Category: Beef

How to make peinirli recipe
The following dish is something that i was craving for a lot of time. Making a peinirli is not easy but it is something special.

I remember when i was young my father used to bring ready dough from a local baker and we did the filling by ourselves. It was one of the highlights of our weekend at that time as it is a really filling dish.

Again looking some of the history of the dish i have to say that it is something that it it used in Middle East a lot, obviously with some variations. One of the characteristics of this food is the way that the dough is being made and shaped to have a shape of a small boat or canoe as i like to say.

The filling can be anything you like to be honest. Usually ham and cheese will do but the classic is minced meat with egg!

The melting egg mixed with the minced meat on the peinirli. Hell!

PEINIRLI INGREDIENTS
- Around 0.7 kilos of flour
- 10-14gr of years
- 5 tea spoon of salt
- 1 tea spoon of sugar
- 1 tea spoon of baking powder
- Around 2-3 pints of warm (not boiling) water
For the filling..
- 1/2 kilo of minced beef
- 1 big onion chopped
- 1 vegetable cube
- Salt and pepper
- one egg for each peinirli you are making
HOW TO COOK PEINIRLI

The difficult thing is to make the dough i guess. As it was my first time it was kind of difficult i have to say. But i was surprised on how well it ended up. So… You need to put all the ingredients in a bowl and start kneading them with your hands. The secret -as i have learned – is to add the water slowly while you do it until the dough slowly starts to remove from your hand rather than keep sticking to it.

Rather difficult i know but it is something i guess you learn after some time of training.

When you see that it starts to become “heavy” in your hands and a unit rather than dissolving, its time to leave it to “grow”. So cover the bowl with a towel and let it for around 15-30 minutes. If everything goes well then you will notice after some minutes that the dough has grown almost twice its size. Magic huh?

Just came out of the oven

Now depending on how many peinirli you want to make then its time to divide the dough into bowls and start shaping them. Ideally you need to put them in a board and spread them, first make the sides and then make sure that you “pinch” them in the top sides so they cannot open.

Again put them into the oven as it is close and let them there for 15 minutes so the dough grows again. When it is done, get them out and spread some butter all over them and then put them back in the oven in medium heat no more than 15-20 minutes. Just enough so they can be baked and maybe become a bit of brown on the edges.

As you are doing that or after you need to prepare the fillings. So in a big pot add the minced meat together with the onions and a bit of olive oil.let it sizzle and then add some water. Not to much to cover it but just enough so it can easily boil until the water evaporates. Make sure that the meat is left without water afterwards, just with the oil.

When its ready then you need to add it in the middle of each peinirli. In order that the egg remains in the middle of the peinirli we create a small hole with our hands where we place the egg.

Put them back in the oven for 15 more minutes and they are ready.

Just came out of the oven

If you feel like it you can even put some cheese on top! Enjoy!
September 30, 2013
Making Lachanodolmades – stuffed cabbage leaves
There are recipes from Greece that you could say they can be cooked really fast and easily but there are also others that may take a lit bit more from your time, the following falls to the second category… The dish that I tried to do the couple of weeks ago was lahanodolmades which essentially means stuffed cabbage leaves.

Its not easy and it needs a lot of preparation and basically I wouldn’t say it is one of those that you can make it in a hurry but the result is always satisfying. As always the egg lemon sauce makes a real difference…

Obviously there are a lot of variations for that food and you may have realized up to know that Greeks really like to have stuffed vegetables for food.

Ingredients for Lahanodolmades
- 1 Cabbage with soft leaves (the bigger the size the more you will eat…)
- 1 Red Onion grated
- 300gr-500gr of Beef Minced meat
- 1 cup of rice
- Bunch of Parsley finely chopped
- Salt and Pepper
- Olive oil
Ideally what you want to do is with a really pointed knife cut the center of the cabbage , remove it and discard it. The in a big pot, put the cabbage inside with the hole which you created, pointing down.

Fill it with water and bring it to a boil for 10-15 minutes. That will soften the leaves of the cabbage. After 10-15 minutes, remove the cabbage and let it cold a bit. Remove the leaves one by one and place them on a large dish. Be careful removing them not to make to pull them quickly and make too many holes on the leaves. They need to be soaked but firm in the same time.

