The Greek Food

A Blog about Greek Food and Greece

  • Prawn Saganaki Recipe with Feta cheese

    Prawn Saganaki Recipe with Feta cheese

    This is a recipe about making prawns with red sauce and Feta cheese or “saganaki” as it is called in Greece and it is really popular sea food during the summer.

    One of the most common problems that I had when I was young (among all the others…) were to eat prawns as I found it was really hard to clean them. Well, nowadays I realise that the only thing you have to do is throw away the head and then the rest is easy.

    Whenever you talk about Saganaki in Greece you mainly refer to the appetizer version which is prepared in a small frying pan with cheese.

    On this instance prawn saganaki is what you might think of a prawns casserole.

    Most probably if you talk to any Greek about saganaki with prawns he will tell you that it is a mainly summer dish. Nevertheless, as any food what it matters is your appetite.

    Add a bit of Ouzo to the mix and for sure you will enjoy it even more!

    INGREDIENTS FOR PRAWN SAGANAKI

    • 250 grams fresh prawns cleaned but with head and tails left intact
    •  A bit of olive oil
    • 1 red onion finely diced
    •  2 cloves garlic, finely minced
    •  2-3 tbsp ouzo (or red wine)
    •  200 grams canned tomatoes
    •  A small bunch of freshly chopped, flat leaf parsley
    • Salt and Pepper for seasoning
    •  250  grams feta cheese

    INSTRUCTIONS

    • In a large deep frying pan add olive oil on medium heat and once heated add the onions and the garlic.
    • Add the prawns and saute gently for a couple of mins. It shouldn’t be more than 2 minutes or else the shrimps will go hard
    • Then it’s the time of the ouzo, pour gently the ouzo and let it mix with your prawns.
    • When the Ouzo is almost gone, add the tomatoes, parsley and salt with pepper. Bring it to a boil, lower the heat a bit and cook for 10 mins.
    • 4. Transfer the prawn saganaki mixture to oven-safe ceramic bowls and crumble the feta on top. Place under a hot grill until the feta melts into the sauce.
    Prawn Saganaki
    Our Prawn Saganaki is ready!
  • Antonis Turkey Breast with Rice and mushrooms

    Antonis Turkey Breast with Rice and mushrooms

    This is one of those recipes that are created in an instant…and for some reason they have great success. A really good way to cook Turkey but also chicken I am guessing. (By the way I didn’t knew how to name it  so i took the chance to claim the recipe name…)

    Well, it all started when my brother came and told me that he needed to change his diet in order to manage and get his blue belt in Kick Boxing as he had to go through a 3 hour grading. After giving me a 10 min lecture about the types of food that we should eat … he added turkey to the foods we should eat as its much healthy.

    No problem then…we will cook something with turkey inside. Nope…we won’t do a Christmas turkey…but something different.

    As always after that …family talk…   went to Sainsbury’s in London and bought 700 grams of Turkey breast for the oven I did the most sensible thing that a Greek 30 year old would do before he started cooking… I called my mom…

    So ok…I wanted to try to cook turkey but nothing came to my mind…Luckily my mom never gets out of ideas. After 10 mins of extensive questioning on the phone (which means an increased mobile bill for me..:(.. ) this is what happened:

    INGREDIENTS

    • 500-700 grams of turkey breast. (alternatively im guessing you can use chicken)
    • A small teaspoon of Paprika
    • 1-2 lemons
    • Mustard (English?)
    • One Cup of rice
    • One red onion
    • Salt and Pepper
    • Mushrooms cut
    • A small bunch of parsley and dill (if you have fresh even better)
    • Olive Oil

    METHOD

    You take the turkey breast and slice it in pieces. Not too small but not too big so it won’t take too much time to cook it. If it has the skin, then leave it on top. Add the salt and pepper

    Take an oven pan and place on top of it aluminium foil and on top Baking foil. The baking foil will help protect the food from aluminium not to touch the food but also the aluminium foil will keep all the heat inside as the food is being cooked. The food should something like this: You place the turkey in the middle and add on top of it the mushrooms that are already cut, and the onions.

    After that…here comes the magic… In a glass you add, olive oil…. Two fingers J , one spoon of Mustard, a little bit of paprika, and the juice from the 2 lemons adding reaaaaaaaaally little water…just a zip. You pour the mixture on top of the food being careful that it is not too much and spills outside of the foil. When you are done, you carefully seal the food closing it from all sides and making sure that the mixtures is being kept inside.

    You should add water on the sides of the baking pan. So as you place it in the oven, the water outside the food will start to boil and help the turkey to cook and so will the mixture inside the foil where it will release all those nice flavours. (I sound like Jamie Oliver now..)

    Let it cook for 1 hour at least in 200-230c adding water on the pan from time to time Check it after 1 hour and if you feel it needs more time continue for 20-30 mins more. As the turkey is being cooked in the oven prepare the rice as you please and place it in the plates adding some parsley and dill on top. It should look more or less like this 🙂

  • Frappe: How to make the Greek frozen coffe “Frappe”

    Frappe: How to make the Greek frozen coffe “Frappe”

    You got to believe that people coming back from Greece for holidays they will always start telling you about how beautiful the Parthenon was, how great Acropolis is, the Greek Islands etc. etc.. That is true…but they always…always talk about that Greek frozen coffee that they drunk and was the best thing they ever had… Frappe!

