Greek Greens (Horta)

I received a message from Martha from the blog Stir, Laugh, Repeat asking me about Greek 'greens'. Basically, 'greens' is a generic term covering a variety of (green) plants called horta which grow in Greece and are used in side dishes or salads. There are a large number of types of horta, depending on the season and the location. In the countryside, locals gather them from the hillsides or open fields for their own consumption and they are also available at local produce markets.

We picked some types from our garden (we have quite a wild garden!) to photograph for this post. These are horta that are available at this time of year. Later in the summer I'll photograph some other types to post here.

Horta are not only delicious, but also extremely healthy and nutritious. After cleaning them, you boil them in plenty of water for about 30 minutes - depending on how hard or soft you want them - and they are served with lemon and olive oil. The photo you see at the top is a combination of the four types of horta shown below, which were boiled together along with wild fennel - a delicious side dish for our lunch!

Zegounas

In Corfu, where we live, this is called Moscholahano (meaning aromatic cabbage) but in Greece generally it is called Kafkalithra. The photo on the left shows it with flowers, but it is picked before it flowers to be used in cooking. It can also be used as an aromatic herb when making pies.

In Corfu this is called Skatziki, whereas in the rest of Greece it is called Mironia. Like the Moscholahano above, this can also be used as an aromatic herb in pies.

Tzaroulia

Greek Easter Sweets

Greek Easter is next weekend - April 4th - so it's time to start getting the sweets ready! I've posted below the two classic Greek sweets for Easter. Just follow the links for the recipes

Greek Easter Cake - Tsoureki

This light cake is traditionally eaten at Easter and the red painted hard-boiled egg that it is placed in the centre is an indication of this. When making at any other time of the year however, it is optional whether or not you have the red egg for decoration.
The cake is nice and light inside, with the mastic creating a light stringiness when you break it into pieces (traditionally you break it with your hands and don't cut it with a knife).

Greek Easter Cookies - Koulourakia

You will find Easter cookies - koulourakia - in all the houses over the next days. They're easy to make and a nice accompaniment for your coffee. You can make them into whatever shape you want, but I have shown the most traditional in the photo below.

Eat and Enjoy!

How To Make Your Own Greek Filo (Phylo) Pastry

           A lot of Greek recipes - mainly the pies - use filo (phylo) pastry. You can buy this from the shops, but it's so much better if you can make it yourself. So in this post you can see how to do this. I've used the example of spinach pie (spanakopita) here, but the process applies for any other type of pie. You can see the full recipe for spinach pie here.

Ingredients for dough

300g all purpose flour

40 ml olive oil

1 tablespoon ouzo (if you don't have ouzo, you can use vinegar)

Salt

Lukewarm water – enough to make a pliable dough

For the egg wash

1 egg well beaten with 200ml milk

Preparation

Place all the dough ingredients in a bowl and knead well for 10 minutes. Firstly in the bowl until it becomes a pliable dough -

Then knead it lengthwise on a flat surface (see below)

You will end up with a long roll like this -

Divide the dough into 6 balls of equal size. Cover them with cling film or plastic seal bag (see below) and let them rest on a lightly floured surface for 1 hour. You can prepare the filling for your pie in the meantime.

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 (in this case the spinach mixture) 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.

Your pie is now ready to go in the oven. In the case of the spinach pie, a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for about 1 hour, until it has a nice golden brown colour.

Greek Lamb With Yoghurt Sauce

This is another way that lamb is prepared in Greece. This dish is usually served on festive occasions as it is considerd 'special'. The yoghurt sauce with Greek strained yoghurt makes it especially delicious. Greek yoghurt is now sold in most parts of the world, so you should be able to obtain it.

Ingredients

1 leg of lamb cut into 6 portions
½ kg pilaf rice
½ kg Greek strained yoghurt
50g butter cut into small cubes
50g melted butter
½ cup warm water
4 cups boiling water
2 eggs
1 tablespoon flour


Preparation

Clean the lamb and place in a covered oven dish along with the butter cubes and ½ cup warm water.

Put covered oven dish in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes.

Remove and spread the rice evenly around the lamb along with the 4 cups of boiling water.

Put the covered oven dish back in the oven at the same temperature for another 45 minutes or until the water has been completely absorbed by the rice.

Beat the eggs with the flour, then add the yoghurt and continue beating.

Spread this mixture over the lamb and rice.

Add the melted butter on top.

