Greek Chicken With Peppers, Olives And Hilopites

This is a simple Greek recipe often prepared in the villages. Along with the green peppers and olives, the chicken is also served with hilopites. Hilopites are a kind of egg noodle widely available in Greece, which can either be small squares or ribbons (see photo). If they are not available where you live, then tagiatelli is a suitable alternative.

The photo shows leg of chicken, but obviously it can also be breast, depending on people's preferences. Kids love this dish, by the way!

Ingredients

1 free-range chicken cut into portions

½ kg hilopites (or tagiatelli)

3 green peppers sliced

2 large onions finely chopped

1 kg tomatoes peeled and grated

10 stone-less olives

120 ml olive oil

60 ml red wine

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

2 tbsp parsley finely chopped

½ tsp thyme

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Put the oil in a wide, shallow pan and fry the chicken portions on both sides – approx. 4 minutes each side until it colours.

Add the red wine, salt and pepper and leave for 2-3 minutes.

Add the onions, garlic, parsley, bay leaf and thyme and stir for 2-3 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and peppers and mix them in.

Cover the pan, lower the heat and simmer for 1½ - 2 hrs – until the chicken is tender. Add the olives approx. 5-10 minutes before the end.

In the meantime, boil the hilopites (or tagiatelli) in salted water just as you would prepare spaghetti or any other pasta. Add butter when they are ready.

Serve the chicken mixture on top of the hilopites.


If you've tried this recipe please rate it!

Eat and Enjoy!

 

Greek Souvlaki

via GIPHY

 Here we have the recipe for Greek souvlaki - the plural is souvlakia. This can be eaten as a snack or as a filling lunch or supper. It's also very popular with the kids!
The normal accompaniments to the meat are tomato, onion, french fries and tzatziki. So in addition to the recipe below, you will need to have prepared tzatziki beforehand (see the recipe here) and at some point to prepare some french fries.

Ingredients

1 kg shoulder of pork (boneless) cut into cubes

10 pita breads

1 large tomato finely sliced

1 onion finely sliced and kept in a bowl with salted water

Juice from 1 lemon

180 ml olive oil

1 tsp salt and 1 tsp oregano mixed in a small bowl

½ tsp salt

½ tsp oregano

Salt and pepper

10 thin wooden skewers

Preparation

Fix the pork cubes onto the skewers.

Place them in a bowl, sprinkle with salt and pepper and then immerse in 60 ml of the oil.

Put in the fridge for approx. 1 hour.

Remove from the bowl and grill on both sides on a barbecue or in the grill of the cooker.

Beat the remaining olive oil (setting aside 3 tbsp before you do so) in a bowl with the lemon juice.

Dip the souvlakia in this mixture and then place on a large dish or platter.

Sprinkle them with the salt and oregano mixture.

Cover them with aluminium foil to keep them warm while you prepare the pita breads.

Place the 3 tbsp oil you set aside earlier in a bowl, add the ½ tsp oregano and ½ tsp salt and stir.

Brush each pita bread with this and put under the grill. Turn over and brush the other side and grill.

Don’t leave the bread under the grill too long as it shouldn’t become hard. Just enough to warm it.

On a table or work surface put the souvlakia, pita breads, tomatoes, onions, French fries and tzatziki.

Remove the pork cubes from the skewer and place down the middle of the pita bread. 

Depending on what each person wants, add tomatoes, onions, French fries and tzatziki.

Fold the pita bread around the ingredients and wrap the bottom half with greaseproof paper or aluminium foil. (See photo below)

An alternative is to get larger pork cubes and when you put them on the skewers add small slices of green, red and yellow peppers in between the cubes. You prepare in the same way, but this is not served with pita bread, but eaten straight from the skewer.

If you've tried this recipe please rate it!

Eat and Enjoy!

 

Greek Herbs And Spices - Wild Fennel (Maratho)

Image: Wikipedia Commons

Continuing our series of posts about Greek herbs and spices, let's take a look at wild fennel or maratho as it is called in Greek.

Fennel is used especially in Greek pies - pites - but is also used to flavour meat, seafood and vegetable dishes. It is similar in taste and aroma to anise, but is quite different. It is a perennial herb, with feathery leaves and quite similar in appearance to dill.

Origins: One version suggests that the ancient Greeks called the herb maratho from the Greek word maraino (grow thin). It was believed that maratho was conducive to strength, courage and a long life.

Another suggestion is that it was named maratho to commemorate the battle of Marathon (490 BC), which was fought against the Persians in a field of fennel. The word Marathon means 'place of fennel'.

In Greek mythology, the stalk of a fennel plant was used by Prometheus to steal fire from the gods and the Bacchanalian wands of the god Dionysus and his followers were said to have come from the giant fennel.

Some Examples of Greek Pies with Fennel

These are some examples of Greek Pies (Pites) which use fennel. Just click on the links to go to the recipes.

Spinach Pie (Spanakopita)

Zucchini Pie (Kolokithopita)

Mince and Leek Pie (Prasopita me Kima)