The Greek Food

Category: Seafood

chupa de camarones
The lovely crayfish on top of my chupa de camarones
  • Octopus with Pasta

    Octopus with Pasta

    First blog of the year, and it will not be about the winter and the cold snow… Unfortunately I think in order the year to go well I need to write something that will remind mostly summer now.

    For a long time I wanted to eat some octopus while I was in London.  Its those things that I miss mostly while I am in London and the first ones that I am eating when I go back to Greece.  For some reason I had the believe that I wouldn’t be able to find a proper octopus around here unless I did go to some market… and as much as I would like to… unfortunately my boredom doesn’t let me and usually I prefer just staying in…

    Aaaanyway..

    I did manage to find after all a proper octopus once in my local fish monger and I didn’t let the opportunity to pass away. The following recipe is a classic in Greece and one that is most common during the time before Easter when Christian Orthodox is fasting.

    It has Greece written all over it (upwards downwards etc. etc.)  and is a must if you ever visit the country… Basically any recipe with octopus in my opinion…

    INGREDIENTS FOR PASTA OCTOPUS

    • 1 octopus fresh chopped in small pieces
    • 2 red onions chopped
    • 1/2 a glass of olive oil
    • 1/2 a cup of white whine
    • A small teaspoon of cinnamon
    • 1 tomato juice can
    • 500gr of pasta
    • Salt/pepper
    • parsley

    METHOD

    • Clean the octopus, really good and remove its mouth with its teeth.  Wash it really well and  cut it in small pieces.
    • In a deep pot,  add the onions for a few minutes being careful not to get brown.
    • Add the octopus for a few minutes until it changes color.  Throw in the seasonings and the tomato juice and let it boil for a few minutes.
    • Add the wine and let the alcohol vaporate.
    •  Fill it up with water and bring it to a boil. When the octopus becomes soft, add the pasta in.
    • Continue to boil the mix until pasta is ready.
    •  Make sure that there is some juice inside from the sauce, remove from the heat and add salt/pepper.

    Serve sprinkling some parsley.

     

     


    Greek Stewed Octopus in Tomato Sauce with Pasta 

  • Sardines with lemon

    Sardines with lemon

    Not the most usual of fishes that you can find in your table but definitely one that deserves your attention.  Cooking Sardines with a bit of lemon is quite easy and full of flavours.

    Honestly, I don’t eat Sardines often but it is a mistake that me and many others are constantly doing. The small oily fish from the herring family is ideal lunch and dinner especially during the weekend as it will definitely bring you memories from Summer time.

    When in Greece, Sardines are usually served as a starter or a part of a meze but in can work as a main dish also if you have them in big quantities.  Nevertheless, the following is a classic recipe that you can find I guess almost in every restaurant in Greece and enjoy.

    LEMON SARDINES IN THE OVEN

    • Around 1 kl of Sardines
    • Juice from 3 large lemons
    • Lemon, Salt, Pepper, Oregano
    • 5 cloves of Garlic

    Make sure that you have properly cleaned the Sardines. Rip the head of and with your finger open them up in the middle to remove the intestines.

    In a bowl, add Olive oil, Salt and pepper as well as oregano.  Add the Sardines and leave them in the fridge for 2-3 hours.

    Pre-heat the oven. Add the sardines together with the marinade and cook them for 30 minutes in 180c

     

  • Salmon fillets with mustard sauce

    Salmon fillets with mustard sauce

    Having a bad night where everything goes wrong is not good for you. You are waiting Friday night to finish work and go out and enjoy yourself, go to the festival you booked tickets months ago and party hard, just to find that it is cancelled due to overcrowding.

    Yeah, its not good. The only thing that is left for you is going back home and think about a night that could have gone so well but it didn’t. What to do next day? Well, option number 1 is to sit there and do nothing or you can choose option 2 and get over it with cooking something really nice that it will make you forget it.

    I choose number two.

    salmon
    Simple things always work better!

     

    Ok to be honest you have many more options on what to do the following day in such a situation, but i had to start the article in some way.. 🙂

    After some extensive research i managed to find the following way to cook a salmon fillet i had on the fridge…and forget the unfortunate cancellation of the previous day.

