The Greek Food

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  • My Greek Souvlaki recipe

    My Greek Souvlaki recipe

    Anyone that has been to Greece , always comes back and talks about –THAT- specific food, that which was like a kebap but not exactly the same. That food where you could find it everywhere but still could be so different in the way it was made.

    That …is souvlaki, the fast food dish that you have to try when you are in Greece. Reading along on the internet about souvlakia and opinios from different people I really liked the following that Jamie Oliver wrote in his blog regarding souvlaki.

    “We Brits often think of kebabs as a guilty pleasure. But, having seen the love and attention that goes into preparing a proper Greek kebab, I can assure you there is nothing to feel guilty about. It’s all about quality ingredients and fresh zingy flavours.”

    I couldn’t agree with him more on that. After living for 8 years in London I think the basic difference on the Greek Souvlaki is the attention that the cook puts and the distinct flavours that can come out of it depending on how you prepare it.

    As every dish, every Greek has a different way to make a souvlaki changing the recipe a little bit more than the others and still keeping it original.

    Souvlaki Pita Bread with Pork
    Adding potatoes rather than lettuce to my Souvlaki

    I can’t say that one is more right than the other but there are some basic rules I would say. In my opinion the traditional souvlakia are always being made with pork and tzatziki. Despite that there are different variations depending on the meat that you use (chicken and mustard or different kind of sauce etc) . Nevertheless, the main essence is that the results that comes in is a beautiful mix of flavours ideal for a Sunday barbeque or… any kind of day together with beer 🙂

    GREEK SOUVLAKI RECIPE INGREDIENTS

    • 800gr of pork fillets
    • 1 medium onion chopped
    • Thyme
    • 2 garlic cloves cut
    • 5 spoons of olive oil
    • 5spoos of vinegar from white wine
    • Salt/Pepper
    • wooden sticks for the souvlakia
    • 3 tomatoes in thin slices.
    • (optional) some lettuce chopped
    • (optional) potato chips

    Tzatziki Sauce

    • 3 cups Greek yogurt (around 350gr)
    • 2-3 garlic clove, minced
    • 1 large English cucumber, diced (the long, skinny ones)
    • 1 tablespoon salt (for salting cucumbers)
    • 1 tablespoon fresh dill (or both, depending on preference) or 1 tablespoon of fresh mint, chopped (or both, depending on preference)
    Greek Souvlakia
    The all too traditional Greek Souvlakia

    Method

    • In one small oven pot we add the vinegar and the thyme and add the sticks to marinate a bit so they dont burn.
    • We remove any white fat that our pork fillets might have with a good long pointed knife. Its important as if we dont it will remain hard no matter how we well we cook it
    • Cut the pork in nice cubes of around 1 cm each
    • Take the deep pot and add inside the meat.
    • Cut the onion in slices of various sides and add it also in.
    • Add any more seasoning you might want at this point.
    • Now add, the olive oil, 5 spoons of vinegar, salt and pepper and  mix them all together. You will notice that the pork will start to become more whitish because of the vinegar.Leave it on the fridge for 20 more minutes.
    • After it marinates, take the meat and add it to our wooden sticks one by one until each one has around 5. (give and take..)
    • Grill them, until they have a nice color and they are tender.
    • Serve it together with pita bread that is already grilled.
    • Add the tomatoes, tzatziki sauce and  some chopped lettuce if you do wish.

    Check here how to make tzatziki

    Ok, to be honest you can change the order in the end but the result remains the same. Ideally in the end you eat it with your hands like a wrap. Hope you enjoy it!

    If you do prefer i have embedded a nice video where you can make the same recipe but on a pan.  Its a bit more heavy but faster.

  • Tyrokafteri sauce – easy to make, delicious to taste

    Tyrokafteri sauce – easy to make, delicious to taste

    Ok, ok, lets be serious…you know it…I know it…we all know it! There has been at least one time in your life where you have been alone in the house and had some food and the only thing you wanted was a kind of sauce… something to dip.

    Just anything! But you didn’t…. L

    Ok ok caaaaaaaaalm down…that’s why we are here! That’s what we are going to do….we are going to save the moment …once again!

    The following is recipe for a sauce called Tyrokafteri. The direct translation to that is…hmmm…I guess spice cheese.  To be honest you will see it with different names across the web but …for now let’s settle with that…tyrokafteri or…greek spice cheese dip.

     

    Tyrokafteri Ingredients

    • 250gr of Greek Yogurt
    • 2 roasted sweet peppers
    • 1 green pepper
    • 2 garlic cloves
    • 1 teaspoon of olive oil
    • 250 gr of Feta Cheese
    • 1/2  tea spoon of paprika
    • 1/2  tea spoon of oregano
    • 1 tea spoon of vinegar
    • 1 chilli pepper sliced (or more if you want)

    The process is really simple to be honest. Just mix everything on the mixer and serve. Ideally you can add more ingredients depending on your taste.

    As I said those may vary in different areas of Greece or in the Balkans also. Despite that, those are the basic ones for a quite good amount of tyrokafter

    How to make tyrokafteri?

    Make sure that it has a creamy look and serve it with…more or less everything you want. Ideally as you put the ingredients you want to keep tasting it so you are sure that it doesn’t become too much or less spicy for your likings.