    Well, coffee is on our tradition, no matter what we do , no matter when we will always have a cup of coffee. The best business deals are made on coffee time and most probably some of our first dates… (hmm… )

    Frappe is the classic frozen coffee drink that Greeks are having during summer. Its so easy to make, but it takes hours until they drink it.

    How to make Greek frappe

    • Instant Coffee
    • Milk (if you want)
    • Sugar (if you like it sweet like life)
    • Ice (LOTS OF IT)

    Method

    In a shaker or jar, add 2-3 tablespoons of cold water, 1 teaspoon of instant coffee, and sugar to taste (1 of sugar for medium-sweet).

    Close tightly and shake well, until the mixture appears to be all with foam.

    Pour the foam into a water glass, add, 3-4 ice cubes, milk to taste, fill it up the rest with water and stir.

    Serve with a straw.

    Depending on your taste you can add more sugar or less. It’s the perfect way to wake up and start your day on hot summer day.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B0TbY5_Bw4C/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
  • Chocolate log Dessert

    Chocolate log Dessert

    Always when I was home back in Greece I enjoyed when my mother was making cakes, sweets and anything that had chocolate. Well, don’t we all… I was hoping that I could manage once to make that chocolate log (kormos sokolatas in greek..)  recipe. To tell you the truth it took me some time to find the appropriate name for that…

    Well, the following is a recipe that my mother was doing and a lot of Greek mothers are doing but not really much elsewhere. At least as far as I looked online I couldn’t find similar recipes…

    Anyway, I am just writing this recipe as after the Yogurt with Honey it’s my first real effort for a nice desert/sweet and I feel quite satisfied with the result. The only problem that I had was that…well I am a little bit alcoholic and I added two shots of cognac rather than one that the good old mothers recipe was saying…

    The result wasn’t bad but ok, I think you should be careful with that.


    INGREDIENTS FOR CHOCOLATE LOG RECIPE

    • 250 g. butter 
    • 100 g. powdered sugar
    • 1 couverture
    • 1 shot of cognac (or brandy)
    • 5 tablespoons cocoa
    • 250 g. petit beurre biscuits

    How you make a chocolate log

    • In a saucepan put the butter over low heat to melt. Drop into the dark chocolate cut into pieces, and stir, taking care not to boil.
    • Once the chocolate melts, add the icing sugar and cocoa and stir until you have smooth mixture.
    • Remove from the heat and crush biscuits in a bowl.
    • Throw the mixture and add a shot of cognac. Mix well, to cover all the cookies from the mixture.Let the mixture cool slightly.
    • Stretch a piece of grease-proof paper on the counter and throw the mixture. Wrap the grease-proof paper around the mixture and create a trunk. (Coasting right hand – the left until it has a uniform shape).
    • Wrap the grease-proof paper at the edges so as not to spill the mixture and put in the freezer for a few hours until frozen. When ready to cut into slices and serve on a platter pieces.
    • Chocolate log
      Chocolate log with walnuts on top!
    • chocolate log
      The first piece
  • Soutzoukakia Smyrneika – Greek Meatballs with Red Sauce

    Soutzoukakia Smyrneika – Greek Meatballs with Red Sauce

    Well, the following is a recipe that comes from Asia Minor and Ismir, or Smirni as they used to call the city. It’s the Greek way to make meatballs with red sauce and it’s called Soutzoukakia Smyrneika.

    As I said, my father’s family was coming from Smyrni or the city that is called now Ismir and it’s in the middle of Asia minor, or else Turkey. Couple of years ago a lot of Greeks used to live over there but after the Greek Turkish war (one of the many we had) they had to leave and come to Greece. But enough with history and politics… this is a recipe that the Greeks did in Ismir and its there version of Meatballs with red sauce. That’s why the full name is “Soutzoukakia Smyrneika” as they were cooked in Smyrni.

    There are some different kinds of versions on the net regarding the recipe for Soutzoukakia but since my Grandmother was from Smyrni, this is as traditional recipe as it gets. After all when I asked my mother specifically if that’s the way my grandmother was doing them, her answer was pretty clear…

    “If I dared to change the recipe of your father’s mother, he would kill me…”

    ..Greek couples…

    So let’s try to see

    INGREDIENTS SOUTZOUKAKIA SMYRNEIKA (greek meatballs)

    • 500gr of beef minced meat
    • 1 onion chopped
    • 2 garlic cloves
    • 1 cup of rice
    • Olive oil, salt and pepper
    • 2 teaspoons of cumin
    • 1 cinnamon stick
    • 1 cup of rice
    • 1 can of tomato juice
    • crumb from 2 slices of bread
    Soutzoukakia Smyrneika
    Well, i have to say, they didnt become as thin as i wanted to. But still they are tasty

    In a big pot you add the minced meat, onions, garlic, salt, pepper , a bit of olive oil and the cumin.  Use your hands and mix them in a big bowl.

    You should try and mould them in a big ball and place them in the fridge for 15 minutes. After that, remove it and start making your meatballs. They should be thin and long as much as possible.

    Make sure that you put in to your fingers some vinegar and “wet” the outside of the soutzoukakia with your fingers

    In a frying pan, we add some olive oil in medium heat and then place each one and fry them for 5 mins from each side. Just enough so they can get a bit brownish from each side.

    Remove them from the pan and place them on the side. On the same pan, add some olive oil and garlic cloves in medium heat. Add the tomato juice, cinnamon stick, a bit of water and the meatballs in and let them boil for 30 minutes. Just enough so the sauce mixes properly with your meatballs.

    Make the rice as you would normally do and serve them pipping hot!