For the stuffing now, in a big bowl add the minced meat, the rice, the grated onions and the chopped parsley. Add salt and pepper as you wish and a bit of olive oil. Use your hands and mix all the ingredients together, add more olive oil if it is needed, the idea is to make a big firm ball of all of the ingredients

Method
- Well ideally what you want to do is to put the leaves down and place a large quantity of your meat mixture on the harder side. Thenslowly you roll it up creating the lachanodolmades. Repeat the procedure until all the leaves are done.
- Before you do that, you should keep couple of leaves to place on the bottom of the pot as a cover and then place the lachanodolmades on top. The leaves on the bottom will be as a shield in order to protect them from burning.
- Place them one next to each other and fill them with water until the top and bring them to a boil. Slow cook them for about an hour, but be careful not to over boil them and they start to spill.
- After 1 hour you can get out one of them and try it to be sure they are fully cooked inside, if they are make the egg lemon sauce and serve it immediately.
December 13, 2012
Sausages with leeks
Like other kids, I guess, sausages were my favorite food when I was young. Easy to make and tasty, anything that I could ask at that time. However, as time went by I forgot to try and make any nice relevant dish with sausage as the main ingredient.

To be honest I was barely trying. Yeah of course, there is the spetsofai which is very typical in Volos , central Greece, but I was looking for something different.

So one Saturday night, I came up to the following recipe which surprised me in a number of ways. First of all because it is easy to make which is important nowadays when you are looking to eat something nice in less than 30-40 minutes.

Also, the flavour of the leeks, make a real difference..

INGREDIENTS FOR SAUSAGES WITH LEEKS
- 2-3 sausages chopped in large pieces. Ideally anything spicy would do
- 3 leeks chopped
- Around 200gr of feta cheese cut in various pieces
- Olive Oil
- Salt Pepper
- Paprika and some chilli if you want
- A bit of oregano
LETS COOK THOSE SAUSAGES
- Ideally you will need a deep frying pan. I used one of those for Chinese food. Throw a bit of olive oil in there… just a teaspoon and then leeks. Stir them a bit and add water. You don’t want to cover the leeks with water but just a but until the middle so they start to get soft
The sausages mixed with the leeks and the feta cheese squeezing in.
- If you want at that point, you can add ½ of a vegetable stocking cube..but not necessary.
- As the water slowly evaporates and the Leeks become softer you add the sausages, salt, pepper, paprika and the chili (if you like it spicy) and stir. Let it for 4-5 minutes more.
- Just before the end, when the sausages are ready, add the feta cheese and the oregano and stir it for 1-2 minutes. Bear in mind you don’t want your feta cheese to melt.
They are ready to be served.

Tip: Make sure when you clean the leeks, to always remove the outside part of the leek before you chop them. So they can be softer when they are cooked. I didn’t know that…my mother told me…
November 21, 2012
Beef stew with red sauce and pasta
Some of the recipes are but classic. There are so many modifications around those recipes that are sometimes difficult to keep up.

I cant even remember the amount of different combinations my mother made with beef stew and red sauce. To be honest it doesn’t really matter as there were always nice

You can have beef with peas or okra or just with chips. I think if you take a look in a Greek recipe book you will find so many modifications that after a while you will be really bored of cooking

On the other hand if you do it right then you always have a nice dish that you can enjoy for yourself or your friends.

Well either way that’s another modification that I did recently and one I did believe it really worth the effort as it is really easy to make as most of the nice foods. Really important thing is the pasta on this one, to be honest I don’t remember how this pasta is called but well you can find it I guess. I just enjoy the small pasta combined with meat.

PASTA AND BEEF WITH RED SAUCE

Ingredients
- Around 500gr beef
- Pasta…well that one
- 1 can of tomato juice
- 1 chopped Onion
- 1 clove of garlic chopped
- A small spoon of thyme
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- Shredded feta cheese
Method

Step 1

Start making your pasta in a different pot In the same time in another pot add the olive oil and the onions with the garlic in high heat As it becomes a bit brownish then add the beef and stir it

Step 2

When the beef is also brown add half a glass of red wine and lower the heat. Add also the thyme and stir it so it goes all over the place. Add salt and pepper also. Let it for 5 minutes and smell the flavours of the wine and thyme

Step 3

Add the tomato juice and let it boil. Add some water if it is needed. When the beef is soft and tender then add the pasta and stir it so it can go everywhere..Serve with adding the shredded feta cheese.
October 10, 2012
Holidays in Greece and…Moussaka
Ok, this post is special because it is written while being in Greece where I spent my holidays for this year. In addition to that talks about one of the most well-known Greek foods around the world, the famous….(drums)… moussaka!