Leave the oven dish uncovered and place in the oven again at the same temperature until it has a golden brown colour (10-15 mins. approx).



Eat and Enjoy!

Greek Kefalotyri Cheese

Continuing the occasional series on Greek cheeses, we can take a look at the hard, salty yellow Greek cheese called Kefalotyri (or Kefalotiri).

It is made from sheep or goat's milk and the colour varies between yellow and white depending on the mixture of milk used. It is a hard cheese and can be used to make Saganaki or is very often used as grated cheese.

It takes around three months to ripen and has always been a very popular cheese. More mature Kefalotyri can also be eaten as a meze with ouzo.

Image: Wikipedia Commons

12 Greek Sweets

I've put together here a list of popular and tasty Greek sweets. Just click on the links to go to the recipes.

Baclava

This is probably one of the best-known sweets from this area of the world and quite rightly so, in my opinion! You should be able to obtain the sheets of filo pastry where you live - it's available in most parts of the world, I believe.

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.

Greek Pumpkin Pie With Homemade Filo Pastry (Kolokithopita)

I love these pies! They have the sweet, juicy taste of the pumpkin and the delicious filo pastry. I personally eat them with cream, but then I eat cream with just about everything! This recipe tells you how to make the filo pastry yourself.

Greek Halva (Halva Tis Rinas)

There are many types of halva, especially in the middle eastern countries. My own particular favourite is from Constantinople in Turkey, but obviously I can't put the recipe for that in a blog with authentic Greek recipes! In Greece we have Macedonian Halva from northern Greece - a hard halva - but the manufacturers keep the recipe a secret. We also have Halva tis Rinas (Rina's Halva) and that is the recipe that follows. Ideally it is served with some whipped cream on top, but that is optional.

Greek Orange Spoon Sweet (Gliko Koutaliou Portokali)

It's common practice in Greece if you visit someone during the day or early evening, to be offered a spoon sweet, or 'gliko koutaliou'. This is a sweet made from fruit and kept in a jar, to be served on sweet dish (preferrable glass) whenever someone comes. All types of fruit are used, but this particular recipe is for orange. It's really easy to make and is a delightful sweet to eat.

Greek Sweet Orange Pie (Portokalopita)

A delicious, refreshing pie for the hot summer months! It can also be served warm, but I much prefer it cold. It can also be served with ice cream. Mmmm!

Greek Baked Quince With Yoghurt (Kidoni me Yaourti)

This is a really, really simple sweet to prepare - but so delicious! Quince is one of my favourite fruits and when it's baked and served with yoghurt and honey.... Well, just try it for yourself! The yoghurt should be Greek strained yoghurt and the honey should preferrably be Greek as well.

Greek Apple Pie (Milopita)

My mother had this recipe since she was a young girl and it was popular in the north of Greece at that time. It's more of an accompaniment to tea or coffee rather than a sweet at the end of a meal as other apple pies are. Of course, you can eat it with cream (I do!) and it has a nice 'squidgy' apple filling and soft dough.

Ravani

This is a very simple, tasty little sweet. You can have it to accompany your coffee or tea. Nice and easy to make, too!

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.

Galaktoboureko

Delicious sweet, similar in some ways to British custard pie (but much tastier!) with a tang of orange.

Greek Must Cookies (Moustokouloura)

These cookies are a tasty accompaniment for your coffee or tea. They have the distinctive taste of must - which is taken from the pressed grapes before it is made into wine - and a hint of cinnamon. You can make them either soft or crispy, depending on your preference.

Eat and Enjoy!

4 Blogs Worth Visiting

Following my previous post announcing that I would be giving free spots for a month to 4 blogs, I had a hard time selecting from the applications - thanks to you all! - but eventually decided on the following four. It's actually a pleasure for me to promote them as they are all enjoyable, quality blogs. You can also see them top left and top right of this blog (I'll be rotating their position every week).

In no specific order, they are -

The Older Geek

A tech help blog with lots of tips and tutorials for bloggers and average computer users. This is a new blog, but the owner has several other long-standing blogs which are also well worth visiting.

Poetic Shutterbug

This blog reflects, displays and showcases the owner's poetry, photography and passion for art, travel and music.

My Quality Day

A personal list of elements that help the owner remember that any day will have some redeeming quality, often something from nature or the out-of-doors.

The Accessory Lady

A little blog about the crafting and design pursuits of The Accessory Lady. The blog also includes photos, fashion news, giveaways and offers.

Do please take the time to pay them a visit!