fresh spinach finely chopped
1 bunch spring onions finely chopped
1 medium size leek finely chopped
200g feta cheese crumbled
1 egg lightly beaten
3 tablespoons crumbled rusks
3 tablespoons extra virgin oil
3 tablespoons dill finely chopped
Salt to taste


Preparation

Gently simmer the spring onions and leek in 3 tablespoons of water for 5 minutes, to soften them.

Drain them and let them cool.

Put the spinach in a mixing bowl, squeeze well with your hands and then drain off the liquid that has come out.

Add all the ingredients to the mixing bowl – apart from 1 tablespoon of oil – along with the onions and leek.

Mix them well and add salt, but be careful not to make it too salty, as feta cheese is salty.

Grease a shallow oven dish with the 1 tablespoon of oil you didn’t use.

Form the mixture into round patty shapes – 15cm diameter, 4cm height – and place them in the oven dish. Make sure you leave some space between them as they will spread slightly as they are cooking.

Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees Celsius for about 45 minutes.

Don’t worry if they appear soft – they will firm up as they cool.



Eat and Enjoy!

Vote For TPRF on Facebook

This blog is all about recipes that we can all cook for ourselves and enjoy. However, there are over 1 billion people hungry in the world that are hungry and do not even have the basics, let alone the luxury of being able to try out various recipes.

For that reason, I am participating in the Chase Community Giving project on Facebook. The programme is run by Chase and allows Facebook users to vote for local charities and non-profits, and help direct Chase corporate philanthropy dollars to eligible organizations in the following focus areas: education, healthcare, housing, the environment, combating hunger, arts and culture, human services, and animal welfare.

The eligible charity receiving the most votes will be awarded $1 million, the top five runners-up will receive $100,000 each and the 100 finalists, including the top winners, will be awarded $25,000 each. Additionally, a special Advisory Board led by prominent national philanthropists will allocate $1 million to the nominated charities of its choice. Voting for Round 1 ends December 11. Voting for Round 2 ends January 22, 2010 and the top charities will be announced on or around February 1.

I am voting for The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF). TPRF funded 23 humanitarian grants in 2007, focusing on the primary needs of nutritious food and clean water in partnership with other nonprofit organizations. In addition, TPRF continued to fund eye clinics in rural areas of India that provide eye exams and corrective lenses at no charge to people who could not otherwise afford them, and for a program called "Food for People" that provides over 100,000 nutritious hot meals annually at a clean, modern, permanent facility in Bantoli, India. You can see more about the Food for People programme in the short video below - Spark Of Hope.

To vote for the Foundation, just click on this link below. You will be asked to become a fan of Chase Community Giving on Facebook and then taken to the page to vote.