Writing an article about moussaka was in my mind for a long time but always postponed. There were a lot of things that I had to learn before. Basically, how to make mousaka…

Even if there are a lot of recipes out there, I have to say it doesn’t look, and as far as I asked its not the easiest food either. However, after the first day in Greece for my holidays this year it I remembered again why everyone really loves this dish…

Every time when I return to Greece, my mother asks me what I want her to cook for me to eat on the first day. Usually my favorite choice is stuffed vegetables or in greek, “gemista”. This time it was different, I asked from my mother to cook the famous Greek mousaka so i can have the recipe from her and hopefully, one day I will manage to make something close to that…

That’s the ultimate prize ladies and gentleman! When you master moussaka, (and the cheesepie, and the spinach pie, and the gemista, and the mayiritsa, and making a greek lamb, and the fasolada…and some others) then you have mastered the Greek kitchen…So, yes i haven’t managed to cook it here in London but i am hoping in the future. Its the first time i post a recipe before cooking it …but ok its a special food also. My cooking powers are not yet fully developed ….

Well, anyway, here is the recipe straight from my mother…old school…

Some notes, she finds it difficult to put down exact quantities as she has used to do everything by experience . Despite that the quantities here should be more than enough for 4 people. As she always tells me, small changes on the recipe don’t really matter…eventually you will get there.

The famous Greek Mousaka

INGREDIENTS FOR MOUSSAKA RECIPE
- 700 gr potatoes
- 700 gr courgettes
- 700 gr Aubergines
- 700 gr minced meat
- 1 large onion chopped
- 1/2 cup of oil
- 3 tablespoons of tomato paste
- 1 glass of red wine (but if you like yellow we won’t get angry)
- 1/2 glass of water
- 1 vegetable stock cube
- Chopped Parsley
- Salt and Pepper
INGREDIENTS FOR THE BECHAMEL CREAM
- 3 tablespoons of butter
- 410ml of milk. (1 can of milk)
- 820ml water (My mother just fills two times with water the empty box of milk… 🙂 )
- 1 vegetable stock cube
- 300gr flour
- 2 beaten eggs
- 5 tablespoons of grated cheese
- grated nutmeg
- salt and pepper
HOW TO COOK MOUSSAKA
1. We shall begin by preparing the aubergines. Remove the stalks from them and cut them into slices, 1 cm thick. Season with salt and let them on the side.
2. Drizzling the aubergines with some olive oil and bake them for 20 minutes. Do exactly the same with potatoes and the courgettes.
3. Prepare the meat sauce for the moussaka. Heat a large pan to medium -high heat and add the olive oil. Stir in the chopped onions and sauté, until softened and slightly colored. Stir in the garlic, tomato puree and the mince breaking it up with a wooden spoon and sauté. Pour in the red wine and wait to evaporate.
4. Add the tinned tomatoes, vegetable cubes, chopped parsley and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, turn the heat down and simmer with the lid on for about 30 minutes, until most of the juices have evaporated.
5. Now it gets tricky! Time to prepare the béchamel sauce. Use a large pan to melt some butter over low-medium heat. Add the flour whisking continuously to make a paste. Keep adding warmed milk in a steady stream while in the same time you keep whisking in order to prevent your sauce from getting lumpy.
6. Remove the pan from the stove and stir in the egg yolks, salt, pepper, a pinch of nutmeg and the grated cheese. Whisk quickly, in order to prevent the eggs from turning an omelette!
7. Now its time to build the moussaka!
8. You will have to get a large baking dish and butter the bottom and sides of the pan before you start adding the layers of the vegetables. First the potatoes, then the aubergines, and on top of them the courgettes.
9. Pour in the meat sauce and even out. Add a second layer of eggplants, topping with the béchamel sauce.
10. Finally, sprinkle with grated cheese and bake the musaka in preheated oven at 180-200C for about 60 minutes, until crust turns light golden brown.
Make sure you wait until the moussaka gets cold a bit as it will be difficult to eat otherwise.!
September 4, 2012