    Usually tyrokatferi was a typical dip when I was going to my grandmother and had any meat related food… but you can easily use it as a dip with chips or just pita bread. Well, i hope you will like it….but if you dont! There is always tzatziki !

    Enjoy!

    p.s. try adding yogurt or tobasco ..the variations as always dont have any limit..but the basic ingredients are those.

  • Papoutsakia (Stuffed Eggplants)

    Papoutsakia (Stuffed Eggplants)

    Papoutsakia is one of the classic Greek recipes you can find anywhere on Greece during summer time. It’s one of those that I always disliked when I was young but like many others i learned to appreciate as I grew older.

    Maybe it’s the minced meat, maybe the cream on top, or maybe the eggplants that make me like it so much now…Either way, I cooked it some hours ago and I believe was one of my best ever efforts…

    So let’s get quickly into action. The recipe is called Papoutsakia (=small shoes), or stuffed eggplants.

    Like many things in Greece this recipe is closely connected with our Turkish neighbours as you will find that eggplants are a common thing on our cuisine. Back in the days of the Ottoman empire they have created a thousand different ways to cook eggplants. Some of them were obviously introduced to Greece during the Ottoman occupation.

    However, the Greek version includes a lush topping of béchamel sauce, a relatively new addition to this dish introduced by the famous Greek chef Tselementes back in 1920. His books shared his vision for a refined Greek cuisine and confronted many traditional recipes to the French cuisine. This explains the addition of French cooking element to this recipe and many others like the famous Greek moussaka.

    Many people though try variations of this recipe without a bechamel sauce. Some, just add cheese on top or others make there own sauces with yogurt. Nevertheless, the following is as much as closer to the traditional recipe my mother used to cook for us during our childhood.

    INGREDIENTS FOR  PAPOUTSAKIA

    • 2-3 eggplants (one per person)
    • 500 grs of beef minced meat
    • 1 chopped onion
    • 1-2 slices of garlic
    • 1 can of chopped tomatoes
    • A small bunch of parsley
    • Salt and pepper
    • 1 cinnamon stick
    • Olive Oil
    • Red Wine
    • 3 teaspoons of butter
    • 4 teaspoons of flour
    • 3 glasses of milk
    • 1 egg
    • salt, cinnamon , nutmeg

    HOW YOU COOK PAPOUTSAKIA

    Slice the eggplants lengthwise to create 6 pieces. Put some olive oil on top of them and place them in an oven dish. Bake in the 180oC for 40 minutes or until you see that the inside flesh is soft and tender.

    When they are done, you take a fork/knife or anything that helps you and empty the flesh of the eggplant and keep it in a bowl as we will add it to the meat we are going to prepare.

    No flesh eggplants!! :)
    No flesh eggplants!! 🙂

    In a frying pan we put the chopped onion and the chopped slices of garlic and we saute them. Afterwards we add the minced meat in medium heat and stir.

    When it starts get to brown pour the red wine and lower the heat. When the wine is more or less evaporated we add the can of chopped tomatoes, salt, pepper, the cinnamon stick, and parsley and let it boil for half an hour. Make sure to add a little bit of water if you have to.

    Now for the béchamel Sauce, Ok I have to admit it was the first time I did it so… Melt the butter in a nonstick pan and add the flour and stir. You have to becareful, you need to stir all the time so it won’t stick. Pour the milk and continue whisking to prevent clotting. Remove the pot from the fire, and put the egg and mix. Finally the salt cinnamon and nutmeg.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B0DWcg4hz2m/?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
  • Greek traditional Tzatziki recipe

    Greek traditional Tzatziki recipe

    Every time when they are talking about Greece there are some things that stand out. Of course it’s the fact about the economy and the Parthenon…bla bla bla…but one thing that really makes the difference is Ouzo and Tzatziki.

    Well, even if Tzatziki is not my specialty (my brothers is) , this is a classic recipe about making a traditional Greek tzatziki as a side dish , salad.

    Additionally, it is one of the main ingredients of the Greek Souvlaki  that you can find on practically any corner in Greece. Now the problem you might face with that is that it has a lot of garlic..

    So essentially, if you are going to a nice dinner party or you going out with your girlfriend/boyfriend maybe that is not the best sauce to go. On the other hand tzatziki is ideal when you are with friends and refreshing as any other time you eat yogurt.

    You dont need any equipment to do it or cooking, you just need to devote 15 minutes of your time for tzatziki.

    Here we go.

    INGREDIENTS FOR TZATZIKI SAUCE

    • 3 cups Greek yogurt (around 350gr)
    • 2-3 garlic clove, minced
    • 1 large English cucumber, diced (the long, skinny ones)
    • 1 tablespoon salt (for salting cucumbers)
    • 1 tablespoon fresh dill (or both, depending on preference) or 1 tablespoon of fresh mint, chopped (or both, depending on preference)

     

    HOW TO MAKE TZATZIKI

    In food processor or blender, add cucumbers, garlic, dill and/or mint, and a few grinds of black pepper. Process until well blended, then stir into yogurt.

    Taste before adding any extra salt, then add salt if needed. Place in refrigerator for at least two hours before serving so flavors can blend.

    Serve your tzatziki together with warm bread to make your grilled meat lunch even better!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2cc_4apFSo

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