    Simple stuff always help.

    Take your thick, salmon fillet and add salt and pepper from both sides. Put it in a nice baking tray add a bit of water and olive oil and  place it on a tray, place it on the oven and start cooking it on high heat .  In the same time in glass, add mustard, olive oil,  salt and pepper. While your  salmon is beeing cooked  pour the sauce on top and change sides.

    After 30-40 minutes it should be ready.  Take the glass with your sauce, add some dill and stir it well.  Pour it again on top and serve with salad if you want.

     

     

  • Sea Bass with lemon and potatoes

    Sea Bass with lemon and potatoes

    [dropcap]W[/dropcap]ell, I always would like to see that here in England we enjoy summer every year with lots of clear nice sunny days but everyone would know how much I would be lying. Unfortunately sun wasn’t good on our side in the last few weeks in London but the moment that changed, we remembered how summer should be.

    In Greece summer is always combined with good fish. On the last time I was in the local market I got large sea bass to cook. I have to say that having a big sea bass its not an easy task to cook but its sure worthwhile.

    Well, so how do you do it? Hmmm… I guess there are different ways but usually I love putting the fish in a foil and baking paper to cook it. It makes the fish cooked really nicely and keeps all the flavours and taste.

    The following is a simple recipe I think that anyone can do and cook a nice fish without a lot of trouble as the only thing he needs to do is …leave it on the oven!

    OVEN BAKED SEA BASS WITH LEMON

    • 1 sea bass
    • 1 onion chopped
    • 2 cloves of garlic
    • 1 bunch of parsley
    • 2 teaspoons of olive oil
    • 2 lemons
    • 1 baking foil
    • salt and pepper

    Take the sea bass and wash it and clean it properly.  Put as much salt and pepper you would like inside and outside the fish.

    In a big bowl add the onions, garlic cloves as well as the olive oil and the lemon juice. Create mixture that you pour on top of your fish and let it soak in it.

    Cover the fish with the baking foil and cook it in the oven for around 30-40 minutes on 180c. Times always vary depending the oven.

    For the potatoes

    • Cut the potatoes in small pieces and place them in a baking pan
    •  Mix in a glass the juice from the second lemon that has remained together with olive oil a teaspoon of mustard, oregano and water. Stir them really good and spread the sauce on all the potatoes and mix them using your hands
    • Place them on the oven.

    Ideally you should place them on the same time and time it correctly. Usually it takes 30 minutes for the potatoes –if they are cut on small pieces

    Add the parsley on the end when you serve it.

     

  • Grilled Sea Bream with Lemmon

    Grilled Sea Bream with Lemmon

    Whenever I think of Greece the first thing that comes to my mind is the sea and the beautiful fishes that are inside. You cannot imagine holidays in Greece without being in the sea or having some sea food in a tavern by the sea.

    That’s why I always try to cook different kind of seafood while I am in the UK as it is something that reminds me a lot of my country.

    I have tried different kind of recipes from time to time like cooking the mussels with red sauce or salmon but I believe one of my favourite fish dish around here is the sea bream. I like this kind of fish as it have lots of meat inside and you can easily remove the bones.

    I bet there are different kinds of recipes for that but I prefer something much more simple when it comes to eating a sea bream. Very very very simple..

    INGREDIENTS  GRILLED SEA BREAM WITH LEMON

    • 1 Medium sized Sea bream
    • 1 lemon
    • 1 table spoon of parsley
    • 1 table spoon of fresh parsley
    • 1 glass of white wine
    • 1 table spoon of butter
    • Salt and Pepper
    • 1 red onion sliced
    • 2 cloves of garlic

    METHOD

    • Put a lot of salt and pepper on the sea bream and the juice from half a lemon approximately to it.
    • Add the onions and garlic inside there belly and place them on the grill at 200c.  Sprinkle Olive oil on top and let them cook for 20 minutes changing them sides every 4-5 minutes.
    • Towards the end pour the wine on top and add the table spoon of butter letting it slowly melt all over the fish.
    • Serve by sprinkling the parsley all over it.

    Enjoy!